Ok, I know it’s a poster study and as such I’m aware of its limitations, yet it’s great to see “slow” training validated (can’t wait to see the actual data).

Slow Exercise (Not Fast) Is Better For Menopausal Women.

Summary: Groups of menopausal women (45-55 yrs old) were trained “standard style” (normal speed), or SuperSlow (10 secs up, 10 secs down). When groups were compared (via muscle biopsies) the SuperSlow group gained more muscle.

Moral: Move slower, not faster, for better results. But wait! There’s more to it than that.

While you don’t have to move as slowly as the women in the study did, moving slowly is better. The key, however - the weight you choose should dictate your speed. Here’s what I mean:

When the weight you select feels “light”, it means you have ample strength with which to lift it. However, as the weight gets heavier and heavier, it becomes more difficult to lift. At some point (when the weight approaches the maximum you can handle without rupturing something), the weight feels so heavy that just budging it requires a great deal of effort. An appropriately heavy weight is tough to move at all, and nearly impossible to move fast (unless you employ body english or jerk the weight).

So, amended: Move slower, because you’re moving heavier things, for better results.

…you have to make time. Or break “the rules.” Or both.

Ways to make time for exercise:

1. Make it a recurring appointment on your calendar. That way you’re less likely to miss it in the future.  Making it a meeting you’re accountable for will do wonders for you actually doing it.

2. Get up a half hour earlier. I hate waking up early too, but if you simply can’t carve out time during your work day to exercise and you’re too fried afterwards to even consider it, then there’s only one other time remaining.  Consider it a “Morning Mediation.”

3. Go to bed a half hour later. Note: I was wrong all these years - sleep does not seem to be affected by higher core temperature prior to bedtime.  Here’s the hypothesis: To fall asleep, your core temperature needs to drop by several degrees.  Exercise raises core temperature and can sometimes keep it elevated for several hours.  Ergo, I recommended not exercising before bedtime.  Well, I was wrong.

That just works out better for you night owls (full disclosure: I’m one of you - I prefer working out in the evening).  Get your workout in when you can, even if it means right before bed.

Consistency is important (especially for beginners).  Missing a workout anytime during the first four weeks of an exercise program almost always spells death for attaining your goals.  Why?  During this formative period, the habit of exercise hasn’t been established; it’s still a new, unusual, and cruel stimulus to your body.  Consequently, each time you miss a workout (an application of that unwelcome experience), you make it harder to drag yourself to the gym next time.   Until the habit is established, do your best to keep perfect attendance!

Here are some ways to break the rules and to help ingrain the exercise habit:

1. Do one exercise. So you don’t have time to do an all-out, full-body workout.  Okay, just pick one exercise and do that.  Don’t wimp out on your exercise selection, however; make it an exercise worth doing. Squat, perhaps.  Or deadlift.  Or MedX Leg Press.  Or Pullover!  Choose a multi-joint exercise of your liking and do it.  Even if you choose to do multiple sets (and I hope you don’t, unless you have a really compelling reason to), it should only take you 15 minutes.

2. Do a bodyweight workout. You could, in fact, just stop reading right now, get up out of your chair, and do the following workout:

• Slow-speed pushups x 5 reps
• Wall Sit x one 30 second hold
• Plank x one 30 second hold
• Slow-speed back hyperextensions x 5 reps

Repeat for maximum cycles in 10 minutes.

And it would only take you 10 minutes, require no changing, and (if you’re a relative newbie) leave a lasting impression.

3. Walk to the nearest tree and perform pullups. This would be a prime example of what I would call “breaking the rules.”  No, it’s not an ideal situation; yes, the bark will be uncomfortable on your hands; yes, you should pick a branch that can support your weight.  Consider it penance for not putting yourself first and allowing “life” to interrupt something you wanted for yourself.

Incidentally, if you can’t do pullups, it’s okay.  The mere act of trying to pull yourself up will deliver benefits to your upper body and ab muscles as well.  And if just hanging there is tough?  Well, then perform “reps” of dead hangs (being sure to keep your shoulders tight!) for as long as you can; 15 seconds; 30 seconds; whatever.

It’s important to note that these are quick fixes in a pinch.  These options are in lieu of missing a workout.  You’re still responsible for getting back on track and getting back to your full exercise program.

What ways have you figured out to keep yourself on track?  I’d like to hear about them.  Post to comments.

1. You’re talked to instead of guided.

As in, instead of telling you to brace your abdominals while military pressing, they’re telling you about housebreaking their new puppy, or (insert random non-exercise related topic here).

