Understanding Rep(etition)s

The number of repetitions, or reps, you perform matters a lot. In general, if your goal is to build the largest, strongest muscles that your genetic makeup allows, perform relatively few repetitions, about four to six (perhaps even as few as one to two). Remember, this refers to lifting a heavy enough weight so that by the end of the last repetition, you can’t do another one with good form. If you’re seeking a more moderate increase in strength and size — for example, if your goal is to improve your health or shape your muscles — aim for 8 to 12 repetitions to failure.
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends repetitions for different people.

• High intensity: Perform 6 to 12 reps. Higher-intensity training poses a greater risk of injury. This approach to training is suitable for athletes and experienced exercisers.
• Moderate intensity: Perform 8 to 12 repetitions because this is the ideal number to strike a balance between building muscular strength and endurance and has a lower risk of injury.
• Low intensity: For older adults, the ACSM recommends doing between 10 to 15 repetitions, an even lower intensity.

Why does performing 6 reps result in more strength than doing 15 reps?
Because the number of reps you perform links to the amount of weight you lift. So when you perform 6 reps, you use a much heavier weight than when you perform 15 reps of the same exercise. Always use a weight that’s heavy enough to make that last repetition a real challenge, if not an outright struggle. Weight training isn’t an exact science so don’t take these rep numbers too literally. It’s not as if performing six repetitions transforms you into Xena:
Warrior Princess, whereas performing ten reps makes you look like Angelina Jolie. Everyone’s body responds a bit differently to weight training. Genetic factors play a significant role in determining the ultimate size that your muscles can develop.
Bodybuilders (who aim for massive size) and powerlifters (who aim to lift the heaviest weight possible) often train by hoisting so much poundage that they can perform only one or two reps. You may not desire to lift hundreds of pounds of weight over your head, so your goals are best served by doing between 6 and 15 repetitions. Doing more than 15 reps is generally not effective for building strength, but can improve muscular endurance. To focus on increasing muscular endurance, you want to do at least 12 reps or more, but only two to three sets. To increase muscle size, you want to do between 6 to 12 reps, but more sets — anywhere from three to six. To increase muscular strength, you want to do fewer reps, no more than six, and anywhere from two to six sets each.

Common Weight Training Terms

Weight training has its fair share of gobbledygook. You don’t need to be fluent in the language spoken at bodybuilding competitions and physiology conferences; but to design an effective workout, you do need to know the basics to better understand your trainer or training materials. In this section, key strength training terminology and training principles are defined.

