Strength Training

There are countless ways to manage one’s weight. It seems we have yet to find the perfect answer to all of our “Dieting” problems. Out of all the options we have out there in the world, which is the best one? For today’s article, I want to introduce you to the world of strength training and its benefits.

My High School that I attended had a wide variety of P.E. classes, and the one that caught my eye at the time was Weightlifting. Yes, there was actually a High School course completely devoted to lifting weights. As I had a small frame, I thought I’d work out a little, plus the course didn’t seem so difficult. The course had me learn the names of muscles on our bodies, how they perform, and most importantly, how to buff them up. There were so many things I needed to learn and remember; and so much more than I thought. I fell in love with weight training and continued it for the rest of my high school career, lifting weights. The three years of PE classes were Weight training courses and I joined an after-school club purely focused on pumping iron.

My goals in lifting weights were very different than that of my peers. I didn’t want to bulk up to be like the Hulk. I wanted to build a strong, durable body. Through my three years of muscle devotion, I learned about a type of training called Strength Training. Strength Training is basically the opposite of body building. Here in this article I’ll be explaining the difference between the two.

First off, let’s talk about building Muscle Mass. This is the most popular and well-known style of weight lifting, where the goal of going to the gym everyday is to make your biceps grow bigger and bigger with every visit. So how do they do it? The basic concept is short reps with heavier weights. For example, you would start with 50lb and do 10 reps. Then for the next set you would increase the weight to 55lb and do 7 reps, 60lb with 5 reps. Strength Training is the opposite of building Muscle Mass, where you do more reps with lighter weights. For example, you would lift 30lb and do 15 reps. Next you would go for 17 reps and continue to push your limits.

So, what is the difference between the two styles? Muscle mass work outs build size very quickly. Have you ever heard people say, “I have to go to the gym or my muscles will disappear” or “I didn’t go to the gym for a few days and now I’ve gained so much weight”? The reason for that is when the muscles are being built, the muscles absorb fluids and increase in size. Whereas strength training will not drastically increase your muscle size, however the muscles are much more concentrated, therefore durable. If you don’t hit the gym for a few weeks, months, or even years, the muscle that you have developed from strength training will retain itself much longer than those of Mass building.

So, what are the benefits of strength training? Not only do they last longer and provide your body with sturdy muscles for any physical activity, they burn calories. Research has shown that each pound of muscle on your body will burn around 6 calories a day at rest. Meaning, your body burns calories even if you aren't doing anything! Of course, if you move, they burn more calories. Slapping on a couple pounds of these nifty chunks of meat will drastically improve your metabolism, which is critical for my idea of the “Ideal” Diet.

Metabolism plays a critical role in our diet and for the most part it is an inherited trait. However, we can do a few things to help increase our overall metabolism. One is, as said above, building muscles. Another great way is to constantly eat. Yes, I said it, eat, eat, and eat! Dietitians say six meals a day is optimal. By increasing the frequency of meals, you will constantly have food in your stomach, and you won’t go hungry. By the time your next mealtime comes around you aren’t going to be hungry enough to have the urge to have a large meal. The main benefit of having many meals a day is that it keeps our metabolism running constantly and studies have shown it burns calories and fat much faster and efficiently.

Dieting should always be a combination of exercise and eating. So long as you are exercising, you do not need any sort of extreme dietary restrictions. Of course, you do need to eat healthy and smart. With dieting that requires you to only eat certain foods and strictly restricts how much you eat; you are putting yourself into a very stressful situation. Unfortunately, stress can induce eating, which then causes you more stress and the nightmare starts all over again. The “Ideal” Diet should allow you to eat whatever you want (preferably healthy options) with portions that aren't’ extremely small.

Maintaining a steady metabolism rate is very important for keeping off or reducing your weight. One thing we need to be careful of is putting our bodies into what we call, “starvation” mode. When the body isn’t getting enough calories, the body goes into starvation mode thinking the body is in danger. This mode is a survival instinct and is activate in situations where a person may not have anything to eat. The body begins conserving energy by significantly lowering metabolism and tries to retain as much fat in the body, and when food enters the body, it is instantly converted into fat and then stored. We want to avoid this state as much as possible. However, if you are trying to lose weight or trying to start a new diet the body will eventually start thinking, “Oh no! I am not getting enough calories!”. Luckily for us, there is a great way to keep ourselves from going into starvation. Cheat day! Cheat day is a day (once a week or every other week) where you can eat as much and anything you want to eat. These cheat days reassure the body that it is getting enough calorie intake and does not need to go into starvation mode. Also, as I mentioned above, stress can induce binge eating. By having a day where you can eat anything with no need to worry about your diet is greatly helpful for your mental state making your diet much more successful in the long run.

Building and managing a healthy body isn’t easy. Work, children, rest, etc., there are so many things going on in our lives that can make it difficult to look after our bodies. Especially with so many diets out there, it’s literally impossible to look through them all. I myself have tried several methods and this is the method that I use and have had great success. We only get one body so we have to take care of it as best as we can. I hope this article will give you an idea or two on ways to take care of your body! Oh, and don’t forget your protein intake within 30 minutes of your workout for the best results! Happy lifting!

Written by Nimo