By: Matthew Iannotti

What is strength training?
Strength training is using muscular force against resistance. This type of training can build the strength and size of skeletal muscles. Different forms of resistance can be used when training for strength. This includes bands, body weight, and specially designed weights or machines.

In the past, strength training was primarily used by athletes to enhance performance and/or increase muscle size. However, strength training is now recognized as a critical factor in the health and fitness of all genders, ages, and abilities. Leading health organizations such as the ACSM and NSCA recommend regular strength training as part of one’s fitness regimen.

Why is strength training so important?

Strength training is important for:
• Preserving and enhancing muscle mass
• Preserving and enhancing metabolic rate
• Improving bone mineral density
• Improving glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity
• Lowering risk of injury
• Improving ability to engage in daily activities
• Improving balance
• Improving self-esteem
• Enhancing strength and endurance
• Enhancing speed, power, and agility
• Improving overall body composition
• Decreasing bad cholesterol levels
• Decreasing blood pressure
• Improving aerobic capacity

What you should know

Sets and Reps
Weight loads allowing less than 15 repetitions are important for muscular strength and hypertrophy while weight loads that can be repeatedly lifted for greater than 15 repetitions are important for muscular endurance. More specifically, less than six reps will help with developing strength and power, six to 12 reps will help keep the muscle under tension and develop muscle growth, while more than 12 reps is ideal for endurance and metabolic conditioning.

Strength Training Frequency
Aiming for about 2 – 3.5 hours per week of strength training is adequate for most individuals. This should be divided equally over the course of the week. Examples include:

• Monday/Wednesday/Friday for 60 minutes
Or
• Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday for 45 minutes

Strength Training Body part/Movement Workout

So how should the workouts be divided up? One of the best ideas is a constant rotation. One month could be full body workouts. The next month could be body part workouts. The next month could be movement plane workouts. Body part specific workouts are better for regional hypertrophy while full body workouts and movements plane workouts benefit strength, power, speed, and muscle growth.

Choosing Exercise Sequence
Remember to select the harder exercises before the easy exercises (e.g., multi-joint before single-joint, free weight before machine, etc). An example would be squats before leg extensions.

Training Progression
There are many different ways to make progressions with your strength training routine. You can increase the weight lifted, the repetitions performed, or the sets completed. You can also decrease the tempo of each set to allow greater time under tension. Decreasing the rest between sets doesn’t allow your body to fully recover and is metabolically taxing. Even changing the biomechanics of the exercise can be a method of progression (e.g., flat to incline, supinated to pronated, etc.). Finally, there are many intensity boosters that can be used with strength training, here are some examples:

• Supersets – Example – Back to back bench press and dumbbell rows
• Drop sets – Example – 10 reps with 100 pounds on squats, 8 reps with 80 pounds on squats, 6 reps with 60 pounds on squats, and so on….
• Rest/pause – Example – 10 reps with 100 pounds on squats, rack it, rest, 4 reps with 100 pounds, rack it, rest, 3 reps with 100 pounds
• Circuits – Example – 8 reps of push ups, 8 reps of deadlifts, 8 reps of rows, 8 reps of lunges, 30 seconds of jumping jacks
• Density training – Example – Doing push ups and pull ups for 10 – 15 minutes with minimal rest
• Negatives – Example – Grab a weight that is heavier that normal, lift it, then take about 6 – 8 seconds while resisting on the way down
• Isometrics – Example – wall sit for 30 seconds

S.A.I.D. is an acronym for Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands. In other words, our body adapts to whatever demands it is given. Mindlessly wandering from machine to machine for months on end will not result in optimal results. Cycling your program will keep you sane and challenge your body. This also applies to the design of the strength training program. A program designed to improve muscular endurance won’t benefit muscular strength.

