#Fitember: The confusing world of Strength training.

Before I start I just want to say that its a pleasure and an honour to be asked to contribute to #Fitember, especially considering some of the other people who will be contributing too; people I have a lot of time and respect for. I think this is an inspired idea. There are so many international months of this or national weeks of that, but fitness is something that doesn't really have its own devoted place in the calendar. Maybe this is because fitness should realistically fill the entire calendar and be a daily part of everyone's life to some extent. But with the constant bombardment from the media of this 30 day celebrity workout plan, that 30 second abs routine, people can be forgiven for believing that there is a quick fix to being overweight or getting in shape.

Well sorry to rain on everyone's parade, but there is no quick fix, no easy way to reverse years of neglecting your health and fitness. It takes hard work and dedication. I realise that the purpose of #Fitember is to inspire and motivate people and I sincerely hope I can do that. But in order to be credible I need you all to know I wont sugar coat things. I will be honest and upfront.

My remit will be to write about strength training, do's, don'ts, give general advice and information and Ill be posting some training schedules. Videos covering technique and anything else I believe will be beneficial. I will do my best to separate the wheat from the chaff.

So lets get down to the nitty gritty.

I'll be dealing with resistance training. Resistance training is just a fancy way of saying weight training. Allegedly it was first recorded in ancient Greece. Milo of Croton picked up a calf on his shoulders every day from the day it was born through to it becoming a fully grown bull. Technically that is progressive resistance training. Steadily increasing the loads lifted over a period of time and thereby getting stronger. Whether this is true or just legend, it forms one of the basic principles of weight training.

As time has progressed and people have learned more and more about how the body responds to various training stimuli a whole host of different training methods and systems have been born. Now you will hear many different people making claims that this system is better than that system, or another system trumps all others. I just want to be clear here. If someone says a system is the best, what they are really saying is that the system they are singing the praises of, is the one they have found is the best FOR THEM!! There is no such thing as the ultimate training system. If there was, don't you think everyone in the world would be using it?

The truth is that everyone is an individual, and you have to find what works best for YOU! one undeniable truth is that when you are starting out, practically any system you use will bring you some improvements. Many people though have been brainwashed into the mistaken belief that weight training will make you big and bulky and is no good for fat loss. Apparently many of these so called celeb trainers promote the very mistaken belief that Cardio is king. False!! Cardio has its place but in terms of getting you lean and fit, it is, in my view. not the most efficient method. Runners will tell you differently, all I will say is that it has its place, but there are better ways to reach your goals. I would recommend a mixture of resistance training, bodyweight movements and high intensity interval training. There are better people than me to discuss calisthenics and HIIT.

Sadly, many people are intimidated about entering the weights room for the first time especially women. I can understand this. You look through the glass in the door from the safety of the cardio section and see a load of rough looking guys "pumping iron" grunting, groaning, slamming weights down after that "killer" set. Well I am here to tell you that those guys are NOT proper lifters. Those guys are the beach lifters, the ones who want to look good in a vest while they pose down the beach. The real, serious lifters have manners, they will be willing to help and welcome you to the weights room. They do not lift with ego but with form. Its easy for me to say "just get in there and lift" but that would be callous. Why not go in with a friend? Or maybe ask the gym staff to show you round that section. The important thing is that the weights section is not hell, its not going to chew you up and spit you out. Those beachlifters may look intimidating but those guys don't train legs, so you're going to be bossing that room in no time.

So what should you be doing when you make that first trip into the weights area? Well the first thing to do is leave your ego at the door. If you go in there and try to lift more than you are capable of not only will you become discouraged, you will likely look a bit silly and more than likely do yourself an injury. Lifting is a skill you have to learn. Each movement has a specific technique and these should be mastered before you even think about loading up the bar to go for that heavy single. When I first set foot in a gym almost 25 years ago, my then coach made me lift with only the bar for the first 3 months. This may seem excessive, and maybe it is but what it did was to ensure that good form was ingrained before I started the real lifting. It also completely destroyed any chance my teenage ego may have had to flourish there. Form is key. FORM FORM FORM. That should be your mantra. In this modern age of technology you have access to a whole world of information and assistance. Youtube can be invaluable there are literally thousands of technique videos at the click of a button.

Initially the main lifts you should focus on in my view are what I will refer to as "The Big 3". They are all compound lifts. This means they are working more than just one or two muscle groups, in fact they work a lot more than you might think. The big 3 are the fundamentals, if you do not have these in your training regimen, then you are in my honest view just not doing it right. I will go into more detail regarding the technical aspects in my next post but for now.... The big 3 are as follows:

Squat. Widely regarded as the king of the lifts. It is the basis from which all programs should be built. The squat (when done correctly) will work almost every muscle group in the body. And for the small number of parts it doesn't, there are variations that will hit more. This movement is often very badly performed and taught, and even more often it is totally missing from programmes. Yes it is hard work, you will often hear people who are serious about training bemoaning "leg day" and with good reason. A solid leg day can leave your legs a little shaky and unsteady for a while. But the whole body benefits of performing squats is more than worth it. Some variations include front squat, goblet squat, hack squat, split squat, olympic squat, high bar, low bar, overhead etc etc

Bench Press. For such an apparently simple movement, it can be pretty tough to master. You will no doubt see the beachlifters loading the bar up with way more than they can reasonably lift, and their mate will do half of the lift for them. They will shout and scream while they do it too. Also you will see them bouncing the bar off their chest (if they even lower it that far). These are the guys whose first question to assess your strength will be "Whats ya bench"? Ignore all of that. The bench press if done correctly will strengthen almost the entire upper body and even utilises the muscles of the legs and ass. Again there are a huge number of variations, all of which will work you in a slightly different way. Variations include close grip, wide grip, incline, decline, bumbell press, floor press, block press and more

Deadlift. If squat is the king of the lifts, in my view, deadlift is the Emperor. This is a lift you will see performed even less often than the squat. It involves pulling the bar from the floor, standing up straight and lowering it again. Sounds simple enough. It is theoretically, but once again technique is key. The deadlift is very heavy on the back and the posterior chain group of muscles. It will test your grip too. I recommend using chalk for this. As with the other lifts in the big 3 there are again many variations with this in terms of grip width, stance, straight leg, deficit, rack pull and so on.

So if you have never lifted weights, dont you think its about time you introduced some into your schedule? You are only going to benefit. They will make you stronger, have been shown to improve bone strength too. They burn a lot of calories and the increased muscle will further increase this. And as for the old myth that they make you big and bulky (often a concern for women). Well as post more information I will go into more detail about different types of weight training designed specifically for building muscle or strength or a mixture of both. What i will say at this point is that, girls, you are NOT going to get huge manly physiques. Unless you are about to start hammering the steroids, that just isn't possible. Women have roughly 16-20 times less testosterone in their bodies than even a teenage boy. So on that basis if a guy was training 6 times a week for an hour at a time, basic mathematics tells you that a woman would have to train for 16 hours a day to get the same results. I know that is oversimplifying things and is not strictly true (as well as not physically possible) but you get the idea. I think the pictures below nicely dispel the myth that women will get huge by lifting weights. The first 2 pictures are of Julia Rohde, she is a German Olymplic lifter she has a best clean and jerk of 108kg and snatch of 89kg and all of that from a clearly enormous and manly looking 53kg bodyweight.

So make your own judgement. Hope you enjoyed reading.