Exercise | Life Health Fitness

Muscular Strength Training VS Muscular Endurance Training

So you decided to start working out, but you don’t know where to begin. Or you are already working out but are not getting the results you want. There can be several reasons for this including diet. But this post is not about diet. One often overlooked reason could be your workout program. Maybe you don’t have a program. Then you should consider following a specific one. This way you will have a path to your goals.

The same you need a blue print to build a house is the same way you need one to build muscle, gain strength or lose weight. The blue print depends on your goal. All workouts do not give you the same results. Therefore, you should be clear about your goals before you start. The path you take to reach your fitness goals will determine your results.

If you want to get stronger, gain muscle mass or lose weight, well you workout program will be very different for each one. If your goal is only to improve your overall health like controlling your blood pressure, you cholesterol or blood sugar then any of the programs will work. The American Heart Association recommends strength training 2 days a week. Any strength training will fulfill this requirement.

The movement patterns are the same but the intensity is different. This is where you will have to follow a program that differentiates the required training for muscular strength and muscular endurance.

A big misconception is that if you are good at one you are automatically good at the other but this not true. The muscle fiber type recruited is different for muscular strength training and muscular endurance training.

Endurance training activates Type I muscle fiber also known as slow twitch. They keep you going longer. Conversely strength training activates Type II muscle fiber also known as fast twitch muscle fiber they make you go harder and when activated help you gain muscle mass.

Before we get into it, endurance is the ability to last or withstand exertion or force over and extended the period of time. Marathon runners are endurance athletes. They can run for hours and activate their slow twitch muscle fiber. On the other hand, strength refers to the capacity to withstand great force or pressure. Sprinters fall into this category. They need a lot of force to run a short distance

There is a host of different exercises involved in both muscle strength and endurance training. You can use the same exercise in either routine. Although it is essential to have a mix of both in your fitness journey, your decision should depend on your workout goals. Do you want to last longer or be stronger? Maybe both.

Muscular Strength Training

Muscular strength involves using a resistance-based exercise that allows a muscle group to use the most contraction and force against the resistance to move it. This method of training has a myriad of benefits when performed properly. Besides improving your overall health, strength training increases tendons, bones, muscles, ligaments strength and toughness. Strength training also increases your lean muscle mass. This occurs when you concentrate on a strength training routine which tears the fibers of your muscle tissues prompting them to self-repair.

Muscular Endurance Training

Have you ever carried something heavy for a considerable distance? The chances are that when you first lifted it, it felt light. However, with each step, it becomes heavier and almost unbearable. This means that your muscles were giving in to the pressure exerted on them by whatever you were carrying. At some point, you may have wanted to stop and rest for a few minutes. If you carried the same load every day, the repetitiveness of this task would build muscle endurance, making the task more bearable. Therefore, muscle endurance is the ability of your muscles to withstand the pressure exerted on them by an object of mass, over and over.

Muscular endurance training entails repetitively performing a particular set of exercises. If you adhere to a specific repetitive training pattern, the set of muscles that you are working on eventually develops endurance. You won’t get tired as easy.

What is the difference between muscular strength training and muscular endurance training?

If you are training objective is targeted towards building muscle endurance, you are definitely going to work your muscles differently from what you would for strength training. Muscular endurance seeks to build your capillaries in the muscles. This makes it possible to get more blood in and out of your muscles during your workout session.

Duration of Training

Training may be done over a short period. Nevertheless, endurance training takes more time. For example, a runner preparing for marathon trains by running for a long distance over and over, while a runner seeking to compete in a 100 meters will be more interested in sprinting for short distances. Obviously, the runner who is sprinting will do so in a shorter period, unlike the marathon runner who has to run for hours to build endurance.

Workout Reps

In strength training, you are required to use heavier weights and do fewer repetitions. About 4-6. If your focus in the gym is endurance, you will use lighter weights with more repetitions about 8-12. The last two reps should be challenging bodies out.

Our bodies are made to adapt, therefore you will find that it becomes easier to lift at you current weight and therefore will need to increase the weights to continue to get see improvements.

Type of Exercise

Muscular strength training and endurance training can use the same type of resistant exercises. The most common muscular strength training exercises are the bench press, barbell row, deadlift, and squats.

An endurance training protocol is more like many real-life activities. Some of the most popular exercises in muscular endurance training include push-ups. But, it is not just about any number of push-ups. You should be able to do more reps. This is undoubtedly one of the best endurance training exercises for your upper body. The other popular form of exercises used in muscular endurance training includes walking lunges, plank holds, sit-ups and body weight squats.

How Long Should You Rest Between Sets

Because you will lift heavier weights for strength training, you need to give your muscles enough time to rest between sets. It is recommended that you rest for 2 – 3 mins between sets. On the other hand, strength endurance training requires less rest because the weight is not as heavy and you don’t need as much strength to move the resistance. Therefore, resting for 1-2 mins will be enough.

Benefits

One of the benefits of muscular strength training is that you get to eat more food because you need the energy from food to lift. You also need a surplus of calories to build extra muscles. Just think about how much food football players eat. Anyone who wants to build big, well-defined muscles will without a doubt gain more by lifting heavier weights while using fewer reps.

On the contrary, one of the benefits of muscular endurance training is toning your body. In fact, this is one of the best ways to tone your body without increasing its size. But your diet also has to be on point.

Conclusion

Resistance exercises are an essential part of fitness and overall health. Regardless of you training regime, the chances are that you are positively contributing to well-being. It’s, however, important to note that there is more to working out than just fitness. You might be working out for very specific results, which will govern the kind of exercises that you need to immerse yourself into. If you would like to increase your physical strength so that you can lift heavier weights in your day to day activities, strength training would be the best way to go. However, if you can barely push your lawn mower for 15 minutes without getting you should work on your endurance. In fact, push the lawn mover can be counted as exercise or physical activity.