Summary and Recommendations

• Strength train for 2 to 3.5 hours per week, spread evenly.
• Always warm up before strength training.
• Higher sets and lower reps for strength.
• Lower sets and higher reps for metabolic conditioning and endurance.
• Focus on body part workouts if you are more interested in regional hypertrophy.
• Focus on movement plane workouts if you are more interested in function, performance and strength.
• Do the most taxing exercises first in your routine.
• Always vary your routine. The best program, as the saying goes, is the one you’re not currently doing.
• Don’t forget about progression. Otherwise, you won’t progress!
• Excelling at strength training is virtually impossible without good nutrition

About the Author

Matthew Iannotti holds a B.Sc Nutrition Science and is a Nutritional Researcher and the author of Sport Supplement Secrets. To learn more about Sport supplements or fitness tips

(ArticlesBase SC #1127794)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – Strength Training Made Easy

by Andrew Cheyne

Interval fitness training is by far the best workout you can do for your body. It combines strength and cardio into one intense action packed workout. But one thing you may not think about is the ability to mix and match through interval fitness training.

Just think about it, interval fitness training is nothing more then a bunch of exercises thrown together in 30 second to 1-minute stretches. After a couple exercises are complete you simply let your body catch up and repeat the session.

For that reason you can actually mix and match a bunch of exercises together. Think about it, make a list of exercises that you like, now make a list of exercises that are challenging to you. This works best if you have at least 10 in each list.

Now simply pick two from each list a and two from list b and combine them into a great interval. You can even do this in random order by picking a random number and counting down that many each time. Doing this keep it fresh and exciting everytime you workout. The possibilities are endless, they really are. You can combine exercises like dips and chinups, with exercises like bodyweight squats and floor mountain climbers. Even add things like plank exercises and wind sprints.

Just from this list you can have a number of great interval fitness training routines up.

For example:

• Chinups x 15
• Bodyweight Squats x 15
• Plank x hold for 30 seconds
• Sprint in place x 30 seconds
• Rest and Repeat

The real key here is you can add anything that you would like to be working on. For instance if you want to add bench press and leg press to the mix you could do something like:

• Bench Press x 10
• Leg Press x 10
• Floor Mountain Climbers x 30 seconds
• Dips x 15
• Rest and Repeat

I hope you can see my point here. Not only is interval fitness training the most effective form of cardio but you also add strength training into the mix and voila the best just got better.

If you are looking for a way of exercising that really mixes it up and keeps you interested while burning more calories than you ever would on any kind of treadmill try interval fitness training. In fact try the two-column method that I had described above. Get rid of your boring cardio routine once and for all.

About the Author

To get more great information about how to get great abs, go to the Internet Health And Fitness Database at http://www.internethealthandfitnessdatabase.com. Download 6 free E-books and E-reports along with a ton of great health and fitness articles and information!

Combining Interval training with strength training is a form of training that has been coined turbulence training. Getting all the necessities in one workout so that you get your workout done quickly with a ton of intensity. Often you can have a fantastic workout completed within 45 minutes.

Start your workout with a 5 minute bodyweight warm up. The warm up is not an option it is as much a part of the workout as any other part. After the warm up is complete, move on to the muscle building part of the workout. This will last for approx 20 minute. You can train with barbells or dumbbells or even more bodyweight training. Just one real rule here; no using cheesy equipment. We are looking for intensity, don’t waste your time by slacking on the strength training.

Once done the strength training portion we head straight into the interval fitness portion of the workout. By combining your workout like this you make the most of your time. Getting the most out of your workout and getting in and out of the gym in the least amount of time. No need to spend hours doing cardio, or working out every day of the week.

The old rule really rings true here. 80 percent of your results will come from 20 percent of your effort. So if this is true, why not really work on that 20 percent. Focus on what works. There is no need to live on a treadmill doing boring cardio, build muscle and burn calories all in one great workout.

The one program that truly understands this concept is called turbulence training. It takes this concept and centers all your workouts on it.

There are very few other programs out there that really focus on combining strength and interval fitness training in once great workout. It is a revolutionary concept that will result in getting a strong lean body and amazing results.

