Calling Fitness experts - Strength training questions!

charliebird

Hi Folks

I need to add more strength training into my weekly exercise program. But I have a couple of questions!!

1. Is it better to do a small amount of strength training after a cardio workout or is it better to have say two seperate strength training sessions a week.

2. Is it still roughly 2 lots of 12 reps? Is that the most effective?

3. I should work with weights that fatigue so the second sets of reps are really tough?

4. I've heard that I should split up the strength training i.e. 1 session upper body another session lower body? Any thoughts?

Basically I would like to hear about the best ways to build in strength training workout. My goal is to increase my muscle mass to help me increase my potential for burning more fat and increasing my metabolism!!!!

Thank you!

Charlie

AZKristi

I am not a strength training expert by any means. When I started working you, I read a great book that answered a lot of these questions. It also demonstrated a variety of strength training exercises and workouts.

The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises
http://www.amazon.com/Womens-Health-Book-Exercises-ebook/dp/B003M5I9EY

It's available in most book stores and may be available at your local library.

It suggesting varying weights and reps... one week do 15 reps per set of lighter weeks, the next week do 6 sets per set of heavier weights. In both cases you should be lifting weights that are heavy enough that the last few reps are difficult.

It also suggested 3 full body strength training sessions per week (working both upper and lower body). You don't work every muscle in every workout, so you can still do them in about 30-40 minutes. It really helps you build workout routines that cover all major muscle groups and helps you make sure you are exercising the muscles in a variety of ways.

One thing I really liked is that it talks about exercising both slow and fast twitch muscle fibers, which is something that is important for maintaining strength for day to day activities as we age. The fast twitch muscle fibers are often neglected, but they are important to maintain.

sunshine79

I'm not an expert but I'm learning lots on my journey so I thought I'd share what I've learned so far. I have a Personal trainer who always advises me to use the heaviest weights I can mange and go for 2 sets of 12 reps, he says if I can do more than 12 then the weight is not challenging enough and I tend to agree.

You may want to read 'the new rules of lifting for women' - it's a great book and a very easy read plus it gives you a strength training program to follow (I'm doing it at the moment and I'm loving it:happy: :happy: :happy: )

See if they have it in your library, that's were I got it first before I brought my own copy

registers

1. Is it better to do a small amount of strength training after a cardio workout or is it better to have say two seperate strength training sessions a week.

You stated your goal at the bottom "build more muscle mass to improve your metabolic rate. There are many factors to conclude this decision. If I was you and wanted to build muscle mass with cardio and lifting on the same day. First thing is to eat enough carbs and proteins to fuel your lifting session. FIRST you lift, so your carbs are used during your lifting sessions. If your glyocgen stores are depleted (carbs convert to glucose, and get stored in the muscle as glyocgen). You won't be able to bring as much intensity to your workout. After you do your lifting session, your glycogen stores would probably be some what low. From this point... you should do cardio at a low intensity. The question that you will probably raise is "doesn't high intesnity burn more calories?" Yes it does. "so why are you saying do low intensity?" To be able to do high intensity cardio, you glyocgen in the muscle... since you just did your weight lifting session, they will be lower, if the stores run out... Your muscle(protein) will get broken down in to glucose. You will be wasting away muscle.

2. Is it still roughly 2 lots of 12 reps? Is that the most effective?

I personally believe 6-8reps is best. This is the spot where sarcoplasm is increased in the muscle. It's just muscle in the fluid which gives you bigger muscles.

3. I should work with weights that fatigue so the second sets of reps are really tough?

This is a tricky one... depends on your rest period, how intense the lifting is. It's recommended to rest 1 minute in between sets. Powerlifters rest about 3 minutes in between sets. What is the difference? Powerlifters are "stronger" than bodybuilders usually. Body builders increase "muscle size" powerlifters "increase the amount of muscle fibers and the intensity of their muscle contractions." What burns more fat(raises your metabolic rate during rest)? I don't know.

4. I've heard that I should split up the strength training i.e. 1 session upper body another session lower body? Any thoughts?

This is also kind of a tricky question, but not too much. To get the benefits of growth hormone, your exercise should be intense and under 40mins. If it takes you more than 40mins to do full body, you won't gain maximum benefit from growth hormone. If you split it up 2 times and exercise under 40mins, you probably will get the benefits of growth hormone, but you won't get the same total caloric expenditure. A big factor of this is also your recuperation abilities.


My overall advise is... stop tripping about all this stuff. I used to be like that, trying to do everything perfect. My friend would tell me, "you're not training for the Olympics." Just get out there and lift heavy, and eat enough calories to grow new muscle. That's all.

registers

I am not a strength training expert by any means. When I started working you, I read a great book that answered a lot of these questions. It also demonstrated a variety of strength training exercises and workouts.

The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises
http://www.amazon.com/Womens-Health-Book-Exercises-ebook/dp/B003M5I9EY

It's available in most book stores and may be available at your local library.

It suggesting varying weights and reps... one week do 15 reps per set of lighter weeks, the next week do 6 sets per set of heavier weights. In both cases you should be lifting weights that are heavy enough that the last few reps are difficult.

It also suggested 3 full body strength training sessions per week (working both upper and lower body). You don't work every muscle in every workout, so you can still do them in about 30-40 minutes. It really helps you build workout routines that cover all major muscle groups and helps you make sure you are exercising the muscles in a variety of ways.

One thing I really liked is that it talks about exercising both slow and fast twitch muscle fibers, which is something that is important for maintaining strength for day to day activities as we age. The fast twitch muscle fibers are often neglected, but they are important to maintain.