Why is Periodization Important for Weight Training: Workout Cycles for Better Gains

The Benefits of Periodization for Weight Training Gains

Have you ever been in a workout rut? You feel less motivated to work out or you’ve reached a plateau in your training. You simply aren’t seeing the results you expected! Chances are your results dropped off because you kept doing the same training over and over at the same intensity each time you trained. Your muscles need to be stimulated in different ways to keep making gains! Also, if you work your muscles in the same way repeatedly, you run the risk of over-training. One way to avoid this is to periodize your training. This cycle of working out is beneficial to if you who want to loose weight, gain muscle, gain strength or get in better shape. Its good that you started working out but once your body gets comfortable its time to change it up.

The Benefits of Periodization

Periodized training is where you vary the stimulus you place on muscles at varying time points in time. Doing this helps avoid training plateaus as your muscles and reduces the risk of over-training. For example, you can divide your training into phases where each phase focuses on a different goal. In addition, each phase builds on the last phase. One of the simplest ways to organize your training into phases is in this order:

Hypertrophy Phase

Hypertrophy training is a phase designed to enlarge the size of your muscles. During this phase, you will use a moderately heavy resistance. For the hypertrophy phase, choose a resistance equal to about 60 percent to 70 percent of your one-rep max. This should be a weight you can lift 10 to 12 times for three sets. Rest 60 seconds between sets. This type of training not only helps you build muscle, but it prepares you for the next phase, the strength and power phase where the going gets tougher.

Strength Phase

During the strength phase, you’ll increase the resistance modestly, so you’re working with a weight that’s somewhat heavier than what you used in the hypertrophy phase and you’re able to complete fewer reps. Choose a weight that you can complete between 2 and 5 repetitions before the muscles you’re working are spent. That will correspond to a weight of around 80 to 90 percent of your one-rep max. Allow your muscles to rest 2 minutes between each set and aim for 3 to 4 sets. You conditioned your muscles during the hypertrophy phase, so you should be better prepared for this phase, the phase where you focus on strength building.

Power Phase

During the power phase, you’ll focus on increasing the tempo of your lifts to build greater power. Choose a weight of 70 to 80 percent of your one-rep max and lift the weight at a faster tempo. Remember, power is the amount of work you can do in a given time period. So, moving the weight quickly through space will help you become more powerful. Shoot for 3 sets with 3 minutes of rest between sets.

Recovery Phase

The recovery phase is your reward for working hard during the previous three phases. During this phase, you’ll shift the focus of your training away from building strength and muscle size. Instead, do aerobics or other less strenuous exercises to give your muscles and nervous system a chance to recover. This phase is usually shorter than the other phases, no more than a week or so. Long recovery phases could lead to detraining and loss of gains.

Types of Periodization Schemes

Now that you know how the phases are set up, you can organize your phase in two main ways. Some people use linear periodization while others use undulating periodization.

Linear Periodization

This is the classic way to structure a periodized workout. First, choose the overall time period for a complete cycle. This is called a macrocycle. For example, you might want to complete a macrocycle in two months. This is the bigger time picture. In turn, a macrocycle is made up of a series of training phases called mesocycles. These correspond to the four phases just discussed come in. Each phase makes up a mesocycle. Over the two month macrocycle, you’ll cycle through the various phases or mesocycles. For example, you might spend two weeks in the hypertrophy phase, two weeks in the strength phase, two weeks in the power phase, and recover in the final week. But remember, the length of the macrocycle and mesocycles is up to you.

Undulating Periodization

Undulating periodization is another way to structure a periodized workout. With linear periodization, you work in a “straight line.” You go through each phase of training in order and the training intensity gradually increases. With undulating periodization, you change the focus and intensity of your training in a non-linear or undulating manner. For example, you might do hypertrophy training one week followed by peak strength training the next week and then power the next. You’re not moving in a linear sequence through the phases or mesocycles.

Some people even vary the intensity and volume every time they work out. For Monday’s workout, you might lift for hypertrophy and switch to strength on Wednesday. The fact that you’re constantly changing the intensity of your training means your muscles are less likely to adapt to what you’re doing and stop changing. In this way, you keep your muscles “guessing.” You can also adjust any training variable, such as the weight, repetitions, and tempo, in an undulating manner to change the stimulus you place on your muscles.

You might wonder whether undulating periodization is better than linear. A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research showed that undulating periodization was more effective for building strength than was a linear periodization scheme. Research also suggests that periodizing weight training, in general, is superior to non-periodized workouts for gains in strength and muscle hypertrophy. So, keep this in mind when designing your routine. Periodization rules and that’s why you should be doing it!

Plan to change your workout at about 6-8 weeks after starting your program. If you have been going at a really high intensity , then you can go to moderate intensity. Conversely, increase your intensity if you were on the low to moderate intensity. Last but not least, try different exercises or different variation of the same exercises. Once you mastered the exercise then try something new.

References:

J Strength Cond Res. 2002 May;16(2):250-5.

University of New Mexico “Periodization: Latest Studies and Practical Applications”

How High Blood Pressure Affects Sexual Function

High blood pressure can damage almost every organ in the human body. Over time, it also injures the inner lining of arteries, the blood vessels that carry blood and oxygen to tissues. That’s why it’s so important to monitor your blood pressure frequently and control it. It can do a significant amount of damage if you ignore it!

