Personal Trainers NYC Clarifies Definition of ‘strength Training’

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Personal Trainers NYC Clarifies Definition of ‘strength Training’ – Health – Fitness

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A trend towards minimalism and ‘old school’ training methods has brought strength training back into vogue even for the non-athlete and is an integral part of successful training methods of Personal Trainers NYC. In order to understand the benefits of strength training and the reasons for its efficacy, it is important to first understand the proper definition of what strength training is.

The common misconception amongst many who participate in an exercise program is that when ‘strength training’ is referenced, it is being used as a generic term synonymous with ‘resistance training’ or ‘weight training’ or any similar words used to describe any type of general exercise that employs the use of an external load (dumbbells, barbells, bands, cables etc). This misconception is further propagated by inexperienced personal trainers, popular fitness media personalities, magazine writers, and even doctors and physical therapists whose knowledge of exercise was garnered mostly from the shallow pool of knowledge the commercial fitness industry was based on, and not one specifically based on fundamentals of muscle physiology, biomechanics, and the increase of human performance.

As any legitimate strength coach, competitive lifter or athlete that has trained to enhance his performance knows, this generic concept of strength training could not be further from accurate. In exercise science terms ‘strength training’ specifically refers to applying stress to the body in a method designed for increasing force output- how much force the body’s muscle system is capable of generating, as measured and expressed usually by 1 repetition maximum or a series of repetitions with a very high estimated percentage of 1 repetition max.

Now how does this apply to the general population, someone that is not a competitive athlete or lifter? The answer is multi-fold. First and foremost, maximal strength (force output) is the only aspect of fitness that has a positive effect on every other aspect of one’s fitness. Increased strength improves your muscular endurance, it improves your cardiovascular capacity, and when achieved properly through the use of full range of motion compound exercises (the type most people are sadly completely unfamiliar with) it increases one’s flexibility and mobility as well. Further, it is simply hard to imagine anyone of any population that would not want to be stronger and the simple benefit of this is readily apparent in everyday life.

The other more overriding factor for the importance and efficacy of actual specific strength training in the general population is a bit more complicated scientifically and has to do with the actual adaptive response muscles have to strength training. Training for strength causes an increase in myofibrillar hypertrophy. What this means is that the number of myofibrils, the actual contractile units in a muscle, increase as a result of the training. Increasing the number of contractile units allows more force to be generated. The greatest myofibrillar hypertrophy is induced by lifting heavy weights over multiple sets of low reps -5 or fewer repetitions and 3 to as many 10 or more sets.

Body building protocols which prioritize mass and size gain aim to induce sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Sarcoplasm is the fluid-like filler of muscle cells. Increases in sarcoplasm and therefore muscle size and volume result from training with moderate weights in a medium set and rep range, 6-12 reps and usually no more than four sets.

High rep low weight training, sets of 12-15 and beyond, is inefficient at best and largely ineffective except for burning calories and inducing some fat loss when accompanied by a sensible diet because of the resulting calorie deficit. This is because the stress applied in this type of training is not great enough to induce significant myofibrillar or sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, and most adaptive response of the muscle body ceases to occur within several weeks of beginning training. Some progressive increase in load on a high rep protocol can continue to increase some adaptation, but this will become incrementally less and less as training continues.

So a strength training protocol will deliver the results most clients’ male, female young or old desire: Aesthetically a physique with more prominent firmer muscles that aren’t excessively large, and the addition of greater strength, stamina, mobility and overall health. Depending on the individual needs of the client, training protocols can be adjusted by an Personal Trainers NYC and other methods utilized, but it is clear to see why a basis and emphasis on ‘strength training’ is highly important and in its absence any other training methods will be compromised in their efficacy.

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For More Information about Personal Fitness Trainer Nyc Please Visit us at Nycfitnessexperts.com

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