About the Author

To get more great information about how to get great abs, go to the Internet Health And Fitness Database at http://www.internethealthandfitnessdatabase.com.

Download 6 free E-books and E-reports along with a ton of great health and fitness articles and information!

Get the best deals by taking your time to shop online. happy lifting.

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Exercise benefits everyone no matter what shape they are in. You may have bird legs, or heavy thighs on a pear-shaped body, or be in good condition from swimming or running, but you can still improve your health by doing weight-bearing exercises every week.

Since the large muscles of the lower body comprise over 60 percent of your muscle mass, it is necessary to include a workout to target them. In order to work these muscles properly, they require the use of heavier weights and a higher volume of work than say smaller muscles like the biceps.

Basic Exercises for The Lower Body:

The lower body, consisting of the trunk and legs, includes the major muscle groups of the gluts (buttocks); adductor (inner thigh) and abductor (hip); quadriceps and hamstrings on the upper leg; calves and soleus on the back of the lower leg; and the tibialis anterior (shin) on the front of the lower leg.

These exercises are only a sample of the workouts you can choose and they can be done with free weights, cables, or on circuit machines. Remember: variety is the key to toning muscles.

Cable Standing Calf Raise — At a cable pulley, attach a belt to your hips. Stand on the edge of a low platform or “calf block” on the balls of your feet, with your arches and heels off the block. Make sure the cable is short enough to allow full range of motion. Your knees should be straight throughout exercise or bent only slightly during the stretch. Raise up, allowing your heels to extend as high as you can, then lower the heels and bend the ankles, stretching the calves. These exercises will target the calf muscles with the synergist—i.e., a muscle that assists another muscle to accomplish a movement—being the soleus.

Reverse Calf Raise – This is similar to the (heel) calf raise described above, only now you will be positioning your heels on the front edge of the calf block and do toe raises. Begin by pulling the toes up as far as possible; then return by extending and pointing the toes downward. Repeat. This will target the tibialis anterior. Runners especially will benefit by training the shin muscles to prevent the types of muscle imbalances that cause painful shin split injuries.

Variations on the calf raise can also be preformed on a seated calf press machine, or on standing on a calf block with dumbbells or in a Smith with barbells. By doing both heel and toe raises you’ll work the lower leg and tone the V-shape that runs from your heels up the calf. Calf raises are great for both men and women who want to fully develop a nice pair of gams.

Cable Hip Adduction — A good exercise for the inner thighs. Attach a cuff to the inside ankle as you stand sideways in front of a low cable pulley. Grab the bar for support, keep your leg straight, and pull the weight by swinging your leg out, just in front of the outside leg you are balancing on. Return and repeat, then turn around and work the other leg. Adduction is moving the thigh inward with the hip straight; abduction (next) is moving the thigh outward with hip straight.

Cable Hip Abduction — Attach the cable cuff to the outside ankle while standing sideways from the low pulley. Keep your leg straight, pull the weight and allow the far leg to cross in front. Return and repeat. Then work the other leg. This exercise will work the hips and gluts.

For the next sets, move from the step-ups, to lunges, then to squats—in that order.

Step-ups with Barbells — A great exercise for the quads, and one that will be felt in the hams and calves, step-ups also serve as a warm-up for the upcoming squats and lunges. The exercise looks similar to the barbell squat since it’s done with a barbell placed on the shoulders. To perform this exercise: stand in front of a low bench or platform, and step up with the left leg, then the other. Then step down with the left leg; then the right. Repeat with the right leg stepping first. For variation, use dumbbells instead of a barbell.

The Lunge — A popular exercise with men and women bodybuilders, the lunge is good for toning the gluts, hams, and quads. To begin, stand with feet together and arms at your sides. Lunge forward with your left leg, landing heel first, then toes. Lower your body until your right knee is almost in contact with floor. Your shoulders will be over your hips. Load the front leg and use the back one for stability. Use a slow, smooth movement in order to allow tension to remain on the target muscle for a second or two. Step back up (toe/heel) and return to start position. Repeat with the right leg stepping forward. Lunges can be done with barbells or hand weights to increase intensity, and can also be preformed to the side or to the rear.

