Pick Up Something Heavy!

A while ago I read a book called, “The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess”. This book was written by some of the finest coaches in the industry – Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe, and Alwyn Cosgrove. There is a quote in the book that I think of often when I am coaching:

“Your body’s goal is to reach stasis so it can stop making adaptations to the stresses you impose on it.  Your goal is to keep imposing new stresses so your body keeps making adaptations.”

Now despite the name of the book, this quote applies to anyone looking to get strong, get lean, burn fat and build muscle. We talk about weight selection often. A lot of times you’ll hear your coaches remind you to pick up something heavy! Let me explain to you why we stress this so much.

I will start by telling you some of the things we take into consideration when writing a training program for you to get effective results:
•    Safety
•    Efficient and effective exercise selection
•    Purposeful exercise selection
•    Purposeful timing sequences
•    Mastery
•    Exercise progressions for all fitness levels

If you have been training with us for some time, then you probably know that we have specific strength days and specific metabolic day. Allow me explain what is happening in your body on those days.

Strength Days:
I won’t get too scientific on you. I just want to educate you. The more you know about what’s going on inside your body, the more educated you’ll be when selecting your heavy weights.

These days are designed to tear into your muscles fibers and allow them the opportunity to grow and get stronger upon recovery. Let me give you a personal example:
Dumbbell Bench Press- If these are programmed into my upper body day, then I am going to start by selecting 5 pounds more than what I KNOW I can lift. You see, if in my mind I already know I can press those 35 pound dumbbells, then my body definitely knows I can already do that. If I want to see a change in my body and my performance (which I do) then I need to try something more. My muscles already know I can do that. My body has adapted to that stress already. I need to create a new stress. I need to tear into those muscle fibers and allow them the opportunity to tear, recover/rebuild and grow.

Recovery:
I know you’ve heard us explain the importance of recovery- but let me explain based on the example above. Let’s say on Monday I just did my dumbbell bench press. I need to give myself at least Tuesday and Wednesday to allow those specific muscle fibers to rebuild and recover. In your training program, we are conscience about tearing into the same muscle fibers two days in a row. You may have heard us explain how your body does its best work when you’re recovering and here is why. Those exercises require more energy to perform and consume a lot more energy as your body recovers from them. Which means after you kill it on the training floor you will continue to burn calories as your body tries to recover and rebuild those muscle fibers. Which means you’re still burning on Tuesday from your training session on Monday!

BUT- if you select a weight that your body already KNOWS it can perform, then you’re not doing yourself any favors.

Quick side note for the Ladies- Believe me, picking up heavy load WILL NOT make you bulky. That is a whole other blog in itself- but just know you do not have the testosterone in your body to create such results. Leaner, faster, stronger, healthier means kill it on your strength days- pick up something heavy!

The fitness industry is always improving. You can rest assured knowing that you’ve hired professional coaches who are consistently continuing their education to keep up with the improvements. We will continue to learn how we can help YOU get the safest results- that is a guarantee.

Until then, keep making it happen!
Coach Meagan