Hypertension is a silent disease. Many people have it and are unaware of it until they develop a complication. High blood pressure usually causes no symptoms until other health problems appear. Although some people claim to get a headache when their blood pressure is high, this usually only happens when blood pressures are sharply elevated.

What few people talk about is the impact blood pressure elevations have on sexual function. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can have a negative effect on sexual function in both men and women. Let’s look at how elevated pressures cause sexual problems and how these problems manifest.

The Impact of Uncontrolled High Blood Pressure on Sexual Function in Men

Men are the most profoundly affected sexually by high blood pressure. One of the most common disturbances men with poorly controlled blood pressure experience is difficulty achieving an erection. This is a distressing sign to most guys, but many are unwilling to discuss the problem even with their physician. High blood pressure makes it harder, or sometimes impossible, to achieve or maintain an erection because it reduces blood flow to the penis.

Why does blood flow to the penis drop with hypertension? People who have high blood pressure have arteries that don’t expand as much as they should. The lack of expansion is why their blood pressure is high in the first place. Overly tight arteries also impact blood flow to the penis. You need sufficient blood flow to get an erection. When blood flow is sluggish due to tight arteries, initiating or keeping an erection becomes a problem.

How common are erection problems in men with high blood pressure? A study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that almost half of men over the age of 40 with hypertension have erectile dysfunction. Some research suggests that the incidence of erectile dysfunction with elevated blood pressure is even more common than this study suggests. For example, a study published in the Journal of Urology found that 68 percent of guys with high blood pressure experienced episodes of erectile dysfunction.

The Effects of Hypertension on Sexual Function in Women

Women don’t have to achieve an erection as men do, but they, too, can experience sexual issues with blood pressure that’s too high. For example, uncontrolled high blood pressure can reduce blood flow to the vagina and clitoris. The decrease in blood flow makes it harder for a woman to stay aroused. In addition, a decline in blood flow can cause vaginal dryness that makes sexual intercourse less comfortable. Women with hypertension can also experience decreased libido and have less desire to have sex. Also, intercourse may be less satisfying due to these issues.

What about Blood Pressure Medications?

Some medications used to treat hypertension also cause sexual problems, particularly for men. Several classes of blood pressure medications make it harder for men to gain an erection. For example, some diuretics reduce blood flow to the penis, and another class called beta-blockers also commonly make it harder to achieve and hold an erection.

Does that mean blood pressure medications have to limit your sex life? Nope! There are still other classes of medications, such as calcium channel blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE) that lower blood pressure and are less likely to cause sexual problems. These are worth exploring if you have frequent sexual problems.

High blood pressure and the medications used to bring high blood pressure down can negatively affect sexual function, particularly in men. However, there are other causes of decreased sexual desire and erectile dysfunction too. Sometimes, erectile dysfunction is due to several factors beyond just elevated blood pressure.

For example, men with diabetes can have problems gaining and maintaining an erection, especially if their blood sugar levels are poorly controlled. So, discuss all the possible causes with your physician. Also, if blood pressure medications are contributing to sexual problems, they may be able to prescribe a different one that will work without as many sexual side effects.

Sometimes it’s possible, in the case of mild hypertension, to lower blood pressure readings through lifestyle, so that blood pressure medications can be reduced or even eliminated. But don’t change or reduce your medications without consulting your health care provider. Simple lifestyle changes like losing weight and exercising can improve sexual function and fire up the old libido too! A study conducted by researchers at Harvard found a 41 percent reduction in erectile dysfunction in men who walked at least 30 minutes daily. Walking helps lower blood pressure too. So, it’s a win-win activity.

Make sure you’re treating other conditions that can worsen sexual dysfunction. If you have diabetes, work on getting your blood sugar levels down. Also, kick the smoking habit! Smoking constricts the arteries that deliver blood to all tissues, including the sexual organs. It can also worsen high blood pressure. Don’t overdo the alcohol either! Alcohol worsens erectile dysfunction in several ways. It can cause short-term difficulty in getting an erection. Plus, drinking too much alcohol can lower testosterone, a male hormone involved in sexual arousal and sexual desire.

Conclusion

Regardless of its impact on sexual function, it is important to keep high blood pressure under control. If you ignore it, blood vessel damage can worsen and lead to other health problems that interfere with healthy sexual function. So, discuss the options with your health care provider now rather than later. Do it for your health!

References:

WebMD.com. “How High Blood Pressure Leads to Erectile Dysfunction”

Mayo Clinic. “High blood pressure and sex: Overcome the challenges”

Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. Volume 33, 2001 – Issue 3

Harvard Health Publishing. “5 natural ways to overcome erectile dysfunction”

Progressive Overload 101 – Why It’s Crucial for Effective Training

The human body is a well-oiled machine, and it can adapt to almost anything you throw at it. That is important when it comes to your training, whether you’re trying to improve strength, build muscle or increase cardiovascular fitness, and it’s also where the concept of progressive overload comes into play. If you want to keep making progress and continually improving, you’ll need to make some changes to your exercise routine. This article explains what progressive overload is, why it’s important, and how you can use this information to improve your training methods and see serious results.

What Is Progressive Overload?

Progressive overload is of particular importance to strength training athletes, but it’s relevant to anyone who lives an active lifestyle and wants to make progress. Simply put, it refers to the gradual increase in stress placed on the body during exercise. Your body naturally adapts to stress. When you train for mass or strength, this stimulates your body into action, and muscles are broken down and built back up again bigger and stronger than before. Other effects include stronger and denser bones and soft tissue, as well as increased blood flow.