Squat with dumbbells — Stand with your feet comfortably apart, holding the dumbbells at your sides. Swing the weights forward in a controlled motion while bending at the knees and hips and lower to a sitting position. Slowly return to a standing position and lower the weights to your sides. The squat is the core exercise of any lower body training program and there are numerous variations using free weights.

Leg Press — Get in the machine and place your feet on the foot plate with knees and heels in alignment. Exhale, and push on the plate until your knees and hips are fully extended. Return to the start position where your hips should be completely flexed. Repeat. This machine targets the gluts and also hits the quads, inner thighs, and soleus. If you have knee problems, this exercise is a good alternative to the squat since you will be able to control balance and adjust the weight load. Some women also prefer the safety of the Leg Press Machine rather than performing squats with free weights and that’s fine, too. But for proper leg work, you must do one or the other.

Two important exercises that are often overlooked are the leg extension and leg curl. For best results, you should alternate these every week to allow specific muscles to recover. For example, you’ll be focusing on quads one week; hams the next. These terrific exercises will cut the upper leg muscles nicely if you do them properly.

Seated Leg Extension — Sit on the machine and slide your lower leg under the padded lever. Lift the lever, extending the knees until your legs are straight. Lower the lever to the start position and repeat. This workout targets the quads and should be done after squats or leg presses to help chisel and tone the front of the thighs.

Seated Leg Curl — Sit upright on the machine with your back against the padded support. Slide your lower legs over the padded lever, and lower the lap pad down against your thigh. Bring (curl) the lever down to full extension, then raise up to the start position until your knees are straight. Repeat. It’s a good idea to do this machine last after squats and the leg press. This machine targets the hams with the synergist being the calves.

Lying leg curls — To work the hamstrings, lie prone on the bench of the machine and position your lower legs under the lever pad. Raise the lever pad by flexing knees and bringing up (curling) the lever to the back of the thigh. Slowly lower until your knees are straight. Repeat.

The hamstrings are not fun to train but it is especially necessary to keep them limber, and a beautiful set of hams looks attractive on both men and women. Leg curl machines make the motion easier to do, but if the equipment is available at your gym, try all variations of legs curls (seated, standing, lying, kneeling, cable) for best results.

A Sample Basic Lower Body Workout :

Generally speaking, you should plan to do 2 to 4 sets of each, with reps of 8 to 20 depending on amount of weight used. Protect your joints by starting light and adding weights later as you progress in your training.

• Barbell Squat  or  Leg Press (3 sets of 12)
• Seated Calf Raise (3 X 12)
• Leg Extensions (4 X 12)
• Leg Curls (4 X
• Standing Calf Raise (4 X 20)

For more variation, throw in some one-legged training since you are likely to have a dominant leg and not even know it. (Snowboarders are aware of this phenomenon.) You can test yourself by training one leg at a time on most any free weight or machine exercise (for example, the seated calf raise) and see for yourself that one leg can usually do more reps than the other. Single leg training lets you isolate the muscle and promote more muscle fiber growth.

Design your workout according to your goals and be sure to change your routine every 4 to 5 weeks to keep your muscles guessing. By adding weight-bearing training to your weekly workout schedule, you’ll soon be on your way to achieving a good-looking, strong, and balanced lower body.

Advantages of Free Weight Training

To build strength, Milo the legendary wrestler of ancient Greece prepared for the Olympiad by carrying a newborn calf on his back every day until the cow was full grown.

Nearby, you can bet there was a woman hauling a 30-lb toddler on her hip who must have been watching and thinking … “muscle head.”

Each of us lifts heavy things as part of our daily lives, be it toddlers, equipment, groceries, or a number of things. Resistance training can make you stronger and these tasks will seem easier.

