strength training

When it comes to strength training a comment I hear more than any other is 'I don't want to get big muscles'. Why is it that women resist weights? Perhaps we have conjured up an image of burly over-pumped men groaning their way through a gruelling weights session in a steamy, sweaty gym. Or maybe you plucked up the courage in the past to join a gym but were ill-advised on the use of the equipment and as a result have built up muscle in the wrong place.

Whatever your anxieties surrounding strength training, I aim to dispel them. It is very difficult to build big muscles. You would have to train like a body builder almost every day with very heavy weights. With a pair of light to medium hand-held weights and a clear understanding of technique, you can totally transform your body. I have, and so have many of my other clients. If you are not familiar with working out with weights, welcome to a training programme that is going to stop your muscles from sagging and being untoned to being taut and toned. If you have used weights in the past with little success, your technique was probably not up to scratch. By learning the correct principles for strength training you will understand exactly where you have gone wrong in the past.

maintaining a healthy weight

We've stepped, salsa'd and done high impact. We've got the cowboy boots out for line dancing. We've done kick boxing, tae bo, and now it's yoga and pilates. Whilst each of these methods of getting fit have something valuable to offer, researchers have concluded that the key to long-term weight loss is to engage in strength-training exercises. The belief behind my training programme is that weight training stands out as the single best method for ensuring that weight loss comes from fat stored and not from hard-won muscle tissue. Why? Because aerobic training simply does not build muscle to the extent that weight training does. In fact, aerobic training alone tends to reduce lean-body mass and cause a drop in resting metabolic rate.

Attending aerobic classes or jogging will certainly get your cardiovascular system fit. Unfortunately it will do little to increase your strength. Once you begin my training programme and we increase your resistance training there will be a noted change in your body composition and posture. The reason for this is that muscles require extra calories to service and maintain them. Our resting metabolic rate (RMR) is defined as the pace at which calories are burned at rest. The loss of muscle slows down your RMR, thus fewer calories are burned. The key to successful long-term weight loss is to understand the importance of increasing the amount of muscle in your body.

As your RMR goes up, more calories will be burned during all activities, including sitting, lying down and sleeping. The less muscle you have, the lower your metabolism and the easier it is to gain weight. For this reason, it is important to set long-term goals for yourself, which after you have completed a goal form for me, we will discuss in greater detail.

benefits of a firm body

Besides looking great, feeling younger and sexier and being able to wear great clothes, you will also benefit from decreased fat, increased bone density, improved functional strength, posture and muscle balance. Many researchers believe that strength training can help prevent and even reverse some of the physical effects of ageing.

how often should you strength train?

How soon do you want to see results? Over the years I have seen significant gains in strength and muscular endurance achieved with just two exercise sessions per week. This means at least 10 exercises that target all of the major muscle groups. At least one set of 10-15 repetitions, completed to fatigue, should be performed to gain health benefits. This is not daunting. With proper planning I will design a strength-training routine, which could be completed in 30 minutes. To make it even more time efficient, we could switch from the upper to lower body keeping the intensity up, and thereby stimulating further fat release. We could even work the upper and lower body simultaneously, as some of my sessions will demonstrate. My personal advice, in conjunction with the exercises, would be to personal - strength - train two to four times a week.