Health
I write frequently about the importance, the correlation,
between strength and health. Are you strong enough? Do you possess the physical
strength to meet the prerequisites of an emergency situation? We all need to be
stronger today than we were yesterday. Training for the “six-pack” may make us
feel better but it hardly prepares us for serious emergencies. We train and
become fit, stronger, more enduring, more capable of taking instructions, and
more able to follow a group attitude and contribute. Let’s look at all of these
factors and make sense of the training atmosphere.
Fitness is:
 |
| Lifting makes you happy! She just won a gold medal in the Olympics. |
·
Strength (maximal force production)
·
Agility (change of direction)
·
Mobility (flexible/limber/ full ROM)
·
Endurance (local muscular and cardiovascular)
·
Nutrition (if mother nature did not make it DO
NOT EAT IT)
·
Balance (dynamic and static)
·
Coordination (a concerted effort/synchronicity)
·
Power (quick AND strong)
·
Metabolic rate (BMR/RMR)
·
Sleep (recovery)
·
Etc.
If one lifts children, brief-cases, furniture, barbells, groceries,
your body off a couch or chair, more strength is important. Go from lifting 100
lbs. five times to lifting 125 lbs. five times and life is easier. We do not
need to become larger muscularly to get stronger. The initial adaptations which
occur from strength training are neurological. Tone is a neurological state of
readiness. Logical is the operative part of that word. Weightlifters who need
to stay in a weight class train with lower repetitions than bodybuilders who
want maximal muscle rather than maximal strength. Sculpting does not require
significant increases in muscle mass (tone). Selective application of training
movements shapes the body. Add a little to the deltoids, a little to the
biceps, and make a new look. This is where bodybuilding was born. Weightlifters
perform single joint movements to support a structure. A group left
weightlifting and became bodybuilders.
At Doc’s Gym we train athletes according to their goals. If
one wants a six-pack we train the area to stay in time with the hips and back.
This sculpts and shapes the body in a healthy approach.
Much like strength endurance is developed from short
duration bouts of intense work. Interval training is very popular. This is, and
always has been, how strength athletes train the cardio end of the spectrum. A
good strength athlete has a resting heart rate similar to a good endurance
athlete. Realizing that a good strength athlete is not common in most gyms. We
must make this distinction since strength is misunderstood. The training world
is based on strength training. Bodybuilders have sent a lot of bad information
into the system. Training is an athletic event. It is scientific.
Every new endeavor involves learning new language. Some
trainers speak in Greek and Latin. I think we need to speak plainly. Meeting
athletes where they are rather than making them learn a new language. I studied
Latin for four years with the Jesuits in high school. They think Latin is a big
deal. It is, when looking at the origins of our language. But English is a
complex language without a personal trainer trying to impress a client with out
of the ordinary language. K.I.S.S (keep it simple silly).
Athletes are alphas. Even if they are not an alpha they are
trying to be. Pushing an athlete is a fine line we walk. Push too hard and they
push back. Don’t push enough and they are not motivated. Getting a lawyer,
doctor, accountant, or psychologist to do what you tell them requires
understanding on both sides. Most professionals are audible learners so a
discussion accomplishes much. Tell anyone to do other than what they understand
and an argument will ensue. Do what I say, when I say it, but only if I can
explain why. This understanding, on both sides, will result in superior results.
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