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Resistance training for beginners |
We take a look at the balance of exercise required for reaching longer term fitness goals - like walking on the beach in retirement ! Randomly jumping from exercise to exercise is not the way to create a balanced body.
Have ever been to a fitness club and witnessed first hand the folks who have been there for many months or years and still seem never to change thier body composition?. They go to the club faithfully, spend the required hour or more of exercise and even get a glow of perspiration ! So what is going wrong with their efforts?
The progression of exercises they perform in a single visit to the gym is creating an imbalance in their body over time. Most men who are unfamiliar with exercise programming do the same basic "manly" exercises each time they attend the club. They do bench presses, arm curls and usually some sort of shoulder presses. Then they run like a maniac on the treadmill for about 10 minutes.
Women have their favourites as well, spot training the butt and hips, abdominals and other "problem areas". The problem that creeps up rather shortly is that those areas they like to work get stronger while the complimentary muscle groups get imbalanced due to lack of training. What is even worse is the fact that the imbalances cause undue tension in the implicated joints- such as the low back, knees and shoulders. Joint laxity can cause chronic injuries to the joint structures- not our long term plan for retirement activity!
Starting a resistance training workout requires that you use full body routines, which require balance and effort across the entire body. Movements which require the most effort (not the hardest per se) and include the most muscle groups are called "compound" movements. Performing a group of compound movements in one workout will give you better balance and results over the shortest period of time.
Funny enough, by mastering the compound exercises early in your training ( or by stopping your random ways now) you can achieve better results faster. As you add more intensity (see FITT in Body article 1) by adding more repititions, sets or by adding an extra day per week over time, you can then achieve your overall goals.
Since compound movements require the work of a group of muscles at the same time- they require more work -by completing more work we are actually increasing the demands for energy - you will be buring more calories in one session. If we work with less rest between movements, we also increase the demands for energy..see where this is going?
Many people focus on "isolation" movements by wandering around the weight machine circuits doing these exercises instead of compound movements. For example, do the bench press or push ups instead of the triceps push down. The bench press works all of the shoulder, tricep and pectoral areas in one movement.
Another major compound movement is the lunge or squat for legs and hips. Rather than doing 5 separate machines for leg training, do the leg press or squat for greater engagement of the larger muscles in one movement.
We will add compound exercise routines to our resource section so that you get the big picture and get a balanced healthy body!
 
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