Strength training: features of training, how to do it, tips

What is meant by the term “strength training”

In simple terms, this is a physical activity in which the athlete performs exercises with resistance. Resistance can be provided by your own weight or you can use additional equipment for this: collapsible rubber-coated dumbbells, a barbell, etc.

Such training is included in the training program of most athletes, but in some sports, for example, in weightlifting, powerlifting, bodybuilding, and artistic gymnastics, they are the main ones.

Depending on the final goal, there are three main types of strength training:

increase in muscle volume (bodybuilding);
strength development (weightlifting, powerlifting);
development of endurance (weight lifting, wrestling, sprinting).

Each of these types of training has its own characteristics.

Why do women need strength training? Expert answers

It would seem that you go to your favorite Pilates every morning, strengthen your muscles and posture, and go to cycling twice a week to keep your spirits up. Why do I need barbells and weights that will make me look like the comic book heroine “Wonder Woman”?

CrossFit trainer, master of sports in weightlifting, winner of the international competition CrossFit open Games 2021 Ekaterina Makarova talks about why lifting weights

The goal is relief

Most often, the main goal of girls in training is to achieve their “dream body.” But in order for the body to be not only thin, but also fit, cardio alone is not enough.

Aerobic exercise destroys not only fat tissue, but also muscle tissue, and therefore will not make the body athletic. Chiseled arms, toned legs, beautiful hips, buttocks, “like a nut,” are forged only with the help of weights and dumbbells.

There is an opinion that when you strength train, you become like a jock. It is a myth. If you do not use drugs that contribute to this - anabolic steroids, training will in no case make you too big, like the Hulk.

Moreover, in women the mass of muscle tissue is only 30% of the total body weight, about 10% less than in men, so you cannot become Arnold Schwarzenegger even if you really want to!

Weight loss

And in terms of the effectiveness of reducing the proportion of fatty tissue in the body, no other type of physical activity can compare with strength training.

First, 20 minutes of weight training will burn you more energy than 20 minutes of cardio. Secondly, the more muscles you have, the more energy your body expends every minute: your muscles “expend” more calories, even if you are resting, for example reading a book.

Josephine Skriver and Jasmine Tookes

Endurance

Working with dumbbells, kettlebells and barbells strengthens the cardiovascular system and regulates blood pressure. Studies show that the risk of stroke and heart attack in women who engage in weight training is much lower than in others.

Strength training also develops endurance. Consequently, you can increase your level of cardio loads - after strength training they will be easier, which means that you will be able to run on the track not 5 kilometers, but all 10!

Let's not forget that our bones are surrounded by tendons, muscles and ligaments. And they can be strengthened by doing strength training, and the joints, on the contrary, can be relieved.

Halle Berry with her trainer Peter Lee Thomas

Relieve stress

By concentrating on the technique of performing a particular exercise, you forget about everything. The only goal in my head is to push the weight, lift the barbell, do a few more lunges...

On the same treadmill, after just 10 minutes you start thinking about your monthly report and forget about technique and proper breathing. Iron is different.

I also noticed that women who lift weights, even not too much, are more confident. After all, they do things in everyday life that they would never have dared to do before.

I heard an enthusiastic review from a client: “I come home and tell my husband: can you imagine, I can do a handstand and still feel great!”

What is CrossFit?

I left weightlifting for CrossFit because I got bored – I was tired of just lifting weights day after day. CrossFit training is much more fun and interesting.

Basic weightlifting exercises are combined with exercises with your own weight (jumps, lunges), and various equipment is added - balls, elastic bands, jump ropes.

For example, rowing - the legs, shoulders, forearms, back, and arms are worked out. Add lunges with dumbbells - and you have a wonderful complex that you can use to work different muscle groups more effectively than if you just did bench presses with dumbbells. We are in training and pushing the tires...

All tasks must be completed many times and within a certain time. Therefore, with such training, endurance develops. In addition, classes allow you to improve speed and agility, coordination in general, and this is never superfluous!

But the main bonus for me is a feeling of pride in myself, feeling like a hero every day!

Therefore, I advise everyone to try CrossFit, at least as a way to diversify their workouts. For progress, it is important to change not only the weights, but also the exercises.

CrossFit trainer, author of the text Ekaterina Makarova

Where to begin?

Start studying 3 times a week for an hour and a half. This is the best option so that your body has time to get involved in the load, feel it, digest it, and most importantly, recover. After all, it is during rest that muscles become stronger.

If after a month of training you feel like you can do a little more, add classes to your “rest days” to improve your performance. These could be “game” activities: volleyball, tennis or swimming.

If after this you feel that you can cope with the load, then switch to the 5 days a week regime. For example, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (three days in a row) - training, Thursday - complete rest, then on Friday and Saturday - training again, and on Sunday - rest.

Gaining muscle volume

Strength training is aimed at increasing the number of muscle fibers. Their main task is muscle hypertrophy, that is, the body’s natural adaptation to increasing loads.

Using bodybuilding equipment during exercise, an athlete provokes an imbalance of ATP, resulting in damage to myofibril threads. These microtraumas make themselves felt in the form of muscle pain the day after training. As a result of the violation of the integrity of the fiber structure (while the fibers themselves are not damaged), the cross-sectional area increases, and the next time, under the same load, microtraumas no longer form.

Strength and functional training: what to choose?

Anton Kotov, an elite gym trainer and fitness manager at the World Class club City of Capitals, helped figure out who would benefit from functional training and who would benefit from strength training.

Globally, training is necessary in order to develop the physical qualities of our body. Changes such as reducing body fat or gaining muscle mass will largely depend on our diet. It turns out that a person can engage in strength training (which many people associate with muscle growth) and at the same time “get dry.” He will achieve a sculpted body thanks to nutrition.