• Strength: Muscular strength is the maximum amount of weight that you can lift one time — also called your one-rep max. For example, if you can squeeze out only one shoulder press with 45 pounds, that’s your one-rep max for that exercise.
• Endurance: Muscular endurance refers to how many times you can lift a sub-maximal weight over a period of time. Muscular strength and endurance are related, but aren’t the same. Muscular endurance is handy for everyday tasks like carrying a heavy box from your house to the car. Don’t confuse muscular endurance with cardiovascular endurance, which is the stamina of your heart and lungs. Muscular endurance affects only the muscle in question and lasts only a minute or two; you improve the staying power of one muscle rather than the stamina of your entire body.
• Specificity: Your muscles develop specifically in response to how you train them. For example, if you want to get stronger hips and legs, you should do squats, not push-ups. Similarly, if you want to become a better runner, ultimately you need to practice running. Weight training can complement your running program, but can’t replace the hours you need to spend at the track.
• Overload: To increase your strength or endurance, you need to train by pushing your muscles to do more than what they’re used to. You can overload your muscles by lifting a challenging weight load, doing a lot of reps and sets, or increasing how many times per week that you train.
• Repetition: This term, often shortened to rep, refers to a single rendition of an exercise. For example, pressing two dumbbells straight above your head and then lowering them back down to your shoulders constitutes one complete repetition of the dumbbell shoulder press.
• ROM and movement speed: Perform most of your exercises through the fullest range of motion (ROM) possible of your working joints to stimulate the muscles most effectively. Movement speed should be slow and controlled. Anyone who lifts weight for general fitness should perform four-second repetitions — two seconds to lift the weight, stop the motion, and two seconds to lower it. Stop for a moment at the mid-point of a rep to avoid using momentum, instead of your muscles, to power you through. Don’t pause for more than a split second at the end of a repetition —otherwise, it becomes a rest. Each rep should flow seamlessly into the next. Athletes and those who’re lifting for extreme strength or bulk may do slower or faster reps depending on their goals.
• Failure: To achieve overload, you need to take your muscles to failure. That is the level of fatigue where you can’t do one more repetition with good form. For instance, when you can’t complete the full ROM or lift your fist all the way up one more time when performing biceps curls, you can’t do one more rep. Time to end your set.
• Recovery: When your muscles reach failure at the end of a set, you need to recover or rest before you can challenge that muscle to work again. This is also referred to as the rest period. Similarly, after you’ve worked a muscle group in your workout, you need to allow it to recover for at least 48 hours before you train it again. You’ll understand more about why rest and recovery is so important later in this chapter.
• Set: A set is a group of consecutive reps that you perform without resting. When you’ve done 12 repetitions of the dumbbell shoulder press to failure and then put the weights down, you’ve completed one set. If you rest for a minute and then perform 12 more repetitions, you’ve done two sets.
• Routine: This term encompasses virtually every aspect of what you do in one weight lifting session, including the type of equipment you use; the number of exercises, sets, and repetitions you perform; the order in which you do your exercises; and how much rest you take between sets. By varying the elements of your routine — say, decreasing the number of reps or adding new exercises — you can significantly change the results you get from weight training because of the principle of specificity. Your routine (also referred to as your program or your workout) can change from one exercise session to the next, or it can stay the same over a period of weeks or months.
• Progression: Overloading your muscles by lifting a weight to muscular failure stimulates your muscles to get stronger. This is the principle of specificity in action. To continue to overload your muscles and keep making progress, you need to find new ways to challenge your muscles. This is why you need to change up your program or routine. In general, wait six to eight weeks to see visible results from your training when you’re new. Internal changes start to occur immediately in response to your first training session.

Balancing options and training your brain

Twenty five percent of Americans who fall and break a hip after the age of 50 die within the first year after their accident. Balance training, while not sexy, can save your life. Like most aspects of fitness, if you don’t practice balance, you lose your ability to maintain your balance and this loss increases the chance of falling. Certain sports, such as skiing, skating, and surfing, also require good balance for effective performance. Adding a few extra balance challenges to your weight training routine is easy and makes all the difference that you need to move with greater confidence and skill. Coordinated moves that require concentration and challenge both the mind and body are also good for maintaining a healthy body and mind. Yoga and Pilates offer many valuable exercises that train these aspects of fitness.

Living a Healthy Lifestyle

Weight training is an important key to living a full and healthy life from childhood to older age. All things being equal, we lose muscle mass as we age due to the gradual loss of efficiency in the process of cellular reproduction (the same reason your hair turns gray). Unless you add stimulation to your muscles such as weight training to maintain or to build muscle mass, you’ll lose your current muscle mass. Weight training, alone, can’t provide everything you need to get and stay strong and fit. You need good nutrition, adequate sleep, stress management, and a strong network of good relationships with friends and family for social support.

Pumping up your heart and lungs
Aerobic exercise or cardio training is necessary to keep your heart and lungs healthy and to reduce the risk of diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes, as you age. The best form of cardio exercise for most people is walking — it’s cheap and easy, and walking requires little planning and offers a low risk of injury.
Make time for cardio activity on most days of the week — anywhere from 4 days of the week to every day — for at least 30 minutes. Your efforts count even if you only walk ten minutes at a time, three times a day. To find out more about increasing your cardio activity through walking.

