Fitness Advice for a Healthy Lifestyle

Weight training: Improve your muscular fitness

rack of dbells

Advice on weight training from Fitness From the Pro. Weight training can help you improve your muscular fitness, improve your appearance and fight age-related muscle loss. Better yet, weight training doesn’t take as long as you might think.

Your friends enjoy using the weight machines and free weights at the fitness center. And you see the results of their hard work — toned muscles and an overall improved muscular fitness. You’d like to start a weight training program, but you’re not sure you have the time. Think again! Weight training to improve your muscular fitness might not be as time-consuming as you think.

Weight training 101

Weight training is a type of strength training that uses weights for resistance. Weight training challenges your muscles by forcing them to adapt to the stress of the weights. Consider basic weight training 101 principles:

  • Learn proper technique. For best results, proper technique is essential to improve your muscular fitness. If you’re not sure whether you’re doing a particular exercise correctly, ask a personal trainer or other fitness specialist for help.

  • Do a single set of repetitions. Theories on the best way to approach weight training abound, including countless repetitions and hours at the gym. But research shows that a single set of 12 repetitions with the proper weight can build muscular fitness just as efficiently as can three sets of the same exercise.  So what’s the proper weight? One that’s heavy enough to tire your muscles after about 12 to 15 repetitions. You should be just barely able to finish the last repetition.

  • Start slowly. If you’re a beginner (weight training 101), you may find that you’re able to lift only a few pounds. That’s OK. Once your muscles, tendons and ligaments get used to weight training exercises, you may be surprised at how quickly you progress and improve your muscular fitness. Once you can easily do 12 repetitions with a particular weight, gradually increase the weight.

  • Take time to rest. To give your muscles time to recover, rest one full day between exercising each specific muscle group. You might choose to work the major muscle groups at a single session two or three times a week — or plan daily sessions for specific muscle groups. For example, on Monday work your arms and shoulders, on Tuesday work your legs, and so on.

For most people, short weight training sessions to improve muscular fitness several times a week are more practical than are extended daily workouts. “You don’t have to be in the weight room for 90 minutes a day to see results,” says Edward Laskowski, M.D., a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and co-director of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center. “You can see significant improvement in your strength and improve your muscular fitness with just two or three 20- or 30-minute weight training sessions a week.”

Reap the rewards

Lean muscle mass naturally decreases with age. If you don’t do anything to replace the muscle loss, it’ll be replaced with fat. But weight training can help you reverse the trend — at any age. As your muscle mass increases, you’ll  improve your muscular fitness and be able to work harder and longer before you get tired. You’ll maintain joint flexibility, increase bone density and better manage your weight. Get started today with weight training and improve your muscular fitness today!