Add Weights to Your Workout

Photo by Mark Fischer, USACHPPM

By Ms. Lisa J. Young, MS, Certified Health Education Specialist

The activities we do every day, such as carrying groceries or picking up a child, require muscle strength and endurance. Although aerobic activities are effective for developing cardiorespiratory fitness, most aerobic activities have little influence on muscular strength. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recently recommended that adult fitness programs include moderate to high-intensity resistance training.

In addition to developing muscular strength, resistance training increases lean muscle mass, improves the strength of connective tissue, and increases bone mass. Other health benefits include reductions in body fat, modest reductions in blood pressure, improved lipid profiles, and possible injury prevention.

The key factor to successful resistance training at any level of fitness or age is appropriate program design. Supervision by a qualified professional is essential to prevent injury and to maximize health and performance benefits. Exercise instruction should include proper technique, breathing, and use of equipment, along with goal setting and progress evaluation.

The primary goal of the program should be to develop total body strength, endurance and mobility in a relatively time-efficient manner. Strength can be maintained in only one session per week and gains can be made with as little as two sessions per week. Each session need not be long. In fact, programs lasting longer than one hour per session are associated with increased injury. The ACSM recommends that resistance training be done two to three days per week. The program should include one to three sets of 8 to 12 repetitions. Exercises should focus on the major muscle groups of the upper and lower body, including:

• The trunk (or core) for stabilization and maintaining good posture.
• Hips and legs for lifting and climbing.
• Shoulders for overhead pressing movements.
• Chest for pushing activities.
• Arms for lifting and carrying.

FREE WEIGHTS

Safety: Risks involved with using free weights include being hit by, tripping over, or being trapped under a weight.

Whole body training: Free-weight exercises are often performed in the standing position with the weight supported by the entire body. This helps promote bone mineralization. Moreover, the movement of a free weight requires muscles to work in stabilization as well as support.

Simulation of real-life activities: The lifting and acceleration of objects represent major parts of sports and other physically demanding activities encountered on a daily basis. The lifting of free weights involves the more natural coordination of several muscle groups.

MACHINES

Safety: The main safety risk when using machines is getting a finger caught in a chain, cable, or stack of weights.

Design flexibility: Machines can be designed to provide resistance to body movements that are difficult to perform with free weights (such as, hip adduction and abduction, hip flexion).

Ease of use: People who fear they lack the coordination to lift free weights safely feel confident when using machines. It is quicker and easier to select a weight by inserting a pin in a stack than by mounting plates on a bar.

Whether training using free weights or machines, resistance training should be included as a very important part of any exercise program. Adding weights to a workout helps improve strength, endurance, and overall health and provides variety to any training program.

Source: Add Weights to Your Workout; PR 15-05; July 25, 2005; PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE, U.S. ARMY CENTER FOR HEALTH PROMOTION AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE, ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MARYLAND 21010-5403; For more information, call 410-436-2088/800-222-9698/FAX 410-436-4784