(Thanks to Rebecca for letting me post my email to her as a blog post). We were talking about what workout solution might be good for her to try, and I gave her some things to think about. What follows is my response.
There’s this recent shift in thinking on working out, but like everything, it’s a shift backwards to an oldschool approach that, as it turns out, still works just fine. Instead of doing a bunch of little exercises for each little body part, “compound” workouts involve as many body parts getting in on the deal as possible.
Another factor of these workouts is that you can get a lot done with bodyweight or dumbells instead of standard use of machines. This means a focus on training in functional strength instead of focusing on aesthetics. However, because you’re working your muscles more, the aesthetics come through.
So what do you do?
*Pushups– which work chest and front deltoids and triceps and core.
*Chinups (or something called reverse rows) — works back and biceps and all kinds of parts.
*Squats — working your quadriceps, your glutes, your calves.
*Lunges– working your hamstrings, your glutes, your calves.
*Core work– working your various abdominal areas (but not your standard crunches).
*Dips– which is a slightly more focused exercise that works your triceps and chest a bit more, but has some other components.
*Dumbell Rows– another back exercise, working several muscles.
*Dumbell Bench Press– more chest workout, but if done incline-style, can be cross-planar, meaning it works your horizontal as well as vertical push muscles.
*Deadlifts– a great lower back exercise, but must be done with good form.
And plenty more.
See how it’s all machine-independent? You need a little bit of equipment to do it, but not nearly a complete Nautilus circuit at the gym (or Cybex or whoever’s hot at your local gym). Except for chinups, the only gear you really need would be dumbells, and even that is negotiable. There are lots of alternative things to lift. For instance, gallon jugs of water weigh eight pounds. Neat, eh?
Newer thinking on exercising suggests doing full body circuits three or four times a week maximum. Rest a day or two in between. Another workout myth that’s been shattered lately is this notion of doing light weights and high reps for building tone but not bulk, and the opposite for building bulk. It doesn’t really work that way.
To build strong, lean muscle tissue, your muscles need to be stressed beyond their current “static” ability. It appears that the best way to accomplish this is a mix of heavier weights with low reps, and moderate weights with a few more reps. The only benefit of doing very high reps appears to be endurance related.
(Here’s where you’ll likely tune me out)
This involves slow-twitch versus fast-twitch muscle fibers. These are muscle fibers we all have, and that most of us have in roughly equal proportion. Slow twitch fibers are your pluggers. They’re the endurance-based muscles. They do most of your day-to-day stuff, and/or your long term stuff. Running a few miles? Slow twitch..
Fast twitch fibers are your hired guns. They jump in when you do something that requires more than you normally can handle. For instance, you don’t normally walk around with a 45 pound barbell plate in your hands, so when it comes time to move one over your head and back down, your fast twitch muscles help out.
Workouts need to engage a little of both, but your bigger gains come from stressing and enhancing your fast twitch fibers. Your slow twitch are physically smaller and don’t build as readily. That’s why runners don’t have monster legs that look like trash cans with sneakers on the bottom.
But why build your muscle tissue? Fat burning. Strength. Power on demand. More muscle available during endurance.
I can talk more about building a program next time, if that’s useful.
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