Muscle Strength and general health go hand in hand. Muscle impacts weight management, endocrine health, bone and muscle strength, cognitive function, metabolic function, and many other things. It will improve the overall quality of life; especially as you age, lose muscle mass and gain fat mass over time.
Here are some things to keep in mind when exercising for strength:
Resistance Training
Reps in Reserve
Progressive Loading
Consistency
Push or pull.
Squats, push-ups, hip-hinges, presses, rows. Apply force to signal your muscles; working your muscles against an external resistance.
To develop the adaptation of strength, you must first apply resistance.
Free weights, cable machines, some body weight movements, or bands can be tools you'd use to apply resistance.
Repetition (reps) is the number of times you can perform an exercise. Many trainees group their repetitions in to sets of 3 or more. To develop strength, you need to select a weight that is heavy enough to give you about 4-16 repetitions.
For example. I can squat 85 lbs with 6 repetitions for 4 sets. That would be a total of 24 repetitions by the time I was finished the exercise. When I squat 6 reps, I believe I could do about 2-3 more reps after that before failing. So, I saved 2 reps. This lets me think about how close to failure I am and allows me to appropriately challenge my muscles. For strength and hypertrophy, you'll want to train close to failure for each set you do. Take a 2-4 minute break between each set.
Overtime the exercises become easier because your body is adapting to the resistance you are applying to it. When this happens, it is time to challenge your muscles again with a heavier weight.
It is the gradual application of more challenges.
Progressive loading is integral in making you stronger. Maybe you are adding more reps, or more weight.
Imagine: For 3-4 weeks you've been curling with 10lbs and then realize your perceived exertion is less (you have more reps in the tank) In other words it takes less effort for you do perform the exercise the same way you have been doing it. Continue to challenge and grow; add more weight.
You start with a goal. Then you look into what steps you need to apply to achieve that goal. Over time with consistency, results begin to emerge.
When you apply resistance training, reps in reserve, and progressive loading, you will gain the adaptation of strength.
Consistency means keep doing it even if you don't want to or feel like it!
Once you know what ought to be done to send you down the path of improvement and strength (i.e. the use of resistance training and progressive loading), then keep going with your goal and why in focus. Consistency helps you build a lifestyle of strength and maintain strength through habits.
It is important to know you "why" in any case of reaching a goal. It will hold you consistent with discipline- which is a decision you make.
Discipline is believing the goal is more important than how you feel in the moment.
It starts with a decision by YOU. You decide what your goals are and how you are going to create and enact a plan to reach it. This not only applies to strength- but many other goals in life. You decide what you are going to do when you encounter challenges. Make conscious priorities not excuses. Consistency is key.
YOU GOT THIS!
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