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Recently we were asked, “What is strength training?” by an individual who never had done this form of exercise before. The short answer is simple. The dictionary defines strength training as : resistance training usually involving weights or some other form of resistance designed toward improving an individuals strength. There is more to this answer than a simple definition however. Strength training is a form of exercise that has many positive effects that many people are unaware of. It does far more than improve an individual’s strength. To fully understand how and why strength training provides so many benefits, we must examine the process at greater depth.
Resistance exercise is a method where the body is mechanically loaded(weights), and fatigued within a short period of time. The amount of resistance and depth of fatigue is directly proportional to the resulting growth stimulus. Light weights lifted a few times will produce little to no muscular gain. Heavy weights, lifted to great fatigue, produces the most amount of muscular gain. The growth stimulus is a natural response to stress, produced by the weights, at the cellular level. The body does not grow during the exercise period, however, but during the recovery period which follows. There is much debate as to how much rest is adequate, but muscular growth has been observed under laboratory conditions for as much six weeks post exercise.
Located within the cells of your body are tiny organelle’s called mitochondria, which are sometimes described as “cellular power plants”, because they generate most of the cell’s supply of ATP, used as a source of chemical energy. Some of the most dense concentrations of mitochondria found in the body are located within the skeletal muscle. What scientists have discovered is strength training causes your body to increase the number of mitochondria located in your cells. And this is where the profound benefits of strength training begin to take place.
Right now you might be thinking, “I get it. But I am already strong and fit, so why would I need to strength train?” There are many reasons why someone would want to experience the benefits of strength training. Let’s start with avoiding muscle loss.
It is estimated that adults lose 5 to 7 pounds of muscle, every decade, as they age. Although endurance exercise improves our fitness, it does nothing to improve our strength, and might actually cause muscle loss. Only strength training maintains muscle mass and strength throughout the aging process. When you lose muscle, you lose mitochondria. Since your body uses these mitochondria to supply energy for your body’s metabolism, this loss means your body has less energy for its needs, and therefore a natural reduction in your metabolic rate occurs. This reduction can cause problems with obesity, circulation, blood glucose tolerance, and cardiovascular health. When individuals strength train, they naturally gain muscle and increase their metabolic rate. They actually cause their cells to look and act…younger!
Another benefit of strength training is the increase of bone mineral density that occurs. Osteoporosis is a condition that many individuals are concerned with as they age. To this end, millions of dollars are spent every year on drug therapies and supplements that have little to no effect. Some of the drug therapies will actually worsen the condition! What has been proven, but is still widely unknown, is that resistance exercise causes an increase in bone mineral density. As some doctors who are aware of the benefits of strength training say, “Strong muscles = Strong bones.”
So, what is strength training? Resistance training involving weights or some other form of resistance, designed to improve an individuals strength, muscular endurance, energy, balance, cardiovascular health, bone mineral density, blood lipids, blood sugar tolerance, and resting metabolic rate, while simultaneously reducing body fat, resting blood pressure, arthritic pain, chronic low back pain, and conditions caused by stroke, heart disease, and long term overuse injuries.
In short, strength training is a form of exercise which will help you look better, feel better, and function better.
There has been a question that has been asked time and time again since the early 70’s in regards to health. “What about my cardio? Shouldn’t I be doing aerobics?” This has been a topic for discussion and debate since the term aerobics was coined. Although the debate will never go away, I think is important to dispel some of the mythology around Aerobics, as it pertains to health.
Myth: It is important to be aerobically fit in order to be healthy
Fact: Cardiovascular fitness and cardiovascular health are two different things. If you are an athlete whose sport involves a fair amount of running, you must run. But this does not make one healthy. If you observe the countless number of individuals who die each year while running a marathon, you can conclude that the running exacerbated their heart condition. Conversely, it is entirely possible, and has been proven, that a person with a heart condition can perform great athletic feats. They are fit, fast, and strong, but certainly not healthy. A person with a heart condition is not healthy. Better they switch their diet to one that reverses heart disease and perform some type of exercise that is heart protective. Cardiovascular health is attained by maintaining proper nutrition and body leanness, while keeping the skeletal muscles strong.
Here is an interesting quote from an article in the New York Times.
“In 1989, the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research released its own study that showed people could be healthy without being aerobically fit.” Kenneth Cooper is considered the father of modern aerobics.
Myth: To strengthen my heart and lungs, I have to perform some type of aerobic activity, in my target heart rate zone, for twenty minutes, every day.
Fact: Strengthening the heart and lungs is impossible.The lungs are organs, not muscle. You cannot strengthen your lungs any more than you can strengthen your pancreas or any other organ in the body. The capacity of the lung is genetic. If your lungs were to suddenly start growing you would have a form of disease. You can condition your muscles and become stronger and more efficient, therefore creating less of a demand on your lungs. Your heart is a muscle, but a highly specialized one. It is autonomic. It also controls a fixed pressure system. If your blood pressure swings either too high or too low, you could be in trouble. If the heart muscle were to grow suddenly, again you would have a form of disease.
On that note here are a couple of interesting quotes:
“Most of the improvement in functional capacity due to exercise is not even related to the heart. It is due to an effect on the peripheral muscle cells, whereby they more efficiently extract oxygen from the blood.” Henry Solomon MD Cardiologist, Author of ‘The Exercise Myth’, 1987
“When patients participate in exercise programs, they often assume that their heart becomes stronger. This is not the case. Physical training results in a sense of well being because of other effects…it improves the efficiency of the muscles…it improves the hormonal tone of the body…it improves the control of sugar in people with diabetes. However, exercise will not make the heart beat more strongly. Bruce D. Charash MD, Cardiologist, author of ‘Heart Myths’, 1991
If you want to have a healthy heart and lungs you should do the following:
1) Practice Nutritional Excellence and keep your body lean.
2) Perform some type of whole body High Intensity Progressive Resistance Exercise, (SuperSlow is one of these), one time per week, bringing the greatest amount of fatigue to the muscles possible.
3) Don’t Smoke! Quit Smoking Forever!
4) Reduce stress in all it’s forms.
5) Recreate. Do the things you enjoy without being excessive.
6) Eliminate added sodium.
In a recent study titled “Exercise Reverses Aging in Human Skeletal Muscle” done at the Buck Institue in Novato CA, researchers were able to determine a 50% increase in strength over a six month period among the older adults who underwent the training. Even more remarkable is the change that was observed in the genetic expression of the study participants. “We were very surprised by the results of the study,” said Simon Melov, PhD who co-led the study. “We expected to see gene expressions that stayed fairly steady in the older adults. The fact that their ‘genetic fingerprints’ so dramatically reversed course gives credence to the value of exercise, not only as a means of improving health, but of reversing the aging process itself, which is an additional incentive to exercise as you get older.”
This is just another in a long list of studies that prove that with just 1 to 2 exercise sessions per week, one can dramatically reverse the loss of muscle that happens with aging. You can reverse aging! You can change the course of your life with just one exercise session per week. Imagine being able to do the recreational activities that you enjoy today, at 50 years of age, into your 80’s, but do them as well as when you were 40. When researchers talk of reversing the aging process, this is what they are saying.
We at Santa Rosa Strength are committed to this cause. We want 1,000,000 people throughout America to begin strength training as a result of the volumes of information available today. The research is in; strength training is the fountain of youth. Help us reach our goal.
Hello there, and welcome to the Santa Rosa Strength blog. We are a Santa Rosa based business specializing in Progressive Resistance Exercise. Our clients maintain their exercise needs with just one 20 minute workout each week.
