Effects of Strength Training - 2

Next on our list of effects of strength training:  improved joint function.

How many of us find that we have a knee or a hip or a shoulder that doesn’t always behave the way we’d like it to, or the way it did back in the day?  Most of us, right?

 

Strength training to the rescue!

 

So, first a disclaimer.  We cannot actually strengthen joints.  Joints are intersections where bones come together.  They’re more of a location than an actual thing.  When we talk about strengthening joints, what we really mean is strengthening the muscles and other tissues that surround joints.

 

Many of the joints in our bodies are synovial joints.  We don’t need to go into all that that means, but we do need to know that the way that nutrition gets into synovial joints is through movement rather than through our circulation.  Feed the hips and give them a shake or two!

 

Our bodies, by nature, adapt to the challenges we give them.  When we give our bodies weights to play with, we get stronger and our joints adapt to their new reality.  We want to ensure that we give our bodies appropriate challenges:  no 300 pound deadlifts on the first day, babe.  We increase our weights gradually, allowing our tissues the time they need to grow and change.

 

Similarly, we become what we do.  When we take all of our joints through their full range of motion on the regular, they like it.  They habituate themselves to that kind of movement and it gets easier.

 

Go do it.

 

Monday Workout: New Year!

Welcome to the new year!  Let’s make it a great one by working with compound exercises.  Those who want some extra challenge can add a reverse lunge to the end of the step ups.  Three rounds.

 

kb swings	30
kb twists	20
kb 8s	10
step up (reverse lunge)	30
bench press	20
quadruped lateral raise	10
squat to leg lift	30
flies	20
pretty princesses	10

 

The Amazing Stickie and Quadruped Lateral Raise

Today the Amazing Stickie is working on multiple things at once, as she often does.  She’s challenging her core strength by working in quadruped position while also working her arms in the quadruped lateral raise.

She begins on her hands and knees, ensuring that her knees are directly under her hips and her hands, holding light weights, are directly under her shoulders.  She raises one arm directly out to the side until it is parallel to the ground and then lowers it back to starting position.  Then she repeats on the other side.  (For less of a challenge, do all the reps on one side first and then switch.)

 

A set of ten is usually sufficient.

Effects of Strength Training - 1

In the new year, I’m going to begin by focusing on the effects of strength training on the body.

Today, we begin with perhaps the most obvious effect:  our muscles get stronger, our bones get tougher, and our tendons and ligaments become more resilient.

 

In theory, I think we all get behind this as a worthwhile goal.  In practice, we come up against a few obstacles.  One of those is that sometimes other people don’t really want us to be strong.  They get invested in our weakness.  We have to decide that what is good for us is more important than other people’s agendas.

 

Another perhaps obvious obstacle is that strength training is work and sometimes we don’t much want to work.  This is another spot where we have to focus on what’s best rather than what is most fun.

 

Go play.

We made it!

We have made it to the end of another year!  Hooray for us!

Today is a good day to ask ourselves some questions.

 

What went well in fitness this last year?  What did we enjoy?  What progress did we make?  What did we learn?  How can we keep our momentum going?

 

What went less well?  What do we need to put in place to make things go better in the future?

 

What would we like to see happen in the new year?  Do we want more energy?  Do we want to learn to tango?  Do we have travel plans that we might want to prepare for?

 

When we reflect on where we’ve been and where we want to go, we give ourselves a better chance of success.

 

Wishing everyone a fabulous 2025!

Monday Workout: Last One For the Year!!!!

We’re finishing out the year with a short circuit full of fun stuff.  (Maybe not YOUR definition of fun, but whatever.)  Four rounds.

 

1 min cardio
jacks	30
bench press	20
1 leg deadlift	10
suitcase swings	30
(lunge to) curl	20
brains	10

The Amazing Stickie and Push Pull

Today the Amazing Stickie is doing Push Pull for her abdominals and upper body.  She begins in a V sit position.  She bends one knee toward her chest and pushes the opposite arm toward her toes while pulling the other arm back.  Her torso twists toward the bending leg.

Then she reverses it and pushes and pulls the other way.

 

A set of ten is good.