Why Do You Need to Do This

Since your body quickly adapts, you’re going to have to keep challenging it if you want these reactions to occur. The concept of gradually increasing stress is a tried and tested way of doing so. If you keep doing the same thing over and over again, your body will get used to it, and you won’t be stressing it enough for any changes to occur. That can lead to results tailing off because you have reached a plateau. If you stop training for any reason, it will also have significant effects.

Living a sedentary lifestyle can cause muscular atrophy (loss of mass and strength). That is why, if you’ve come back from a lengthy absence, you’ll no doubt have found that your performance has dropped off and your physique is not what it used to be. If there is no demand for the body to adapt, then this atrophy will continue, which is why it’s so important to stay active and train in the right way.

How to Implement Progressive Overload in Your Training

There are many ways you can keep challenging your body and ensuring that it responds to your training. Here are some of the most common methods:

•Increased volume (more sets, more reps per set)

•Decreased rest times

•Increased resistance (heavier weights)

•Increased time under tension (perform reps more slowly)

•Increased frequency (training more often)

•Adapted exercises (one arm push-up, jump squat, deficit deadlift, etc.)

These are just a few of the main ways you can modify your training in line with this principle. How you implement this overload will depending on your goals and type of training, but it’s essential you find some way of stressing the body so you can continue to make progress.

Dangers of Progressive Overload

While the body needs stress to improve, the emphasis is on gradual increases. If you try and change your training too quickly or too drastically, you risk overtraining and causing serious injury to yourself. Here are a few things to keep in mind when coming up with a training plan:

•Small increases — whether you’re increasing weight, volume or whatever else, it’s important to take your time and build up in small increments. If you usually train for an hour three times a week, suddenly training for two hours every day is a recipe for disaster and could well lead to injury.

•Adequate rest — if you’re lifting heavier and longer, you’ve got to give the body time to recover from your training properly. Rushing back from a hard training session puts your body at risk.

•Periodization — periodization is the practice of training in cycles to reach your peak without overloading your body. That means you should avoid going all out every session, and vary the RPE (rate of perceived exertion) or percentage of the 1RM (one rep max) at which you train. Research training plans based on your goals.

Keep Making Gains

If you take your training seriously and want to keep making progress, then it’s essential you understand the principle of progressive overload, and know how to apply it to your workouts. Whether you’re increasing resistance, volume, or intensity, there are plenty of ways of effectively taking your exercise routine to the next level. As long as you’re aware of the potential risks, and ensure that you increase the stress on your body gradually, you should see some great results using this method.

The Best Fat-Burning Cardio Exercises for Women

Your life is busy, whether you work at a paid job or stay at home with kids. You have chores to do and errands to run, while somehow finding time to nurture relationships with partner, family, and friends. It’s hard to find the time to exercise! When you can squeeze in a workout, you want activities that burn fat, can be done pretty quickly, and don’t require tons of equipment or preparation. The best choice for all these needs? Aerobic activities that get your heart pumping and your metabolism jumping. Some you can do at home. No gym membership or equipment required.

Here are some great exercises to try:

Running

Running isn’t for everyone, but it’s a fantastic way to burn calories quickly if you can do it safely (check with your doctor first). You can do it just about anywhere or even inside on a treadmill, and you only need a sports bra and a good pair of running shoes to get started. Try mixing up jogging with bursts of faster running for maximum results.

Walking

Walking at any speed, even just a stroll, is healthier than sitting around. However, to get an effective workout in a short time, you need to keep a good pace. If you feel a bit breathless but can still speak comfortably, you are in a good zone. It doesn’t burn as many calories as running, but it is easier on your feet and joints. You can wear a weighted vested to make this more challenging.

Aerobics

Do you remember your mom doing Jane Fonda or Denise Austin workouts? Aerobics has been popular for decades, and for good reason — it works! It’s fun and energizing to do, and you can burn a lot of calories in a short time, especially if you make large, exaggerated movements. Jane and Denise are still creating new workout videos, and there are tons of other options, including low-impact workouts and even “chair aerobics” designed for seniors.

Dancing

Dance crosses over to aerobics with workouts like Zumba or Jazzercize, but there are lots of other ways to get your groove on and burn off some fat while you do it. You can take a dance class to learn to waltz or tango, or hit a club for a girl’s night out. But the easiest way to do it is to just crank up some favorite tunes and go to town in your living room. You can combine it with housecleaning chores, or squeeze in 5-minute bursts during tv commercials.

Bicycling

If you have a safe outdoor area for bike riding, it’s a perfect way to get in an aerobic workout and enjoy some fresh air. But you can also use a stationary bike at home or in the gym, or to maximize your calorie burn, try a spinning class.

Jumping Jacks

You remember these from gym class back in the day. Jumping jacks burn calories, get your whole body revved up, and best of all, don’t take long and can happen anywhere. Do a set of 50-100 when you wake up in the morning, or during commercials while watching television. Move quickly with big arm and leg movements for the best effect.

Rebounding

Rebounding is one of the exercises that astronauts do to stay fit on the space station, but it works great down here on earth, too. All you need is a small trampoline that you can bounce on. You can keep it as simple as just bouncing up and down while watching tv or listening to music or a podcast, or you can try a class at a gym where you combine your trampoline with aerobic routines.

Swimming

Unlike most of the other exercises, you can’t swim just anywhere. But if you have a pool in your backyard or a nearby neighborhood or gym pool, it’s one of the best ways to burn a lot of fat in a short time, and it’s very easy on your joints. Standard freestyle swimming works well, but if you can do breast or butterfly stroke, you will burn the most calories in each movement because these strokes require full body participation. Twenty or thirty minutes in a lap lane or lap pool and you will be fired up for the rest of the day.

