Muscling Up Your Routine
Eight invaluable resistance training movements for your fitness routine
By John Leonard
Resistance training, also known as weight training or strength training, is the term used to describe using weights, machines, and even your own body weight, to work your muscles effectively. And, it’s not just for bodybuilders or athletes. In fact, it’s an important tool for everyone looking for a complete healthy lifestyle. A well-planned resistance training program should be a part of everyone’s health and fitness lifestyle, regardless of age, gender, or goals.
Research has shown that resistance training does the following:
• Strengthens the muscular system
• Strengthens the skeletal system
• Improves bone density (decreases the chance of osteoporosis)
• Increases metabolism
• Improves posture
• Aids in body fat control
• Increases circulation
• Improves mood and self-esteem
There are some basic guidelines to follow before you head into your resistance training routine.
• Get a physical exam before beginning a resistance-training program, especially if you have a heart condition.
• Warm up for five to 10 minutes by doing light aerobic activity, such as walking on a treadmill. Warmed-up muscles are more flexible and less likely to be injured when challenged with weight.
• If you’re a beginner, start with relatively light weights and do 12 to 15 reps per set.
• Never lock your joints. Keep your knees and elbows slightly bent, even at “full” extension.
• Push or pull the weight slowly, staying in control at all times.
• Exhale during the exertion phase of your exercise. Never hold your breath while resistance training.
• Try to visualize your muscle contracting. This helps you isolate the muscle group you are challenging and concentrate through the exercise.
• Track your progress. Log how many reps and sets you do and how much weight you use for each exercise.
• Gradually increase the intensity of your workout. You can do this in several ways, such as slowly increasing the amount of weight you use, increasing the number of reps or sets, decreasing the rest period between reps, or adding another workout session to your day.
• At the end of your workout session, take about five minutes to stretch all your muscle groups gently.
In a previous issue of Healthy Living, we looked at the best ways to introduce a new stimulus to the body. Now it’s time to review the eight basic resistance training movements.
First of all, it is important to remember that the eight basic resistance training movements are not to be performed using any one method. Go ahead and mix it up: use free weights and machines, as well as bodyweight and resistance tubing, and stability balls.
1. Squat – Whether you’re performing a leg press, where your body is in motion or your feet are in motion, you are moving from the hip and knee joints extending the legs. This movement uses the large frontal thigh muscles called the quadriceps and the powerful gluteus – otherwise known as the “butt muscle”.
2. Leg Curl – The hamstring muscles in the rear of the thigh contract when the knee joint flexes (bends). Whether you’re using a standing leg curl machine, seated leg curl machine, or lying leg curl machine, the primary movement is the same. You can even perform a leg curl by lying on the floor face up with your feet on a stability ball. Press your heels downward into the ball as you bend your knees.
3. Calf Raise – The soleus and gastrocnemius are more commonly known as the calf muscles, and they allow you to rise up on your toes, or propel yourself forward when you walk. Whether you’re using a standing calf machine, performing calf raises on the leg press machine, or holding a dumbbell as you rise up on your toes, you’re efficiently targeting your calf.
4. Row – There are seated rows, cable rows, bent over barbell rows, and row-row-row your boats, and they all work the biceps and upper back muscles.
5. Chest Press – You simply perform a movement that pushes the resistance away from your body. Dumbbells? Barbells? It’s your preference. You can even use elastic tubing attached to a sturdy object behind you to push the ends forward in front of your body. Remember, think not of the machine, but of the movement.
6. Overhead Press – This is a great movement for developing, toning and strengthening your shoulders. Whether you’re pushing the handles of a shoulder press machine, performing a seated dumbbell shoulder press or an overhead barbell press, the movement and benefits are the same.
7. Bicep Curl – To work the biceps, you bend the elbow against resistance. There are all sorts of machines, cable units and hydraulic devices to work the biceps, but a dumbbell in hand can also stimulate your bicep.
8. Tricep Extension – While the biceps bend the elbow, the triceps extend the arm from your elbow joint. If you want to work that back-of-the-arm area, incorporate a movement that begins with the elbow bent and then pushes to extend (straighten) the arm. This can be done with a dumbbell in each hand while you’re lying on the floor, with a single dumbbell or a barbell overhead, with one arm at a time in a rear tricep extension, or pushing downward on a high pulley cable machine.
By using your imagination and using resistance training, you will see and feel your muscles improve.
John Leonard, President of Markham-based Fit 4 Real Fitness, is an author, speaker and fitness professional.
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