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Resistance Training

What is resistance exercise?

Resistance exercise is any exercise where muscles contract against an external resistance with the objective of increasing strength, tone, mass, and/or muscular endurance. The resistance can come from dumbbells, weight machines, elastic tubing or bands, cinder blocks, cans of soup, your own body weight (for example, pushups), or any other object that forces your muscles to contract. Results occur when you train consistently over time.

Free weights vs. machines

Dumbbells and barbells are free weights. They are "free," or untethered, unlike a weight machine where the weight stack is connected by cables to cams and pulleys and only move in one direction. There are advantages to both styles of lifting.

Weight machines:

• 1. Weight machines are easy to learn and use.
• 2. There are some exercises you can do with a machine that you can't do with a dumbbell. For instance, cable rows would be difficult to replicate with free weights. You could do bent over dumbbell rows, but they won't be quite the same. For my money, cable rows feel smoother than any exercise in the gym!

Free weights:

• 1. Free-weight training requires balance and coordination, and so if you are involved in a sport that requires balance, or you just need balance training, then free-weight training might be more effective.
• 2. Free-weight training may recruit more muscles than a machine because you have to stabilize your body when you lift a dumbbell, whereas the weight machine supports you. For example, a biceps curls is going to feel more natural and use more muscles in your torso (to support the weight) than if you did a seated biceps curl in a machine where the machine does some of the work and you can lean against it for leverage.
• 3. There are a variety of exercises that you can do with dumbbells that you can't do with machines. Lunges, step-ups, and many upper body exercises can be performed with free weights if you're creative.
• 4. There is no evidence to suggest that either method is superior to the other. My suggestion is to combine free weights and dumbbells to get the best of each. The ACSM weight training position stands states the following: "For novice to intermediate training, it is recommended that the resistance training program include free-weight and machine exercises. For advanced strength training, it is recommended that emphasis be placed on free-weight exercises, with machine exercises used to complement the program needs."
  • How do I go about lifting for tone and endurance?
  • Tone and endurance is maximized when you keep the weight light enough to lift 12-15 reps. Again, the principle of progressive overload applies. That is, increase the weight when 15 reps become easy.
  • Lifting for strength, tone, and endurance (general conditioning)
  • Keeping the reps in the eight-to-12 range emphasizes a combination of strength, tone, and endurance. This is a realistic quantity of training for most individuals. The recommendation in the American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand, "Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults," is for beginners to lift eight to 12 reps, and for the range to widen to one to 12 reps for intermediate and advanced training. Although research supports the eight to 12 recommendation, I believe it's prudent for beginners to start with 12-15 reps to reduce the risk of injury, and then the weight can be increased after a few weeks when the muscles have accommodated. Keep in mind that strength, tone, and some mass still accrue by training with reps in the 12-15 range, and so you don't have to lift heavier than that if you prefer not to. You can read the entire ACSM position stand document here: www.acsm-msse.org/pt/pt-core/template-journal/msse/media/0202.pdf.
  • How do I go about lifting for strength?
  • Muscular strength is gained when you lift heavy. For pure strength development, keep the resistance heavy enough so that you cannot lift more than eight reps, and then follow the progressive overload principle and increase the weight when you can lift more then eight. Expect your reps to drop whenever you increase the weight. For example, suppose you've been doing 10 reps of bench presses with 175 pounds and you increase the weight to 190 pounds. Because the weight is heavier, you will lift fewer reps, but as your muscles accommodate, you will again be able to lift more reps. When strength is your priority, you can experiment with heavy days. Heavy days are when you lift as much as you can one time. This is called a one-repetition maximum (a 10-rep maximum would be the weight you can lift 10 times to fatigue). Heavy days are challenging, so I don't recommend them more than once a week so that your muscles have time to recover and grow.
  • How many days should I lift?
  • Beginners, because of their wide adaptive window, will accrue significant benefits with two to three days of training. Advanced lifters need at least three days per week, and typically more for significant gains because they are already so strong (more benefit takes more effort). It's not uncommon for bodybuilders and other strength athletes to train four to five days per week.

Information taken from: http://www.medicinenet.com/weight_lifting/article.htm