Austin fitness training

Less frequent exercise can be better - a personal experience

When I first began lifting weights I worked out every other day - Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday - repeat - and I never missed for five straight months.  The sessions were with a personal trainer, and accurate records were kept.

Soon my progress stopped. I was particularly stuck with bicep curls just barely achieving eight reps each time for five months. Twice during that time I got nine reps on that one exercise; I likened it to a religious experience – achieving beyond the realm of normal.  The workouts during this time were grueling, as I was hell bent on breaking through a plateau.

I went home for Christmas.  It had been more than a week since my last workout when I found a health club with the very same line of equipment I had been using. I thought surely I would be weaker. I was shocked to find that I was stronger. On the bicep curls I got eleven reps, not the usual eight. I had no explanation for it.

An exercise plan anyone can stick to

From this NY Times article Full-Service Gyms Feel a Bit Flabby: 

“Up to 45 percent of fitness-club members quit going in any given year, according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association [IHRSA].”

 And this

 “Up until the last six years, it’s been relatively easy to sell memberships, and to replace people going out the back door with people coming through the front door.”

Burn calories four ways with strength training

Strength training helps you burn calories four ways:

1. Calories burned after the exercise stops. Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) occurs after the workout. After running your body replenishes sugar stores. Strength training produces a larger post-exercise calorie demand as the body replaces sugar and rebuilds muscle as a result of the micro-trauma that has been imposed on the muscles.

2. Added muscle burns additional calories. Muscle is metabolically expensive to maintain and will require calories 24/7.

3. The workout itself. All forms of exercise burn calories, but not really as much as people think. Those who exercise with lesser intensity will burn less calories that those who exercise with more intensity.

 

Where to place the carrot - the difference between finishing and quitting

Several years ago I participated in the MS Tour For Cure. On the second day on the last half of the 75 mile ride I settled in with a small group of riders who were keeping up a blistering pace. We sailed past each of the rest stops. Toward the end it was all I could do to take my turn in the lead. I stayed with it because my odometer indicated that we only had a little over mile to go – the carrot (the end of the punishing pace) was very close.

I was really suffering. I wondered if others were suffering too. I found out. Someone in the group asked how much farther? Someone else replied: “Five miles to go” – that placed the carrot very far away. I knew that was wrong, but one of my co-riders Shane didn't know. Shane immediately fell off the pace.

Strength training better than aerobics for easing back pain

In a 16 week study using two different modalities to ease back pain one group performed aerobic training such as walking on a treadmill, jogging, and using an elliptical machine and another group exercised used barbells, dumbbells, and other load-bearing exercise equipment. The aerobic group experienced a 12 percent decrease in back pain, while the weight training group experienced a 60 percent decrease in back pain.

For preserving bone density try high intensity strength training

‘High-intensity strength training exercises are an effective and feasible means to preserve bone density while improving muscle mass, strength, and balance in postmenopausal women.”

That quote was from this study:Effects of high-intensity strength training on multiple risk factors for osteoporotic fractures. A randomized controlled trial:

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