Whatever exercise you choose, make sure you drink enough water, choose healthy foods, and watch your overall caloric intake. Just make sure you are eating enough to avoid pushing your body into starvation mode because it will hang onto that fat instead of burning it off. If you are really crunched for time, break up your session. All you need is 30 mins a day 5 days a week. You can break you time up in two 15mins session.

Last but not least, any of the above can be use to perform a HIIT workout.

Five Intense Indoor Exercises to Lose Weight

There’s nothing like jogging or biking in the great outdoors. Unfortunately, Mother Nature has a way of foiling workout plans with an ill-timed lightning storm or blizzard. Or perhaps you have to keep an eye on the kids at home and cannot leave the house. Whatever the case, there are plenty of great ways to burn calories indoors. Use these workouts whenever outdoor exercise is not an option.

Weight Circuit Training

Weights aren’t just for strength training; they can be used for some vigorous indoor cardio! The key is to do back-to-back sets of different lifts – with no rest period in between – using low to medium weight. For example, you might do one set of squats, one set of power cleans, and one set of overhead presses, then repeat the entire circuit as many times as you can. You can use barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, or any heavy object you have around your house.

Plyometrics

Plyometrics is a form of exercise that focuses on short, explosive movements, usually jumping. It is a mainstay of training regimens for gymnasts, martial artists, and basketball players. It’s easy to do plyometrics at home; just do a variety of jumps either for a certain number of reps or on a timer. Some common plyometric exercises include ankle jumps, squat jumps, jump-and-tucks, star jumps, and clapping push-ups. For an extra challenge, try jumping from the floor onto an elevated surface. These exercises will not only get your heart pumping but also build endurance and speed.

Tabata Exercises

Tabata circuits are a form of high-intensity interval training. Each circuit is 20 seconds of exercise of the highest possible intensity followed by 10 seconds of rest. The entire workout consists of eight circuits, making it four minutes in total. Don’t be fooled by the seemingly short duration; a Tabata set will bring you to total exhaustion. You are essentially cramming a half-hour workout into four minutes. You can do almost any exercise as a Tabata workout: squats, push-ups, lunges, flutter kicks, jump rope, sit-ups, and many more. All you need to start a Tabata workout is an interval timer, and many smart phone apps exist for this purpose.

Dance Aerobics

Have you ever wondered why you feel so exhausted after going to a concert or spending the evening at a dance club? It’s because fast-paced dancing is hard work! Dancing provides cardio and endurance training for the entire body. Best of all, you can do this exercise with any kind of music you choose. If you can dance to it, you can work out to it! All you need is a stereo and your favorite tunes.

Shadow Boxing

Even if you’re not a martial artist, you can still knock out some calories by shadow boxing at home. You don’t even need gloves or a punching bag; just stand in a fighting stance and throw punches as fast as you can. You can also add some kicks if you like. These exercises are most effective when done in intervals of about 30 seconds. You’ll feel the burn mostly in your arms, but your abs and legs will get some action as well from the work of keeping your body in an upright position as you throw punches.

Being homebound doesn’t mean you have to skip your workout. All you have to do is switch to a form of exercise that can be done indoors, and as you can see, there are plenty of options. Keep this list in mind next time you need to burn some calories without leaving the house.

What does Muscular Strength Mean?

Exploring the Seven Different Types of Muscular Strength

Being strong is important in any sport. Strength allows you to move heavier weights and makes movements in general feel easier. Strength protects you from injury, and one of the components of speed is being strong enough to do movements explosively and rapidly.

Simply ‘lifting weights in the gym’ without a goal will not prepare you for a competitive career in your chosen sport, however. You have to perform the right kinds of exercises to create the right kind of strength. There are seven different ‘types’ of muscular strength, and each one involves training the muscle fibers in a specific way. Let’s take a quick look at each type of strength, and how you would build it.

Agile Strength

Agile strength involves the ability to use your muscles across multiple planes of motion and to move a mass through gravity across those planes. Traditional lifts involve pushing or pulling in single directions. Agile strength is more complex and is the kind of strength that you would use when carrying heavy objects in day to day life.

To train agile strength, you would use dumbells, sandbags or medicine balls, and work with moderate intensity. It would be dangerous to put a lot of emphasis on your 1RM, but doing multiple repetitions at 75% of your max for two to five sets would generate results.

Starting Strength

The ‘starting strength’ is the measure of strength a person can generate from a stationary position. For example, a lineman shows starting strength when they move from their initial stance before the ball is snapped. Starting strength is important for explosive movements from a stationary position.

Training starting strength requires that the athlete focus on the initial range of motion, with weights of up to 90% of 1RM. The motions are fast and explosive, and are trained for 1-6repetitions, with a large number of sets, to reflect what the athlete may do in their sport.

Endurance and Strength

This is the ability to maintain contractions of your muscles and to generate force over longer periods. Triathletes and marathon runners need the ability to maintain the prolonged performance of their muscles so that they can maintain a rate of exertion that allows them to achieve good times in their races. Training for strength endurance improves the aerobic capacity of the muscles, and this type of strength is one of the more ‘functional’ types.

To train for endurance and strength, practitioners should perform slow reps at moderate intensity, using low to moderate weights, with short rest periods.

Speed

Speed strength is important for sprinters, pitchers, and other people who need to perform high-speed motions. Tennis serves are an example of this, as are shots in wrestling. Speed strength is trained using unloaded bodyweight movements and plyometrics. Where weights are used they are no more than 50% of the athlete’s one rep max. The emphasis is on doing the exercises as quickly as possible, with low rep numbers and a greater number of sets.

Relative Strength

Relative strength is the amount of force that a person can generate as compared to their body weight. If a 150lb person can deadlift 200lbs, and a 175lb person can deadlift 250lbs, the smaller person is stronger in terms of pounds lifted compared to their body weight, so would be considered stronger.

