Lift Some Weight in 2008

Several people had questions from the previous post where I explained the "Why" of Strength before Cardio...

Ultimate personal fitness success (yours, mine, everyone's) is directly related/affected/dependent upon the amount of quality lean tissue (muscle) you develop/maintain over the course of your life.

As you might imagine, I've had numerous New Year's Resoluters share with me various goals for improving some aspect of their personal fitness.

In an effort to expedite the conversation and the transformation process, I suggest to every one of them -- and now to YOU -- that the collective goal of humanity is (or should be) to BUILD MUSCLE!

Many of you are under the impression you need to "lose weight"...

The truth is... YOU NEED TO START PACKING ON THE POUNDS!

An experiment: Get on the scale and weigh yourself. Let's say it shows a reading of 120. Think about the number in front of you. You are 120 pounds of what?

Are you 50 pounds of muscle, 50 pounds of skin, bones and organs, and 20 pounds of fat? Or, are you 50 pounds of fat, 42 pounds of skin, bones and organs, and 28 pounds of muscle?

WHAT are you?

Simply stated, how much of your total bodyweight is stuff you want, such as muscle (metabolically active/living tissue) and stuff you don't, such as bodyfat (gooey/dead tissue)???

Did you know that every pound of muscle is worth about 50 calories worth of metabolism to you? Think about it this way -- adding 10 pounds of muscle, or being 10 pounds leaner (however you want to phrase it) means you could burn an additional 500 calories -- WITHOUT exercising!

It's time for you to pack on a few "quality" pounds!

How much cardio/effort would that save you? How much more relaxed and enjoyable would/could your food intake be with a fat-incinerating metabolism like that?

The bottom line is this: the more lean tissue (muscle = metabolically active) you have, the more calories you burn 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - even when you are at rest!

Now, here's how to get started on a basic strength training program, to build and sculpt that wonderful, calorie-consuming, body-beautifying tissue called muscle.

Note: These suggestions are for beginners (or those who've been on a hiatus from Healthyville). There are MANY different or advanced programs/protocols, but let's begin with the "ABC's"...

Frequency: 2 to 4 times/week is suggested
Duration: Can range from 20 min to 60 min (MAX)
*Key: the INTENSITY of your workout is far more important than the time.

Variety is important, not only for balanced development, but to also keep things fresh and fun so you'll stick with it! This can be accomplished through machines, free weights or bodyweight movements (push-ups, dips, lunges, etc) and/or a combination of each.

For a beginner, start with one set of each exercise and perform the number of repetitions commensurate with your desired goals (i.e. one set of 15 to 25 reps to improve tone and definition or 8-12 reps to gain lean mass).

As your body adapts, additional sets, reps or weights should be incorporated. This is in accordance with the overload principle. To improve your performance in any situation you must challenge yourself to do more than you are normally accustomed to doing. Some helpful tips to remember:

1. Work from the largest muscles down to the smallest (ex: train your chest first, then your shoulders and finally your triceps)
2. Perform each exercise through a complete/comfortable range of motion
3. Avoid locking-out your joints. Keep a slight bend in your arms (elbows) and legs (knees)
4. Maintain a comfortable/regular breathing pattern during the workout. Do NOT hold your breath
5. Training = Trauma. Allow your body to "repair the tear". Progress comes from healing/recovery
6. Periodically review and update/change your workouts based on your progress


Again, this is by no means an exhaustive discussion about strength training. There are MANY ways to strengthen your body. As a matter of fact, I'm in the process of putting my personal and professional workout experiences to paper, creating several health/fitness resource "guides". I'll keep you posted, as it's an ongoing process.

'Til then, keep me posted as to YOUR success! Thanks for tuning in...