Strength Training

Why Strength Train?

Strength training builds muscle mass which improves strength and endurance, reduces the risk of injury, and increases your metabolism helping you maintain a healthier body weight and composition. Strength training increases bone density in young adults and helps reduce the risk of osteoporosis by decreasing the rate of bone loss for middle or aged adults. Strength training also helps improve your stamina and sense of well-being.

How to Strength Train

The basic recommendation is to do 1 set of 8-12 repetitions for 8-10 different strength training exercises 2-3 times a week, making sure to allow at least one day of rest before exercising the same muscle group. (The above numbers will change depending on your personal goals.)

• Warm up. Warm up by doing some light aerobic exercise or by lifting lighter weights. Warming up helps prevent injury to the muscles and gives the the body a chance to deliver nutrient rich blood which warms the muscles and lubricates the joints.
• Exercise all the different muscle groups. Muscle groups include: chest, back, quadriceps, hamstrings, abdominals, shoulders, biceps, and triceps. It is also best to work larger muscle groups first.
• Choose a weight that you are ONLY able to complete the last repetition with difficulty. Strength training works on the principle of "overload". This means that by subjecting a muscle to more resistance than it is used to, it becomes stronger and capable of doing more. It may take a few sessions of experimenting before you figure out the right weight for each exercise.
  
• As your muscles get stronger you will need to increase the weight, repititions, or sets for each exercise. This will insure continued improvement in strength, endurance, and muscle mass.
  
• Use good posture, breathing, and slow controlled movements. Maintain a neutral spine position keeping abdominals tight. Refrain from holding your breath while lifting weights. Also, be careful not to swing the weights. Swinging to get the weights up will diminish the benefits and increase the chance for injury.
• Stretch. Finish each workout with stretching to help keep muscles flexible.
• Rest at least 1 full day between exercising the same muscle group. This gives muscles time to repair and recover.
  

Sample Exercises

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