Relative strength is important for weight-class sports. A wrestler who is lean and strong for their body weight would likely overpower someone in the same weight class who carries more body fat and who is less capable in the weight room. Building relative strength requires building general strength and motor recruitment, and also maximizing lean mass at your body weight. This is achieved through diet changes.

Explosive Power

Explosive power allows people to produce large amounts of force in short burst, moving quickly through the appropriate range of motion. Explosive strength is the ability to generate power quickly and with as little transition time in the contraction cycle as possible. Olympic lifters have good explosive strength, as do wrestlers.

Explosive strength involves exercising at 40 to 75% of your one rep max for a small number of reps, performed as quickly as possible, with moderate rest periods in between.

Maximal Strength

Powerlifters and strongmen focus on developing absolute or maximum strength. This is the ability to recruit a muscle or group of muscles to create as much force or tension as possible against external resistance. Sports that rely on maximum strength require people to develop neuromuscular efficiency as well as good coordination between muscle groups.

Building maximum strength requires lifting weights that are close to the 1RM of the lifter, for a low number of repetitions, with longer (up to 4 minutes) rest intervals between sets.

Building Strength

Most people need flexibility, balance, coordination and agility as well as strength. When it comes to strength training, they need to have more than one kind of strength. Being able to bench press a lot of weight will not help a boxer throw heavy punches if they lack strength in their core and if they have imbalances in the other muscles around the chest and pecs.

Being able to squat a lot of weight is useful but could lead to injury if the only leg and core workout being done is simple squats.

Slow, grinding compound lifts are useful but they do not generate explosive power in the same way as plyometrics or kettlebell workouts. Calisthenic training is great for rounded strength training that gives you the chance to develop supporting muscles, but it will not generate maximum strength in the way that compound lifts do. On the other hand, Olympic lifting is good for explosive power in a specific range of motion but again has its own limits.

For this reason, if you want to develop sport-specific strength it is important that you talk to a trainer that understands your sport, and work with them to build up a good programme of exercises that will improve your performance and reduce your risk of injury.

In conclusion, as illustrated , there are 7 different types of muscular strength that targets a specific goal. Since training for each one requires a different training program, being strong in one does equate to being strong in another.

How Does Exercise Affect Blood Pressure and Heart Rate?

Exercise is a heart-healthy activity! How do we know this? Studies show that people who work out, especially aerobic exercise, are at a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease and stroke. One way exercise benefits heart and blood vessel health is by lowering blood pressure, the force within the wall of arteries, the vessels that carry blood to tissues in the body.

Over the long term, aerobic exercise has a significant impact on blood pressure. To support this, a meta-analysis, an analysis of multiple studies, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that regular exercise lowers systolic blood pressure by 3.84 points and diastolic blood pressure by 2.58 points on average. It lowers blood pressure in men and women with and without hypertension. Therefore, exercise is good “medicine” for a healthy heart! How does blood pressure and heart activity change when you train?

The Short-Term Effects of Exercise on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate

During aerobic exercise, blood pressure, particularly systolic blood pressure, goes up. This is a normal response to any kind of stress on the body, including exercise. Systolic blood pressure, the upper number, is the force in the walls of arteries when the heart is pumping. It makes sense that blood pressure would climb temporarily during exercise since energy demands are higher and the heart must pump harder and faster to deliver oxygen to tissues. Plus, the sympathetic or “fight or flight” component of the nervous system is activated, and this causes a rise in blood pressure.

It’s normal for systolic blood pressure to rise as high as 220 mmHg during an additional exercise session due to the additional demands exercise places on the heart. If blood pressure climbs higher than this during exercise, it could indicate a possible heart problem and should be checked by a physician.

After a workout, systolic blood pressure gradually comes down to its baseline value. People with hypertension sometimes develop larger spikes in systolic blood pressure. If you’re out of shape and unaccustomed to exercising, systolic blood pressure may rise quickly even with minimal activity. As you become more aerobically conditioned, the rise is not as fast or sharp. Certain blood pressure medications, particularly beta-blockers, can interfere with the normal rise in heart rate and blood pressure.

Heart rate also changes during exercise. As mentioned above, heart rate increases proportionally to the demands of exercise. For example, your heart rate will rise more during a bout of high-intensity exercise than it does for a leisurely stroll in the park. In fact, your heart rate is a measure of how hard you’re working. To do this, determine your maximal heart rate using one of the available formulas. One formula is:

220 – age = maximal heart rate

Now, compare your heart rate during exercise to your maximal heart rate. You can do this by taking your pulse for 10 seconds and multiplying by 6. Moderate-intensity exercise would correspond to a heart rate of 50 to 70% of maximal heart rate. Above that would be high intensity.

The Long-Term Effects of Exercise on Blood Pressure

Over time, aerobic exercise can lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure. One way it does this is through adaptations that make the heart a more efficient pump. You may have noticed that as you become more physically fit, your resting heart rate slows. That’s because your heart becomes more efficient and it doesn’t have to beat as many times per minute to deliver blood and oxygen to tissues at rest. A more efficient cardiovascular system reduces the force on the walls of arteries, the blood vessels that carry blood and oxygen to tissues. This leads to a drop in blood pressure.

Aerobic exercise also improves endothelial function. The endothelium is a thin layer of cells that produce factors that cause arteries to open up or tighten. With regular aerobic activity, endothelial cells produce more factors that cause the arteries to relax or expand. In turn, this leads to a reduction in blood pressure. The endothelium also produces factors that impact blood clotting. Improvements in endothelial function are another way exercise reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.

