Strength Training

Also known as: Anaerobic Exercise, Resistance Training, Weightlifting, Bodybuilding.

You don’t need to be burly and bearded to be strong. Strength training is a great way of toning your body, boosting your metabolism and improving your general health. If you’re looking for bulky biceps and rippling abs then, yes, strength training is key, but it’s just as vital for people who want to be slim, trim and super fit.

How does it work?

Strength training (sometimes called resistance training) is all about conditioning your muscles, making them leaner, tighter and better at doing their job.

You can train to bulk up or you can train to just get stronger without becoming visibly more beefy. Whether you want to look like the Incredible Hulk or Willow the Wisp, the theory behind strength training is the same. It’s all about putting your muscles under strain, which causes the fibres to break up and then heal back stronger.

People often find weight training a little intimidating, and not just because of the grunting giants in the weights area of the gym. It’s good to get some training from a personal trainer or in a strength training class to make sure your technique is perfect. When it comes to the lingo, it might help to know that strength training is normally done in reps and sets. So, for example you might do three “sets” of 12 bicep curls and each individual curl would be called a repetition or “rep”.

You don’t have to use weights for strength training, but it can help if you want measured progress, stepping up your weights each time. When it comes down to it, though, anything that puts resistance against your muscles is good for strength training and you can use a combination of different exercises to work different muscle groups:

• Weight machines are sometimes thought to be one of the safest ways of training for beginners because they encourage smooth motion and good form.

• Free weights include dumbbells, kettle bells and barbells. You have complete control over their movement, which gives you much more ‘functional strength’ because it works smaller muscles as well as the big muscle groups.

• Hydraulic or elastic resistance exercises your muscles in a different way because instead of working against gravity, you’re working against a force that increases the more you push – for example the hydraulic handles of a cross trainer or an exercise band.

• Body weight exercises like stomach crunches, press-ups, leg raises and tricep dips are a great way to start strength training, with the benefit that you can do them anytime, anywhere without any equipment.

If you’re on a crusade to fight the flab, adding strength training into your workout plan will really help you to get results. Although strength training can’t banish fat from specific body areas, it can help to tone up the muscles underneath - helping tummies get flatter, bottoms perter and thighs less wobbly. Getting your muscles on top form will also increase your metabolic rate, so whether you’re running, walking or just couch surfing you’ll be burning off more energy all the time.

An average strength training session will take between 30 minutes to an hour. You can work through all of your major muscle groups or just exercise a couple of groups, alternating which groups you exercise each session. Your muscles need 48 hours to recover and strengthen, so it’s best not to work the same muscles two days in a row.

Is it for me?

Anyone who wants to tone up and lose weight should include some strength training in their exercise action plan. Also, if you have slouched posture or you suffer from lower back pain, both are signs that your skeletal muscles could do with some strength training to make sure you don’t become old and hunched before your time.

Strength training also makes everyday tasks easier; after a few weeks you’ll be carrying your shopping on one pinky and opening stiff jars left, right and centre. It doesn’t just strengthen your muscles, but also your ligaments and tendons meaning you’re much less likely to injure yourself.

Being stronger doesn’t only mean being more toned and body-beautiful; it can give you more “good cholesterol”, help prevent adult-onset diabetes, keep your heart in tip-top condition and increase bone density, so you’ll have a sexy skeleton too.

Good to know

Bodybuilding and weightlifting are sometimes confused with strength training, but they are sports in their own right. They almost always use strength training exercises as part of their work out.