STRENGTH TRAINING - NO YOU WON'T LOOK LIKE THE HULK!!

You’re probably bored of people telling you strength training is important. In the modern age, people mostly do either one or the other. Runners, swimmers, crossfitters, HIITers, weightlifters – they are all part of the same family, and that is natural human movement.

A long time ago, before you could buy foam sneakers and special weightlifting gloves, there were people who were often hungry. In order to eat, they had to hunt their prey, kill it, and bring it back to the cave. In order to do that, they had to be fast enough to catch the prey, strong enough to kill it, and have high enough endurance and strength to bring it back in order to eat it, and then repeat that in a day or two. You get the point.

Like two sides of the same coin, cardio and strength training are equally as necessary in order to have a healthy body. Unfortunately, due to a combination of prejudice and the interest of the fitness industry to have as many training styles as possible, strength training has become a sort of a taboo with cardio lovers. Let’s get one thing straight, once and for all: no, strength training will not make you look like Hulk and yes, you really do have to incorporate some strength exercises in order to develop your muscles to their full potential. 

What’s in it for you?

Now that we’ve made it clear that a good strength workout is vital for your health, let’s take a closer look at specific benefits this type of training can offer.

1. Strong and healthy bones. As you grow older (after the year 30 to be exact) your bones start to slowly lose density, every year, in a small percentage. Without strength training, which provides a challenge for the bones – the same way a marathon challenges the lungs – it is more than likely you’ll develop osteoporosis in your old age, especially if you’re a woman.

2. Boosts metabolism and breaks fat-loss plateaus. Muscle burns more calories. Therefore, if you train your muscles and make them stronger, they’ll require more energy and will, in turn, increase your basal metabolic rate so that your body will need to spend more calories in order for your body to run properly. Provided your calorie intake stays roughly the same, strength training will work wonders for your metabolism and will break any plateau you might’ve hit! 

3. Regulates insulin and reduces inflammation. Strength training helps you burn glucose, which could help you with dealing with Type 2 diabetes or any other condition that requires you to lower your blood sugar levels. Additionally, certain studies have indicated that strength training two times per week can help reduce inflammation in overweight women. Do scientists know how to explain this? No, not yet. But hey – does it really matter, if it’s helping you?  

4. Improves sleep, mood, posture and energy levels. Weight training can greatly improve the quality of your sleep, as well as help you fall to sleep faster. Naturally, this will improve your mood and help eliminate mood swing during the day. Additionally, because it builds muscles in your back and core, strength training will greatly influence your posture, making it much easier to stand straight without feeling that weird pain in your lower back.

5. Builds your confidence and makes everyday life easier. In all honesty: is there anyone who hasn’t felt slightly proud after accomplishing something they weren’t capable of before? Of course not. Strength training will give you a confident  ’I know I can do this’ attitude that you’ll carry with you long after you’ve left the gym. Moreover, you’ll find everyday activities much easier to do. From carrying groceries to lifting the couch, everything will become a breeze. 

Don’t fall for the classic trap

On your strength training journey, you’ll likely come across various people and trainers telling you about the importance of ’leg day’ and ’chest day’ and how you shouldn’t do everything the same day, you should let your body recover, and so on. Keep in mind that this approach is characteristic of bodybuilding, and not strength training as such. Yes, bodybuilders lift heavy weights, but they mostly do it to look a certain way. As a result, all of them look strong, but a few really are.

Why? Well, because strength is rarely about picking up one heavy thing with your one arm and that being the end of it. In real life, you need your whole body to work simultaneously in order to do some complex moves, therefore it’s only logical to train that way as well. Aim to find a workout that will train your whole body in controlled movements, rather than isolate one muscle group and train it without paying attention to how it interacts with the rest of the body.   

The incredible 6

There are 6 key strength movements that engage every major muscle in your body and most of the smaller muscles as well. Every strength workout should aim to incorporate 2 leg exercises: one focusing on the knees (such as squats), and the other focusing on the hip (such is deadlift). After that, you only need 4 more moves: vertical pressing (standing barbell presses) and pulling (pull-ups) exercises, and horizontal pressing (bench presses) and pulling (bent over rows) exercises. Of course, repeating those 6 key movements could become boring, so we encourage you to switch it up a bit, but to keep in mind that the main focus of strength training should be a movement of larger muscle groups at the same time. 

If it turns out you can’t do these movements because there’s a minor muscle that is important for proper form but is underdeveloped – there are various ’assistance’ exercises you can do to strengthen the weak link and continue with your training. Ask your trainer about them or find a good strength training program that has them.

Basic strength workout example

First thing’s first: the important thing is to always stretch and warm up before going into your workout. Keep in mind that you’re only in competition with yourself, meaning that there’s no need to start off with heavy weights. You should aim to lift the weight that will both challenge you and enable you to do the intended number of repetitions with proper form. Now, let’s get into the workout. This is a 3-day per week strength training workout that will work your whole body equally. 

There are a lot of different strength workouts, so if you want something a bit more demanding, or something easier, simply ask your Metafit trainer! This is just an example that can give you an idea of how 1 day of basic strength training might look like and how much time should you invest in your strength training. 

As always, work hard and train safe!