What about long-term effects on heart rate? As mentioned, when you exercise aerobically over several weeks or months, your heart becomes more efficient at pumping blood and oxygen. Therefore, your resting heart rate will slow. If your heart is otherwise healthy, a slow resting heart rate is often a sign of greater aerobic fitness. Endurance athletes frequently have slow resting heart rates, especially athletes that run or cycle long distances.

What about Resistance Training?

Working your body against resistance by lifting weights or doing bodyweight exercises can lead to a temporary rise in blood pressure. In some people, the increase in blood pressure can be substantial. Holding your breath while lifting or using very heavy weights can boost blood pressure even more. That’s why it’s important to check with a health care professional before weight training with hypertension.

However, longer-term research suggests that resistance training may lower blood pressure too. In fact, a meta-analysis published in the journal Hypertension showed resistance training modestly reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings in healthy adults. The degree of blood pressure lowering in response to resistance training was 2%, on average, for systolic blood pressure and 4% for diastolic blood pressure. We think of aerobic exercise as being heart healthy and weight training as a way to develop strength. However, weight training may have heart health benefits as well.

Conclusion

Exercise temporarily raises systolic blood pressure, but over time, the adaptations associated with aerobic training can modestly reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Although exercise is a heart-healthy activity, talk to your physician if you have high blood pressure, heart problems, or any other medical problem before starting an exercise program.

References:

Hypertension. 2000 Mar;35(3):838-43.

Arq Bras Cardiol. 2016 May; 106(5): 422-433.

NewScientist.com. “Exercise may lower high blood pressure as much as medication”

Are Resistance Bands a Good Alternative to Weights?

Resistance bands might look too lightweight to offer lots of benefits, but don’t let the looks deceive you. Research shows you can increase strength and muscle size with resistance bands alone. In fact, resistance bands have benefits that dumbbells and barbells lack.

When you use barbells and dumbbells, part of the resistance comes from gravity. So, the force your muscles work against varies over the course of the movement. At the top of the movement, the force becomes negligible. This isn’t the case with resistance bands. Because resistance bands are made of a stretchy material, they generate tension throughout the entire movement. The further you stretch the bands, the more the force increases. So, your muscles work hard throughout the entirety of an exercise.

Are Resistance Bands as Effective for Building Muscle as Weights?

Because of the resistance elastic bands offer, you can build strength and hypertrophy, or enlarge the size, of a muscle by training with them. But, are they as effective as working with weights? Studies confirm that you can build strength and size as effectively with resistance bands as with dumbbells or barbells for most exercises. One study found muscle activation was a bit lower for certain exercises, particularly squats and stiff-legged deadlifts.

One downside of weights is it’s easy to cheat by using momentum during an exercise. For example, at the bottom of a movement, you “toss” the weight a bit to make it easier to lift back up. Using momentum makes the exercise easier and reduces the potential benefits you get. You can’t cheat with resistance bands. The elastic nature of the bands means you must maintain muscle tension throughout the movement. Since muscle tension is a factor in muscle growth, resistance bands are quite effective for building muscle size.

In addition, resistance bands are joint friendly. Because they’re not gravity dependent, movements using resistance bands subject the joints to less compression over time. Joint compression is what damages the cartilage in joints and leads to joint degeneration and arthritis. For some people, resistance bands may be a safer option.

Types of Resistance Bands

Resistance bands come in a variety of styles and resistances. To make life easier, they’re color-coded based on their tension. You can choose from bands with light, medium, heavy, or very heavy resistance. It makes sense to choose several bands of varying resistance since you’ll need heavier resistance for your upper body than your lower body. Many people start with a light, medium, and heavy band. You can also find various styles of bands, including circular bands and double bands, and purchase interchangeable handles. In the beginning, stick to single, long bands with basic handles at the end since they’re easier to manage. No need to complicate things when you first start out. Keep it simple.

How to Use Resistance Bands to Gain Muscle

You can adapt many exercises you do with weights to resistance bands. For some exercises, like biceps curls, you stand on the bands to anchor them to the floor and provide the resistance needed to curl in the traditional manner You can do a variety of other exercises while standing on the bands, including bent-over rows, upright rows, and squats.

For other resistance training movements, you’ll need to attach the resistance bands to something. For movements like chest presses and lateral pulldowns, secure the bands to a sturdy pole or anchor overhead. Also available are accessories that help you anchor the bands securely. You’ll quickly find that most of the exercises you do with weights can be adapted to resistance bands.

How to Use Resistance Bands to Gain Flexibility

The best way to gain flexibility is to elongate your muscles after a workout by stretching. Resistance bands can help you stretch more effectively too. A good basic stretch for the upper back that feels delightful after a workout is to:

• Sit on a mat with your back straight and legs extended out in front of you.

• Place the resistance band against the bottom of your feet.

• Cross the band and grab each side close to your feet

• Slowly curl your back toward the wall as you pull back on the bands. Feel the stretch.

• Hold for 10 to 15 seconds.

Now, stretch your chest:

• Sit on a mat with your legs crossed.

• Hold the resistance band in front of your chest and grab the band with each hand so that your hands are a few inches apart.

• Slowly move your arms apart while holding each end of the band.

• Feel the resistance that the band provides and the stretch in your chest.

You can do other post-workout stretches using resistance bands. For example, place the resistance band around your foot while holding the other end in each hand. Then, pull your leg toward the ceiling to stretch your hamstrings. Switch legs and repeat.

This only touches the surface of the many stretches you can do with resistance bands.

Are Resistance Bands Safe?