You don’t have to be an athlete to reap benefits from lifting weights. Anyone who is short of breathe when they walk up a flight of stairs or who just wants to feel and look better can achieve amazing results by adding free weight training to their weekly schedule.

Rage Against the Machines

Free weights or machines? That’s a question that’s often asked. Machines are a safe way to go if you’re new to lifting or are recovering from an injury, but check out the advantages of free weights. While specific weight machines leave out the stabilizer muscle groups (gluts, back, abs) and only allow the user to move the weight from point A to point B, free weights aren’t held in place by anything—just you—and that freedom requires coordination and balance from the core muscles and the bones. That means that the whole body gets involved in the execution of the exercise.

This added stimulus gives an individual the advantage of training movement, not just muscle, since the range of motion more closely mimics the activities of daily life. Since your body is in itself the machine, fitness experts consider free weights superior to exercise machines.

Pumping Iron: A Look at the Equipment

The term free weights generally refers to dumbbells and barbells. (But not babies.) They’re called free weights because they are used in ranges of motion based on the user, and not limited to a machine’s design. The weights are a staple at any club or public gym, and home users find that not only are they an inexpensive way to get in shape, a set of dumbbells won’t take up a lot of room and they are impossible to break.

Dumbbells are constructed of either a single fixed weight, or as a short bar with changeable disks called plates. A complete set of plates for dumbbells generally ranges from 2.5 lbs to 50 lbs each.

Barbells are comprised of a long bar and iron weight plates which range from 5 lbs to 100 lbs. A chrome or stainless steel straight bar is about 4 to 6 feet long and weighs 15 to 22 pounds. (In comparison, an Olympic bar weighs 45 pounds and can hold loads of over 800 pounds.) The plates are slipped on each end of the bar and held on with a clip called a collar.

Free Weight Exercises for Men and Women

Way back in 500 B.C., Milo figured out that the basic concept of progressive resistance training is to start with lighter weights and, as your muscles grow stronger, move to heavier weights. But while Milo hauled a heifer daily, weight training is not something that must be done every day to see progressive results. There are over 400 voluntary muscles in your body and you can stimulate growth in them by doing just 30-minute sessions, two or three times per week.

Design your weight training program to exercising certain muscle groups on one day and the remainder on another, with rest days in between. Use the rest days as an opportunity to get more cardio work in while your muscles recuperate. Aim for one to four sets per exercise, and do up to three exercises targeting each muscle group on their workout day. With any of the sample exercises below, adjust the weight loads and number of reps to your personal fitness goals.

First, the core lifts:

Bench Press: This is the popular exercise to work the chest and shoulders. Lie supine on the bench under the barbell, placing your hands about a foot apart on the bar. Lift the weight off the rack and extend fully, keeping your elbows at a 90-degree angle to your body and not against your sides. Lower the barbell slowly to the start position. Press. Repeat. For variation, shorten the hand distance on the bar to put more work on the inner pectorals and triceps.

Squats: Use a barbell or dumbbells to work on the largest muscles of the body, the gluts and legs. With your feet about shoulder-width apart, hold the weight at chest height, bending the knees and lowering your body down to squat in a parallel position. Then press the gluts together and rise up to the start position. Be sure not to round the back when doing squats and deadlifts as this will put stress on your lower back muscles.

Deadlifts: This exercise begins with the loaded barbell on the floor. With the bar touching your shins, place your hands wider than shoulder-width on the bar and outside your legs. Using a reverse grip, keep your arms straight and back straight, chest out, and thighs parallel to the floor. Lift slowly with arms straight and bar close to the body, rising to stand with the bar is about mid-thigh. Lower the weight slowly to the floor. Great for legs, butt and back! If you’re concerned about injury, you can start with an empty bar or train on lower back and abs strengthening exercises before attempting squats and deads.