Fast twitching muscle fibers are used when lifting weights also during high intensity cardio. A good point by both of the ladies is that they also said to vary your workout routines.

gymshoe42

I preface this by saying I'm not a strength training expert but I speak from what I've learned from studying all sorts of books on this topic and from my own doing.

1. Is it better to do a small amount of strength training after a cardio workout or is it better to have say two seperate strength training sessions a week.

In my opinion, you get a better overall strength training workout if you separate your cardio from your lifting days. If your primary focus is strength training, then cardio should be secondary. ie...do lifting first, then short cardio or do longer cardios on the days you don't lift. You want to devote as much energy as you can to the strength training.

2. Is it still roughly 2 lots of 12 reps? Is that the most effective?

Depends on what you're doing. If you've never followed a strength training routine, ..it's good to start out with low weights and higher reps ... like 15-20 reps. After 3 weeks, start going down to 12-15 reps, ... then 10-12. You can decide how many sets you do. As you get heavier weights, you'll need to incorporate more warm-up sets. Whereas with the high rep sets... you don't really need to. Do your reps slow. Whenever gravity is going to do most of the work...do that motion slow..resist gravity. You'll work the muscles more and thus build a better foundation for the heavy lifting training.

3. I should work with weights that fatigue so the second sets of reps are really tough?

You should work with weights that enable you to finish the set. So if you're going to do 3 sets of 12 reps... pick a weight where you can achieve that. If you're barely able to finish, then you picked a good weight. If you finish and you feel you could have kept going...next time... raise the weight. You can also do tiered sets... Say you're going to do 2 sets... the first set could be 6 reps at a very high weight, then the next set could be 8-10 reps at a lower weight. Or vice versa.

4. I've heard that I should split up the strength training i.e. 1 session upper body another session lower body? Any thoughts?

yes. if you're just starting out, you can do full body workouts, but you'll want to get to doing them separate. It lets you work each area more thoroughly and gives your body enough time to recover. Oh ..I do core muscles every lifting day.

Basically..start slow. Don't rush into weight lifting,... you can really hurt yourself. And you gotta also adjust your diet to help your body build muscle. To do that.. you need protein in your diet. You can read up on how much protein you need ... at one point I was up to .75g of protein per pound body weight. Another thing.. try to use machines as little as possible and use the free weights as much as possible. The effort to just balance the weights work a lot of small support muscles and building everything together is the best way to go ..in my opinion. AFter you've done several weeks straight... take a week off of strength training....not exercising... but formal strength training.

registers

I preface this by saying I'm not a strength training expert but I speak from what I've learned from studying all sorts of books on this topic and from my own doing.

1. Is it better to do a small amount of strength training after a cardio workout or is it better to have say two seperate strength training sessions a week.

In my opinion, you get a better overall strength training workout if you separate your cardio from your lifting days. If your primary focus is strength training, then cardio should be secondary. ie...do lifting first, then short cardio or do longer cardios on the days you don't lift. You want to devote as much energy as you can to the strength training.

2. Is it still roughly 2 lots of 12 reps? Is that the most effective?

Depends on what you're doing. If you've never followed a strength training routine, ..it's good to start out with low weights and higher reps ... like 15-20 reps. After 3 weeks, start going down to 12-15 reps, ... then 10-12. You can decide how many sets you do. As you get heavier weights, you'll need to incorporate more warm-up sets. Whereas with the high rep sets... you don't really need to. Do your reps slow. Whenever gravity is going to do most of the work...do that motion slow..resist gravity. You'll work the muscles more and thus build a better foundation for the heavy lifting training.

3. I should work with weights that fatigue so the second sets of reps are really tough?

You should work with weights that enable you to finish the set. So if you're going to do 3 sets of 12 reps... pick a weight where you can achieve that. If you're barely able to finish, then you picked a good weight. If you finish and you feel you could have kept going...next time... raise the weight. You can also do tiered sets... Say you're going to do 2 sets... the first set could be 6 reps at a very high weight, then the next set could be 8-10 reps at a lower weight. Or vice versa.

4. I've heard that I should split up the strength training i.e. 1 session upper body another session lower body? Any thoughts?

yes. if you're just starting out, you can do full body workouts, but you'll want to get to doing them separate. It lets you work each area more thoroughly and gives your body enough time to recover. Oh ..I do core muscles every lifting day.

Basically..start slow. Don't rush into weight lifting,... you can really hurt yourself. And you gotta also adjust your diet to help your body build muscle. To do that.. you need protein in your diet. You can read up on how much protein you need ... at one point I was up to .75g of protein per pound body weight. Another thing.. try to use machines as little as possible and use the free weights as much as possible. The effort to just balance the weights work a lot of small support muscles and building everything together is the best way to go ..in my opinion. AFter you've done several weeks straight... take a week off of strength training....not exercising... but formal strength training.

I just answered the question directly. But the person I am quoting is right about easing in to a weight training routine. If you're new, use light weights and lift them slowly. Focus on proper form, this will train you to "train the proper muscle" without the heavy load. It will also train you to use more muscle fibers, because endurance does come in to play with this. NASM (National Academy Of Sports Medicine) foundation is stabilization phase. 4-6 weeks of just light weights. We do things like stand on one foot as we lift, then stand on the other foot, then lift with like 1 hand, and then lift with the other... This will train your balance as you lift, engaging your "Stabilization" abilities using more muscle fibers, so you know exactly which muscles to use when you lift.

charliebird

Thanks guys this is really really helpful advice which is very much appreciated.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Charlie