Improving your flexibility
Stretching is one of the most enjoyable, feel-good exercises that improves your ease of movement and reduces your risk of injury. Stretching to improve flexibility is best at the end of your workout when your muscles are warm.

Choosing Your Training Equipment

In fitness magazines, health clubs, and videos or DVDs, you often hear weight equipment referred to as resistance equipment. We hate to clutter your brain with jargon right off the bat, but resistance is a word you need to know. Resistance is an opposing force, like a weight or gravity; in order for your muscles to get stronger, you must work against resistance. Resistance equipment is actually a more accurate term than weight equipment because you can build muscle without using weights at all. Rubber exercise bands, for example, don’t weigh more than a couple of ounces, but they provide enough resistance to strengthen your muscles. Throughout this blog, we use the terms resistance training, weight training, strength training, and weight lifting interchangeably.
Keep in mind that understanding how to train your muscles is like studying a new skill. You aren’t born with this knowledge, in spite of the fact that you were born with a body. Many people have the misconception that because they live in a body, they know how to train it. You’ll benefit significantly by taking the time to study and acquire the skills from qualified professionals. Finding out how to use equipment properly is an early step in this process. In this blog, we do our best to break this information down in a way that is complete and easy to follow. Take your time. Be patient with yourself. Soon, you’ll be lifting like a pro. Give yourself time to experience the equipment and absorb the information.
Resistance training equipment falls into many common categories:

• Free weights: Free weights include dumbbells, barbells, bars, and weight plates. These come in a variety of shapes, sizes, materials, and weights.
• Machines: Weight machines generally include a seat, a cable or pulley, a variety of weight plates for adjustable resistance, and movable bars. Similar to free weights, machines vary widely in design . Newer machines come equipped with computerized programming features and may even talk back at you while you’re training.
• Resistance bands and tubing: Rubber bands and tubes provide opportunities for strength training any time and any place. Bands are flat and wide. Tubes are round and were initially used by doctors in surgery. Cheap, lightweight, and portable bands and tubes are the training tool of choice for frequent travelers. Latex-free versions are available for people with allergies. While not strictly in the category of resistance training equipment, the following tools provide means to enhance your weight training programs.
• Balls and foam rollers: Add balls and foam rollers into many exercises to provide an unstable surface on which to work. Incorporating this element of instability increases the difficulty of the exercise by requiring the use of deeper abdominal and back muscles.
• Body weight: Your body may not feel like a training tool, but use your own body weight to provide effective resistance in a number of exercises such as the squat and lunge, and the push-up .
• Yoga and Pilates: Yoga and Pilates aren’t styles of weight training; however, many yoga and Pilates moves involve challenges that strengthen muscles. The particular advantage of many of these exercises is that they also involve flexibility and encourage the development of strength, balance, and coordination through movement patterns.

Safety First to Enjoy Training

Before beginning any exercise program, ensure that you’re both ready and able. Get clearance from a healthcare professional if necessary.
Take time to discover the correct use of equipment and to perform exercises by using good form and technique. Regular weight training improves muscle balance, posture, movement efficiency, stability, and body awareness. All these qualities reduce the likelihood of injury, as well as the onset of typical aches and pains such as those associated with the lower back, knees, shoulders, or hips.

Fitness Testing and Goal Setting for Success

When it comes to weight training, one size doesn’t fit all. In order to create a program that best meets your needs, you need to know what your conditioning level is, what you want to achieve with your training, and how to set goals and monitor your progress for success.
Fifty percent of all people who begin a new training program quit in the first six to eight weeks. Most people say that the reason for quitting is that they don’t have enough time. A research study of prison inmates, who had all the time in the world for their exercise program, showed the same dropout rate.
Leading behavioral scientists conclude that the real reason people don’t stick to new exercise programs isn’t lack of time — it’s hard to change your habits for something new

