Strength Training Articles

According to a report from the British Medical Journal (2012; 344; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj/e2672), 25%–74% of the world’s 50 million stroke survivors require assistance or are fully dependent on caregivers. To gain more physical independence, many seek help from physical therapists. That same report suggests circuit training can be a successful alternative to physical therapy.

That’s precisely the question that researchers from North Carolina wanted to investigate.

By Leigh Crews Group Resistance Training: Guidelines and Safety Suggestions Editor's note: This article is the fifth of a five-part series on guidelines and safety suggestions for various group fitness modalities. The genesis for these articles is you, the IDEA member. In our most recent readership survey, 100 percent of respondents said they wanted to see more space in IDEA publications devoted ...

Weight training has many benefits. Warding off metabolic syndrome may be one of them, suggests a recent study. Part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the study set out to determine (1) how many adults lift weights regularly and (2) the impact of weight training on the prevalence and risk of metabolic syndrome. The findings, reported in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research (2012; 26 [11], 3113–17), included data on 5,618 adults aged 20 and older from 1999–2004. Here are some takeaways:

That 98-pound weakling may want to hit the gym if he hopes to live a long life. A study published in the British Medical Journal (2012; 345: e7279) suggests that male adolescents without much muscle strength may earn early death in adulthood. The large study included 1,142,599 Swedish males aged 16–19 who were followed for 24 years. The primary focus was to determine whether muscular strength had any impact on mortality rates. Premature death in this study was considered death before 55.

Breast cancer survivors may effectively improve muscle endurance with Pilates chair training, which may have advantages over traditional resistance training since the chair requires less space, can be less expensive and may be more enjoyable for some people.

During the past decade, the term functional training has been used to describe programs that mirror everyday activities. Functional exercises are sometimes referred to as multiplanar movements that require coordination of two or more limbs, muscle groups, joints or areas of the body. There is another simpler way to define functional movement: pushing, pulling, bending, twisting, squatting and lunging! Look closely at these gross motor patterns that humans perform daily and you see an easy formula and library of movement patterns for a strength training class.

I encourage my clients to breathe when they are working out, as in life. Jokingly, I say, “Breathing is the first thing you learned in life, so please do not forget to do it over the next hour that we are exercising.”

With the Baby Boomer population aging, movement professionals have to become more prepared to meet the needs of older adults. And while it may be tempting to think seniors need less when it comes to program development, clients of advanced age actually need more. It’s not enough to modify the intensity or safety of their fitness programs. It’s also essential to understand how the mindset that older clients bring to a session—in this case a fear of falling—can influence their exercise needs.

Suspension exercise (SE) is a popular way to get fit for many people, and it’s no secret as to why. This method of exercise, where an apparatus attached to a single overhead anchor point supports the hands or feet, offers numerous benefits. Due to its popularity and the results people see from performing SE, programming has evolved to a point where fitness professionals are introducing it to their older-adult clients in the 65–80 and older age range.