Work that core with these exercises:

Good mornings: Stand with barbell on your back and bend over as if bowing to someone. Keep your chin up to keep from rounding your back. Great for the lower back; also works the hamstrings.

Lunges: Stand with the barbell on your upper back. Step one leg out in a long stride, landing on the heel then the forefoot. In the stride position, bend your knees and slowly lower your hips until the knee on your rear leg almost touches the floor. Raise up to the start position by forcefully extending the knee and hip of the forward leg. Switch legs. Your aim is to work until fatigued; when you feel a burn it’s indicating a release of lactic acid. This is a good thing. Lunges are brutal. Works the quads, glutes, hammys and lower back.

Dumbbell flys: Lie supine on an incline bench or flat bench, with a dumbbell in each hand, lift them above the chest with the arms fixed in a slightly bent position and elbows pointing out. Lower dumbbells out to the sides, keeping elbows fixed. Bring the weights back together over your chest in a hugging motion until dumbbells are nearly together. Repeat. Works the chest, with secondary emphasis on the arms.

Now for some secondary lifts:

Biceps Hammer Curls: Hold dumbbells at your sides, palms facing in. With elbows to the sides, raise one dumbbell until forearm is vertical and the thumb faces the shoulder. Lower and repeat with the other arm.

Dumbbell rows: Stand on your right foot and position your left knee on a bench. Bend and place your left hand on the bench. Your back should be flat, head raised and eyes forward. Holding a dumbbell in your right hand, pull your elbow back as far as it will go lifting the weight about to your ribs or as high as you can. Slowly lower the dumbbell to the starting position. Do one set, then switch arms. Great for triceps, shoulders and back.

Triceps extensions: Lie supine on a bench with your head close to the end. Using either one dumbbell or an EZ curl barbell using an overhand grip, press the weight over your head, bending at the elbows with your forearms parallel to the floor and keeping upper arms close to your head. Lower the weight towards the floor behind your head. Press the bar or dumbbell slowly back up to the start position. Repeat.

Other suggested isolating exercises and the muscle groups worked:

• OBLIQUES: side rows with dumbbells
• SHOULDER: lateral raise with dumbbells, overhead press
• BACK: flys (prone reverse & seated reverse), bent-over rows, deadlifts
• TRAPS: barbell shrugs
• FOREARMS:  reverse (or overhand) preacher curls with barbell

Learn to perform all free weight exercises in a slow, controlled manner of approximately two seconds on the difficult exertion or lifting phase (while exhaling), and three seconds to slowly return or lower the weight (and inhaling).

Start working out with free weight and bodyweight exercises and you’ll start feeling results within days, and seeing muscle tone improve on your body within weeks.  And don’t forget to follow a proper diet, and incorporate some of high intensity aerobics (at least 30 minutes three times a week) for best results.

What you will develop is a beautiful pair of strong and sexy arms that you’ll want to show off in a spaghetti strap dress or a sleeveless top. Toned arms will give you a boost of confidence and you’ll appreciate the increase in strength when toting the tot, hauling a heavy briefcase, or collecting an armload of garden pots.

And during your resistance training, don’t neglect working on your diet as well, which contributes to flabby arms. Bicep exercises will build the muscle underneath the fat, but won’t get rid of it. In order to see more tone and definition, you must get rid of the fat just like any other area of your body—and that’s done through more cardio (jogging, biking, etc.) and eating a proper diet.

So get started on an ongoing routine to develop greater size, strength, and shape in the biceps and in the rest of your body. Work slowly and with enough weight to grow the muscles safely and correctly. Make weight training a lifetime habit and enjoy those great looking arms.

1. Lighten Your Load: Lift Weights to Lose Weight

Before your eyes glaze over at the idea of weightlifting, keep in mind that it takes just a few short sessions of resistance training each week to improve muscle tone by adding lean tissue.

Weight training helps you build muscle which turns your body into a fat burning machine since each pound of muscle you make burns about 30 to 50 more calories than a pound of fat which burns only 3 to 5 calories—a tenfold increase!

