Resistance Training. How?

In my last post, I made the case for why the ordinary person should be interested in doing resistance training. I think the argument is compelling. But then, most people would probably agree. Agreement isn’t the issue - getting the training done is the issue! Heaving and crowbarring the stars into something resembling alignment is not easy.

• “Where will I do it?”

• “What equipment do I need? Shall I get my own stuff or join a gym?”

• “How can I make this fit in with x,y and z?” (Work, odd jobs, chauffeuring kids, getting enough sleep, spending time with the spouse - and so on and so forth)

So, the purpose of this article is to show you how a typical, middle-aged (or thereabouts) person with their hands full can do resistance training efficiently and also achieve some good results for their health and their physical capacity.

Go Big

A 22 year-old has the time to luxuriate their way through their training. You do not. So, you’ll need to focus on doing movements that give you a big reward for your time. What are they? The movements you need to major on use the large muscle groups of the legs, trunk and arms. They take the major joints of the body through a large range of motion. They are often described as “functional”. One of the things people mean when they use that word in this context is, “the sort of thing you do, or need to do, in life”; for example:

• squatting;

• lifting a heavy object off the ground or over your head;

• pushing a heavy object away from you or pulling it towards you;

• stepping or jumping onto a high surface

These movements allow you to lift relatively heavy weights (for you). This means your skeleton gets a good stimulus to strengthen your bones. They also use a lot of muscle mass, which is an excellent signal to your body to make more. Also, there’s more potential for a positive effect on your hormonal system (esp for blokes). And the more working muscle, the more blood flow needed, which gets the heart pumping.

A good rule of thumb for any given session is that you should train all of these movement patterns:

• Squatting

• Lunging / hip hinging

• Pushing away from you

• Pulling towards you

Here’s an idea for how these movements translate into common training jargon:

• Squatting: barbell squats (of which there are many, many variations), leg presses (machine), goblet squats, dumbbell squats, kettlebell squats, squat jumps, wall squats, air squats (just your bodyweight). The list is endless but the basic principle is the same: squat down and stand up under load

• Lunging / hip hinging: Deadlifts (barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell etc etc), step ups, kettlebell swings, walking lunges, reverse lunges, lunge jumps, lateral lunges. Again, there are variations a-plenty but one principle: with your feet spread apart (split) front to back, bend at the knees and hips then straighten.

• Pushing: bench press, overhead press, pushups, shoulder press or chest press (machine based), wall push ups, tricep dips (e.g. using a park bench).

• Pulling: chin ups, pull-ups, barbell rows, seated rows (machine based), resistance band rows, lat pulldowns.

Start Small

When you’re getting into resistance training, it’s a wise idea to undershoot a little in terms of effort or intensity. You need to gauge how your body will respond - some people can get very sore; others get very tired. In your first few sessions, be sure to hold back a smidge. If you’re feeling OK 48 hours after the session, then feel free to ramp it up next time. When it comes to building your physical capacity and capabilities, “a little bit, often” is a good principle to deploy. The same is true for habit formation. It’s a bitter pill to swallow for some, but there’s no getting around it. Sorry. On the upside, though, a little bit of work done frequently can create immense change over time. Think of how the sea breeze can whittle down limestone cliffs. Be the breeze, grasshopper.

Use Supersets

One meaning of the word “superset” is to do a lower body movement immediately followed by an upper body movement (or vice versa). This means you need less rest (muscles involved in movement #1 can rest a bit when movement #2 is happening). You can also get your heart rate up with this sort of sequencing, and that’s tremendous for your health. However, the main payoff here is a time benefit - you can accomplish a lot in a small amount of time.

Consistency is Everything

With physical training, nothing trumps consistent effort. This is why it’s important to make your training enjoyable if at all possible. An activity you enjoy will be done consistently. And consistency is everything. It’s important to not have an “all or nothing” attitude to any sort of physical training, including resistance training. Keep these things in mind:

• Something is better than nothing

• Training effects can’t be totally undone if you slack off for a few days or weeks. Even if you don’t train for months, your mind and body maintains some memory of your strength and fitness for years - if not your lifetime. Getting back to where you were is less hard than getting there in the first place

• If you have next-to-zero time on any given day, doing some form of training with the time you have acts as a placeholder for your future self in your future schedule. When you do five minutes instead of zero minutes, you say to yourself, “I am a person who does physical training”. Then, when you do have the time, you don’t need to generate as much mental momentum to get rolling again.

But won’t I get huge?

A common objection to resistance training, especially among women, is that people do not want to become super muscly. When you hear the Pilates adverts promising “long, lean muscles”, they’re acknowledging this objection and countering it (with, as it happens, a falsehood!). The good news is that unless you’re willing to invest a lot of time in resistance training (as in, many many hours and multiple sessions per week), it is all but impossible that you’re going to get hugely huge. What is much more likely is that your body composition will change, i.e. you will weigh the same but you’ll have more muscle and less body fat. Your appearance may change but, again, unless you’re clocking up serious hours in the gym, the changes will NOT be dramatic. And if your appearance does change, it’s more likely that you’ll simply look a little healthier, a little more muscular and a little leaner.