Weight Training for All Bodies

Modern living provides every convenience except one: a lot of natural physical activity. From young to old, we ride in cars, use remote controls, step into elevators, play on the computer, and shop on the Internet. Many activities that required us to get up out of the chair and use our muscles no longer exist. The result: We need to add weight training to our lives to stimulate our bodies and our brains to keep us healthy and strong. People of all ages — kids, teens, young adults, pregnant women, older adults, and people with special needs — benefit from weight training. The risks of doing nothing are greater than the risks of injury from exercise —even for the frail and elderly. Whether you’re a beginner who wants to get started safely or you’re already fit and want to improve your performance, weight training improves your current condition (whatever that is) and helps you achieve your goals of feeling stronger and better about yourself. Strong muscles help us move better and avoid pain and injury at all stages of life. Weight training provides the following benefits:

• Increased strength and endurance
• Improved sleep
• Reduced stress
• Enhanced feelings of confidence and well-being
• Reduced risk of falls
• Strengthened bones

Boosted metabolism for more energy burn around the clock Full, independent living Because weight training strengthens your muscles and improves your muscular endurance, you’ll naturally have more energy to be more active throughout the day. When you’re physically tired, you’re able to fall asleep more easily and enjoy a deeper, better quality of sleep. As you’re more refreshed and energetic, you feel better and accomplish more, which improves your mood and confidence level. In this manner, your consistent training stimulates an upward cycle of well-being.
Don’t wait. Absorb everything you need to know from this book to get going with a program that is perfect for you. Keep taking the steps you need to achieve stronger, more toned muscles for a fuller, more enjoyable and active life.

Introduction

We all have different reasons for wanting to lift weights. Undoubtedly, many of these reasons have to do with looking better. Sculpted arms and toned abs have become somewhat of a fashion statement among certain age groups. But many of us can think of more compelling and, ultimately, more satisfying reasons to lift weights. Here’s a reminder of how much weight training can benefit you:

• Keep your bones healthy. The average woman loses about 1 percent of her bone mass each year after age 35. Men are susceptible to brittle bones, too. Lifting weights can drastically slow the rate of bone loss and may even reverse the process. With strong bones, you won’t become hunched over as you age, and you’ll lower your risk of life-threatening fractures. No matter your age, it’s never too late to start strengthening your bones.
• Help control your weight. When you lose weight through dieting alone or together with some aerobic exercise (such as walking or bicycling), you lose muscle along with fat. This can be a problem: When you lose muscle, your metabolism slows down, so you’re more likely to regain the weight. By adding weight training to the mix, you can maintain (or increase) your muscle and thereby maintain (or even boost) your metabolism. Although weight training is no magic bullet for weight loss, many obesity experts consider it to be an essential part of any weight control program.
• Increase your strength. Lifting the front end of a fire truck may not be among your goals in life, but a certain amount of muscle strength does come in handy. Weight training makes it easier to haul your stacks of newspaper to the recycling bin and carry and put away your groceries. It can also keep you out of nursing care homes in your older age and help you maintain your independence. Studies show that even 90-year-olds can gain significant strength from lifting weights and regain the ability to walk and dress themselves.
• Boost your energy. Forget about hokey dietary supplements. One of the best energy boosters around comes not in a bottle but on a weight rack. When you lift weights, you have more pep in your step. You can bound to the bus stop, sail through your company’s annual charity walk-a-thon, and make it to the end of the day without feeling exhausted.
• Improve your heart health. For years we’ve known that aerobic exercise such as walking, jogging, and cycling can lower your risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. But new research suggests that weight training may offer these benefits as well. Specifically, studies show that lifting weights can lower your risk of having a heart attack or stroke by lowering your LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and reducing blood pressure.
• Improve your quality of life. Any activity that accomplishes all the above has to make you a happier, more productive, and more self-confident person. (Research suggests that weight training can even relieve clinical depression.) Of course, hoisting hunks of steel is no instant cure-all, but you’d be surprised how much satisfaction a pair of 10-pound dumbbells can bring into your life, which also improves the lives of everyone else around you.