If we consider strength and functional training, the difference will be in what physical qualities they will develop.

Strength training usually means training aimed at working individual muscle groups or regions of the body using external load. It is created by exercise machines or free weights: barbells, dumbbells, weights. The main quality that strength training develops is strength.

The main idea behind functional training is that we practice movements used in everyday life. In general, all our movements can be “decomposed” into 6 basic motor stereotypes: movement in space, rotation, squats, bending, pressing and pulling movements. Functional training is aimed precisely at their development. At the same time, we develop all physical qualities: strength, agility, endurance, speed, flexibility. Their improvement is the positive effect that should be expected from functional training.

What to choose: functional or strength training?

To improve the quality of life and everyday comfort, I would recommend functional training. This option is suitable for people who engage in fitness to keep themselves in good shape, for ease in everyday life and to receive a charge of energy and positive emotions. If your goal is to improve the physical qualities of your body and feel better, functional training is what you need.

If the goal is to gain muscle mass, then strength training will be more effective. This type of training helps to shape and visually transform your figure and is especially useful when you need to “work” a specific muscle group. General developmental functional training is usually not aimed at such focused work. In addition, these workouts, of course, develop strength qualities. Functional too - but to a lesser extent. Strength training includes exercises such as squats; without weights they are functional in nature, but adding a barbell shifts the focus to developing strength.

It is worth noting that functional training contains elements of strength training. Yet strength-building exercises are only part of the program here; they are not emphasized. Strength training also uses functional movements from the category of basic motor stereotypes (the same squats), but weights are added to them. So ultimately, strength develops.

Is it possible to combine functional and strength training?

I believe that you can and should combine strength and functional training in your training plan. If you concentrate only on the strength direction, a “skew” may occur in terms of the harmony of the development of physical qualities. As a result, strength will be developed, and other qualities will remain at the same level. Still, it is better to strive for balanced body development.

There is no universal formula for combining functional and strength training that would suit every person. It all depends on the goals. If the goal is to correct body proportions - you need to increase muscle mass, or work on individual regions, then you need to focus on strength training. Two strength workouts versus one functional workout - this could be the plan for the week.

If the goal is health, muscle tone and the development of all basic physical qualities, then you can perform two functional and one strength training per week. Or attend functional training all three times, because it includes strength exercises.

You can combine strength and functional training according to another principle. There are different stages in the training process. At the start there is a “retracting” cycle, which lasts three to four weeks and helps you get used to physical activity. This is followed by a correctional and developmental cycle. It consists of mesocycles (lasting, for example, a month), during which we pay most attention to the main goal.

Let's say, if the goal is to develop endurance, then you can devote three weeks to its implementation, performing functional training with a gradual increase in intensity. And in the remaining fourth week, switch to strength training. It may seem that it takes us away from the main goal, but in fact it allows us to further step up to a higher level and achieve better results. Periodic changes in direction and intensity in the training process allow the body not to adapt to training and always get the desired effect from training.

Endurance training

The exercises are aimed at developing strength endurance. This is not the kind of endurance that marathon runners train. The basis of physical strength endurance is the ability to accumulate large amounts of glycogen and creatine phosphate, which allows the body to work under increased loads for much longer.

However, it should be noted that most sports require athletes - wrestlers, boxers, sprinters, etc. - to combine strength and aerobic endurance.

Disadvantages of Strength Exercises

Many ladies mistakenly attribute the prospect of pumping up muscles and becoming masculine to the disadvantages of strength training. In fact, such fears are greatly exaggerated. In order to become like a participant in a bodybuilding championship, you will have to not only actively work out in the gym with weights, but also take special medications containing the male hormone testosterone. It is this hormone that is responsible for the growth of muscle mass, and there is very little of it in the female body. The only way that working with weights can harm you is injuries due to the inability to properly handle sports equipment. To avoid such troubles, take a couple of strength training lessons from a personal trainer.

Combined workouts

Group training (cardio and strength training) is mainly aimed at creating a beautiful figure. To do this, strength exercises are performed with minimal weights and alternate with aerobic exercise.

Benefits of Strength Exercises

The main advantage of strength exercises is the thorough development of the muscle groups that are targeted by the elements of strength training. In achieving aesthetic relief and tone in problem areas of the figure, strength exercises simply do not exist equal in effectiveness.
It is strength exercises that effectively fight cellulite and generally help eliminate sagging skin. This becomes possible because exercises with weights and your own weight reduce blood pressure, thereby increasing blood and lymph circulation. But it is the normal lymph flow that is responsible for the elasticity of the skin.
Strength exercises also help correct posture.
In addition, coordination of movements improves thanks to exercises with weights.
A beneficial effect of strength exercises on the elasticity of joints has been noted, which in turn reduces the risk of injury from physical activity.
Strength exercises are also an excellent preventive measure for osteoporosis because weight training strengthens the bone.
For people with low weight problems, strength training provides a unique opportunity to gain weight by increasing muscle mass.
Strength exercises are indispensable for middle-aged and elderly people, when the processes of muscle atrophy begin and progress. Only with the help of training using weights and your own weight is it possible to stop the natural breakdown of muscles.
In part, we can talk about strength exercises as aids in weight loss, since weight training, like any other physical activity, burns calories and speeds up metabolism. However, cardio exercises, interval training and circuit training are more effective for weight loss.

Types of strength exercises

The main strength exercises that your gym trainer will probably recommend to you include:

deadlifts are all those exercises in which we pull weight towards ourselves;
presses are all those exercises in which we press weight away from ourselves;
squats with weights - dumbbells held on arms extended along the body, with a medicine ball raised above the head, with a plate pulled to the chest, with a bar or barbell held behind the head, etc.;
lunges with weights;
pull-ups on a horizontal bar or wall bars.