The Science of Strength training!

Today we talk about strength training, one of my favorite subjects

The main reason I got into Personal Training was strength training.

I had a fascination with getting people stronger and I studied it for years

I actually still do, it’s such an amazing topic.

Today I wish to share some of what I know with you all to help you work through your plateaus and keep progressing towards your goals.

So first things first, strength training by definition is described as physical movements that increase strength and endurance. These are usually formed under load but not restricted to them.

To put that in simple terms, any movement with the intention to better yourself is identified as strength training.

You see when we are moving around during the day our body is transporting oxygen around the body to fuel our muscles and keep them moving. 

Other blood cells carry the amino acids we need to repair them and nourish them so we can again, keep moving and functioning.


This process is what we call AEROBIC activity

When we add load or resistance to everyday movements, however, 

the body reacts and the muscles begin to work harder to stabilize the joints, keep them articulating properly and keep you from collapsing over into a heap.

This causes the muscles to start working without oxygen and starts a process called glycolysis. 

This is the formation of glucose which helps fuel our muscles and provides it with extra energy. 

This whole process is what we call, ANAEROBIC activity.

I know what you’re thinking, anaerobic is HIIT right?

It is, just at its extremist level. 

We measure these levels of anaerobic activity by using a scale called the RPE scale or known in full as the Rate of Perceived Exertion scale. 

How it works is you personally judge how hard you think you’re working from 1 to 10. 1 being easy, 10 is hard.


And dependant on where you think you are is a fair indication of how hard your working

This scale is obviously not comparable to anyone else but is usually a solid indicator of where someone is in their lifting journey.


Your scale will continue to change over time until you’re pretty confident you know what your peak performance is and this is where you start testing yourself.
 

Anyway, BACK TO THE STRENGTH CHAT
 

Because your body is forced to move under load, your muscles require more energy and the glycolysis begins
 

We keep moving and keep performing as a result of this. 

Unfortunately for us, this whole process causes a byproduct which is known as lactate or lactic acid.
 

This slows down our movement and slows down the repairing process of our muscles.


Why is this important to understand for strength training?

Because unknown to many, strength training like any training, is an anaerobic activity. The intensity just isn’t there and because of this

We need to and should, respect it as much as we do with any other anaerobic activity.

Quite simply put, strength training comes down to recovery.

You wouldn’t do HIIT training every day of the week continuously for 4 weeks, would you? (you shouldn’t if you do, it sparks what we call adrenal fatigue, that’s a subject for another day but it's not ideal for your body)
 

Then why do it with a weights program? 
 

If you don’t factor in the proper amounts of recovery in a true strength program then you’re setting yourself up to fail.

If strength training was a line on a graph, it would continuously go up, depending on the program would depend on the gradient.


You can't plateau when it comes to strength training. You can't!


You can slow down in progression but you can't plateau.


The science explains that if you break down muscle tissue, the body rebuilds it more resilient and stronger than before. 


Then in that theory, wouldn't you, therefore, become stronger every time you workout?


So why do we plateau?


It's because we don't recover well enough!


I challenge you to go try it, do an exercise for a full week on the max weight you can every day.


Then leave the exercise for 3 to 4 days.


Come back and do the same weight and see how many reps you can do.


I guarantee you, 9 times out of 10 you'll bang out at least 2 to 4 more reps or hit the same amount of reps. You will never do less though. 


If you hit the same amount of reps then you still didn't recover well enough and you probably needed another day.


Taking time off or not exercising for a month obviously has its effect on strength training but you'll only go backward. You'll never stay the same.


The body is either getting stronger or weaker. It never plateaus.


You can see the manipulation of rest through common programs nowadays.


Take the whole concept of split workouts. 


Bodybuilders needed to utilize their time better so instead of working out every other day, they split the body into groups and BOOM, now we have mainstream programming


It's all there, we're just looking at the wrong things

 

In saying all this, if I could get you to take anything away from this text it’s this.

Forget all the complicated programming and fancy numbers.

Understand the science of lifting and the key to recovery and you’ll progress a lot faster than any other lifter in the gym.

People know how to lift, that’s the art

Learn why you do it so you understand the science.

Knowledge is power but applied knowledge is powerful!

Now you guys know, apply the same principles you would use for any anaerobic training to your weight training and watch your weights go up.

It’s simple but at the end of the day, so is lifting.