admin
Simon Gama
NO matter where I travel around the world I get a lot of the same questions from people, from training to nutrition to everything in between, people want to know what it takes and what they need to do, to gain strength and build muscle without packing on fat.
Fitness isn’t just a phenomenon, it’s truly a global pursuit. In this article I will cover some common questions I am asked; how can I get rock hard abs faster? How can I overcome injuries and avoid them in the first place? What can I do to bench move?
How can I get that super hard look of the pros? What can I do to keep motivation and intensity sky high month after month, year after year? All of these answers and more are here.
Modern physical fitness authorities recognise that today’s high tempo lifestyle makes natural living impractical for most individuals. Free time of any sort is often at a premium. So those physical fitness measures taken by the individual is modern society must be relatively brief and consequently must produce quick results.
Not surprisingly the trend in recent years among qualified physical fitness instructors has been away from time worn and time consuming calisthenics and free hand movements. Inn their place the use of barbells and similar equipment that depends on the use of progressive resistance has become universally accepted as the only practical way of reversing human kind’s physical decline.
Both physiologists and medical doctors have concluded that in providing strength gains and muscular development rapidly weight training meets the exercise requirements of most individuals very effectively. There are more than 20 concrete benefits that can be gained by anyone who trains regularly progressively with weights training.
Weight training;
1. Increases muscular strength
2. Increases muscular endurance
3. Is an outstanding means of body shaping
4. Increases bone and ligament strength, cartilage thickness and capillary density in muscles
5. Improves health and physical fitness
6. Improves sports performance
7. Increases flexibility
8. Increases power and speed
9. Helps relieve the stresses and tensions of everyday life
10. Promotes a positive self-image
11. Teaches discipline and motivation that carry over into all other areas of life.
12. Helps control body weight and reduce body fat
13. Strengthens your heart, intensifies metabolism levels and normalises blood pressure
14. Can increase your longevity
15. Improves the quality of life
16. Helps prevent many medical problems as osteoporosis
17. Increases both haemoglobin and red cell count
18. Is an appropriate activity for men and women of all ages can become a valuable couple and or family activity.
19. Is an excellent form of rehabilitation for muscle and joint injuries can be used by handicapped individuals who have at least partial use of their arms and legs.
20. Has been proven to reduce cholesterol levels.
21. Can be a competitive outlet for both men and women champion professional body builders earn a good living from their sport.
Despite the well documented benefits of weight training there are six myths still associated with it.
WEIGHT TRAINING MAKES A PERSON MUSCLE BOUND
It is a scientific fact that weight training actually increases flexibility. Studies by the score have been published since the early 1950s exploding this myth. Even a gigantically muscled super star like Weider trained Arnold Schwarzenegger is far more flexible than the average person muscle bound no way.
WEIGHT TRAINING SLOWS A PERSON DOWN
All professional and Olympic athletes regardless of their sport use weight training to improve their performance. If it slowed them down these athletes would never train with weights and it’s been scientifically proven that a strong muscle can contract much more quickly than a weak one Robby Robinson Mr America, Mr World, Mr Universe and professional champion as run 100 yards in 9.5 seconds
WEIGHT TRAINING MAKES A WOMAN LOOK MASCULINE
Actually the muscle a woman adds to her body enhance feminine allure. Women have only a small amount of the male muscle building hormone testosterone and an abundance of feminizing hormones like oestrogen. This hormonal ratio prevents the development of masculine appearing muscles through weight training.
MUSCLE TURNS TO FAT AS SOON AS YOU STOP BODY BUILDING TRAINING
This is the myth we hear most often. Muscle is muscle and fat is fat. They are two different types of tissues. It is physically impossible for a muscle to turn to fat. However it gradually loses mass and strength but it never quite returns to its original pre body building state. The only way you can become fat is to systematically overeat for a long period.
WEIGHT TRAINING WRECKS THE JOINTS
In a point of fact body building stresses the joints much less than many forms of exercise. If you warm up correctly before a weight training session and follow safety procedures outlined later you can train as heavy as you wish with little danger of injuring your back or knees or any other joint. Weight training, in fact helps to thicken ligaments and tendons making joints stronger.
BODY BUILDING STUNTS GROWTH
Scientific studies have demonstrated that all types of physical exercise including weight training actually stimulate height increases. Although there are many great body builders of short statue such as Danny Padilla Mr America and Mr Universe the situation is true only because body building competition does not discriminate against shorter men and women the way a sport like basketball does.
While the majority of my students aim for the highest goals of body building strength development, physical fitness and optimum body appearance the benefits of weight training are much wider reaching than large muscles and strength as an example weight training will help correct over weight and underweight conditions particularly when used in conjunction with the dietary tips l will give you later in the course.
So those who suffer from an inferiority complex because of their week bodies will find that this feeling is quickly replaced by an improved self-image and feeling of pride in their bodies. Consistency is the key to muscle growth. You can’t gain anything in the real world without this consistency.
Despite the well documented benefits of weight training there are six myths still associated with it.
WEIGHT TRAINING MAKES A PERSON MUSCLE BOUND
It is a scientific fact that weight training actually increases flexibility. Studies by the score have been published since the early 1950s exploding this myth. Even a gigantically muscled super star like Weider trained Arnold Schwarzenegger is far more flexible than the average person muscle bound no way.
WEIGHT TRAINING SLOWS A PERSON DOWN
All professional and Olympic athletes regardless of their sport use weight training to improve their performance. If it slowed them down these athletes would never train with weights and it’s been scientifically proven that a strong muscle can contract much more quickly than a weak one Robby Robinson Mr America, Mr World, Mr Universe and professional champion as run 100 yards in 9.5 seconds
WEIGHT TRAINING MAKES A WOMAN LOOK MASCULINE
Actually the muscle a woman adds to her body enhance feminine allure. Women have only a small amount of the male muscle building hormone testosterone and an abundance of feminizing hormones like oestrogen. This hormonal ratio prevents the development of masculine appearing muscles through weight training.
MUSCLE TURNS TO FAT AS SOON AS YOU STOP BODY BUILDING TRAINING
This is the myth we hear most often. Muscle is muscle and fat is fat. They are two different types of tissues. It is physically impossible for a muscle to turn to fat. However, it gradually loses mass and strength but it never quite returns to its original pre body building state. The only way you can become fat is to systematically overeat for a long period.
WEIGHT TRAINING WRECKS THE JOINTS
In a point of fact body building stresses the joints much less than many forms of exercise. If you warm up correctly before a weight training session and follow safety procedures outlined later you can train as heavy as you wish with little danger of injuring your back or knees or any other joint. Weight training, in fact helps to thicken ligaments and tendons making joints stronger.
BODY BUILDING STUNTS GROWTH
Scientific studies have demonstrated that all types of physical exercise including weight training actually stimulate height increases. Although there are many great body builders of short statue such as Danny Padilla Mr America and Mr Universe the situation is true only because body building competition does not discriminate against shorter men and women the way a sport like basketball does.
While the majority of my students aim for the highest goals of body building strength development, physical fitness and optimum body appearance the benefits of weight training are much wider reaching than large muscles and strength as an example weight training will help correct over weight and underweight conditions particularly when used in conjunction with the dietary tips l will give you later in the course.
So those who suffer from an inferiority complex because of their week bodies will find that this feeling is quickly replaced by an improved self-image and feeling of pride in their bodies. Consistency is the key to muscle growth. You can’t gain anything in the real world without this consistency.-Additional information from Online sources, Fitness books.
The writer, Simon Gama, is a fitness trainer at Bodyworks gym in Bulawayo.
Bongani Ndlovu