Edit: Not to be confused with friendly banter between exercises, as in when resting. But when “under load”, it’s time to play seriously.

2. You confuse them with one of these:

And last but certainly not least,

3. You’re moving farther away from your goals instead of closer.

Hey, they’re your results (and it’s your money).

One fear that clients (particularly older individuals) have regarding strength training is the integrity of their joints:  “Won’t I hurt my back (or knee/elbow/shoulder) lifting weights?” 

If you’re concerned at all about joint integrity on a resistance training program, don’t be.  Assuming you choose weights that are appropriately heavy, your joints should get stronger.  Here’s why:

First, positive tissue remodeling occurs.  Positive tissue remodeling is a fancy way of saying that your connective tissue (tendons, ligaments, etc.) thickens, becoming stronger and more durable.  In very much the same process as muscle building, the stimulus of lifting a heavy weight stresses connective tissue, causing microtrauma (miniscule tears in the tissue fibers) and temporarily weakening the joint.  During recovery, your body goes to work, repairing these microtears and reinforcing them, creating a stronger joint.

It’s important to note here that positive tissue remodeling takes longer than muscle recovery.  It’s postulated that the reason you see so many muscle pulls in professional sports nowadays (especially baseball and football) is rampant steroid abuse - which affords a player faster muscle recovery time, but doesn’t affect positive tissue remodeling.  As a result, their muscle becomes stronger at a much faster rate than their tendons and ligaments, eventually culminating in a muscle tear where failure occurs at the musculotendinous junction - the point at which the muscle and tendon connect.  In other words, their tendon breaks because it is not strong enough to withstand the force the muscle generates.

Second, the muscles surrounding your joints get stronger.  In an earlier post, I alluded to the fact that muscles support bones and joints by acting as a suspension unit - they assist the joint capsule and connective tissue in holding a joint together by contracting.  As muscles get stronger, they are better able to reinforce your joints by literally holding them in place while you contract.

Your spine is a great example.  Look at this picture of a human spine and note its natural curves.  Without these curves, your spine would not be able to support nearly as much weight as it does (about 16x less, if you strip all the connective tissue and muscle away).  In order to maintain these curves, you have an extensive layering of connective tissue surrounding each intervertebral joint, as well as the entire spine.  Additionally, you’ve got layer upon layer of small muscles that surround the spine, reinforcing those curves and lending the spine greater stability.  It’s estimated they contribute more than 50% to spinal stability.  The stronger these small muscles get, the better they can stabilize and protect your spine. 

Through both these mechanisms, expect your joints to strengthen as a result of resistance training.  That is, if you don’t try to lift 500 lbs on your first try.

Thomas, my aforementioned gregarious meat monger, asked me today,”Is it better to use dumbbells or barbells?”

There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not asked this exact question or some variant of it.  While it is true that there are different advantages to each training implement, the honest truth is this:

What you use doesn’t matter so long as you a) work hard b) consistently and c) with progression in mind*.

In other words, you could use barbells, if that’s what you have available.  Or use dumbbells.  Yes, dumbbells require more stabilization, but is that what you’re looking to train?  Moreover, does, say, more stabilization really even do anything above and beyond just “plain ol’ lifting”?

Here is the point - whatever advantages a given implement can deliver over another amounts to very little.  You won’t all of a sudden go from having a 13 inch arm to a 16 inch one by switching from barbells to dumbbells because of the “hypertrophic properties of multi-planar stabilization.”  Likewise, swapping out your kettlebells for a sledgehammer isn’t likely to magically make you punch any faster.  When proponents of these different training modalities compare and contrast the benefits you can receive from using their particular brand of equipment, what gets lost in the shuffle is that simply by using that training implement and paying attention to the three factors listed above will allow you to derive 99% of the benefits you can get from using the implement.

It isn’t the kettlebell/dumbbell/tire/milk jug/sandbag/Total Gym that you use.  It is that you actually use the thing.

*Nota Bene: A clarification of concepts is in order here;

Working “hard” means that you give forth a high degree of effort when performing exercises;

Consistency means that you train regularly enough so as to compound the positive response from each exercise bout (neither so often that your body can’t recover, nor so infrequently that you lose what you gained from each workout), and;

Progression means that you can do more this time than you could last time (either more weight, more reps, run faster, endure longer, etc.).

Digressions? Objections? Think I’m full of it and have a rebuttal? Post a comment.