Resistance bands are safe if you use them correctly. The biggest risk would be releasing a band while it’s stretched. The danger is the band will snack back and hit you or someone else and cause an injury. For safety, check your resistance bands each time before using them. Make sure they don’t look damaged or overstretched. Replace them every 4 to 6 months, especially if you use them frequently. Some people even wear eye protection when they work with them. Also, be slow and methodical with your movements. Don’t jerk the bands and avoid overstretching it. The general rule is you shouldn’t stretch a resistance band beyond 2.5 times its length.

Conclusion

Resistance bands are lightweight, portable, and easy to work with. You can do a variation of every strength-training exercise using resistance bands. They’re as effective at building muscle as dumbbells and barbells but the way you work with them is easier on the joints. With advantages like that it’s hard to imagine why you wouldn’t want to work with them!

References:

European Journal of Sport Science Volume 17, 2017 – Issue 8.

Are Deep Squats More Effective than Regular Squats?

When you squat, how deep do you go? Does it even matter? When you first start squatting, doing a full squat might seem difficult. You might not even be able to complete a full squat on your first few attempts.

The formula for doing a standard squat is to lower your body to 90 degrees, where your thighs are parallel to the floor. Anything less than this is a partial squat. Once you lower your body below parallel, it’s technically a deep squat. It’s a bit harder to squat deeply, especially if you lack good hip mobility. But are there advantages to doing so?

The squat, whether it’s a full squat or a deep squat, is a compound exercise, a movement involves the action of more than one joint and more than one muscle group simultaneously. The advantage of doing compound exercises is they burn more calories because you’re using more muscle groups at the same time. Plus, they improve functionality by training muscles and joints how to work well together. This is in contrast to isolation exercises where you only work a single muscle group at a time. A classic example is biceps curls.

Squats primarily target the quadriceps, the muscles in the front of your thighs, but this exercise also works the muscles that make up the posterior chain, including your hamstrings and glutes. No wonder the squat is often referred to as the “king of exercises,” especially for working the lower body. When you go deep into a squat, you activate the muscles in the posterior chain more than when you do a partial or parallel squat.

This means you’ll target your hamstrings and glutes more. Hitting the hamstrings is important because many people, particularly females, have stronger quads than hamstrings and need more hamstring and glute strengthening. Going deeper shifts the focus toward the hamstrings and glutes for better muscle balance. When the quads are stronger than the hamstrings, research shows the risk of knee injury goes up.

Another benefit to deepening your squat is it may boost your ability to jump vertically. In one study, subjects who focused on deep squats using a barbell for resistance improved their vertical jump height by 13 percent. Those who didn’t go as deep boosted vertical jump height only 7 percent.

How to Increase Your Squat Depth

When you first try a deep squat, you may find it difficult. If so, work on improving the mobility in your hips and ankles. When you don’t have good mobility in these joints, it’s hard to do a deep squat. There are a variety of mobility drills you can do to boost hip and ankle mobility. Some simple ones you can do for your hips include hip circles and leg swings.

For your ankles, range-of-motion exercises and drawing circles with your toes with your ankles raised off the floor help boost ankle range-of-motion. These are movements you can add to the beginning or end of your routine to gradually build greater mobility in these joints.

Also, experiment with foot placement when you squat. Some people are anatomically more capable of doing a deep squat, but changing your foot placement can make it easier or harder for depending on how you’re built. Experiment with placing your feet closer together and further apart. Try turning your toes slightly outward and see if it makes it easier to go deep.

Take your time and increase your squat depth a little at a time. Keep working on improving the mobility of your ankles and hips. Also, stretch your calves regularly. Tight calves make it harder to descend into a deep squat.

Of course, always work on deep squats initially without any weight. Get the movement down before adding resistance. Many people add weights too quickly before they’ve mastered good squat form.

What about Your Knees?

There’s a common misconception that deep squats are inherently bad for your knees. The reality is deep squats aren’t harmful to healthy knees as long as they’re carried out using good form. If you use bad form, any squat places excessive forces on the knee joint.

When you descend into a deep squat, the compressive forces on your knee joint increase, but the shearing forces actually decrease as you squat below parallel. Shearing forces are “sliding” forces or the tendency of one part of the knee slides forward or backward. Compressive forces are those that push down. For example, when you squat, the femur bone in your thigh pushes down on the tibia, a bone in your lower leg.

Despite an increase in compression, studies show that healthy knees can handle this force as long as you use good form when you squat. Also, some studies show that the additional muscle activation you get with a deep squat is protective of the knee. Going deeper actually improves knee stability.

Conclusion

Learning to squat deeply helps you better target your glutes and hamstrings. Plus, going deeper will improve your functionality even more. However, don’t go deep until you’ve mastered a parallel squat and you’ve spent a few weeks working on ankle and hip mobility.

You don’t have to go deep into a squat every time you train. In fact, you should deep squat more than once a week. Do parallel squats the rest of the time. Also, don’t force yourself to deep squat until you’re ready. Good form is always more important than squat depth.

Keep in mind, this information applies to healthy knees. If you have a history of knee injury or knee arthritis, talk to a sports medicine physician before tackling deep squats. Also, regardless of knee health, don’t do a high volume of deep squats. Give your knees a chance to recover between intense squatting sessions.

References:

J Strength Cond Res. 2013 Jul; 27(7): 1765-1774.

Poloquin. “Don’t Be Afraid to Squat Low: 7 Reasons to Deep Squat”

Chiropractic Sports Medicine 6: 105-105, 1992.

Deep Squats and Knee Health: A Scientific Review. Tony Ciccone, Kyle Davis, Dr. Jimmy Bagley, & Dr. Andy Galpin. Center for Sport Performance, California State University, Fullerton