Strength training accomplishes a number of other health benefits too, including lower blood pressure, improved resting metabolism, increased bone density, better posture, less back pain, and enhanced performance in sports.

Use Correct Form for Safety and Maximum Benefit

Be careful: resistance and strength training exercises like deadlifts, good mornings, and rows can injure your back if done improperly. Make sure you don’t swing the weights and always maintain good posture throughout any exercise—back straight, shoulders back, chest out, butt tight, abs tucked, eyes front, feet comfortably apart, legs straight but knees flexed, breathe right, and lift slowly. Now, how hard is that to remember? Too much? Perhaps you should work with a certified physical trainer to get started out right…

2. Spend Time with a Trainer

Seriously, if you’re new to resistance training the best advice is to work with a professional trainer for a few sessions who will make sure you use good orm. You’ll learn safety tips as well as how to avoid injury, and you’ll be introduced to the variations of all the lifts mentioned above. Even old gym rats who’ve been working with weights for years but have become bored or have reached a plateau will find that a trainer can suggest new workouts to get them motivated. A fitness expert will also take the time to discuss with you the importance of nutrition and cardio in achieving your goals.

3. Proper Diet is a Must

Working with weights is only one aspect of getting and staying fit. Free weights can help you build muscles but it takes a caloric deficit to show them! I’ve seen guys and women at the gym workout and sweat and really put in the time. But the trouble is – they are as fat now as they ever were. Sure, they are healthy – resistance training will do that, but they clearly keep shoveling in an excess amount of calories week after week. Getting fit and trim requires cutting down on calories. Like the old saying goes – weight loss begins in the kitchen, not the gym.

4. Diet + Resistance Training + CARDIO = Success

You’ll get fitter faster when you add the one-two punch of good nutrition and cardiovascular exercise which will help expose your new muscles. If you’ve been lifting weights and don’t see ripped abs or other beautifully developed muscles yet, chances are they are there — they’re just buried under a blanket of body fat. But don’t worry, you don’t have to go near the aerobics studio if that doesn’t appeal to you — cardio can consist of fun things such as walking, dancing, biking, inline skating, swimming, or any type of activity that promotes heart and lung wellness.  Do 3 to 5 sessions of cardio every week, for at least 30 to 60 minutes per workout.

5. Motivation: Lift Weights. Lose Weight. Feel Great!

One of the biggest advantages of working with weights is that you’ll see and feel changes of strength in your body within the first few sessions and that’s a great motivation to keep going. Success breeds success! The results are nothing short of amazing, life-changing transformations that can also have a profound impact on your mental and emotional health. It just makes sense that the stronger you are, the easier everyday tasks can be and the more enjoyment you’ll get out of life.

Train the biceps for size, shape and strength

Is there anyone who doesn’t appreciate great-looking arms? Hard sculpted biceps on men, and  gracefully lean upper arms on women? And wouldn’t you love them on your body?

The biceps, those two-headed (“bi”) muscles at the front of the upper arm that flex the forearm, are one of the smallest, yet most eye-catching muscles on the body. They are easy to train using most any pulling or curling exercise and it doesn’t take a lot of grueling work to see real progress.

Women can and should do these exercises without worry, since females typically don’t see a size increase in muscles from strength training. Since women have up to 30 times less of the type of hormones that cause muscle hypertrophy, they can lift for strength and shape, and not worry about bulk.

You’ve probably sat at a bicep curl machine at the gym and wondered what the big deal is. Yes, the machine is designed to isolate the muscle but, unfortunately, most people tend to let the machine do most of the work. As you brace your upper arms on the pad, and grasp the handles, you’re performing some fancy elbow-flexing to move the handles and the weight. But how much are you really benefiting from it?

Move to Free Weights for the best advantages

It is difficult, though not impossible, to isolate most of the stress on a particular muscle. For this reason, free weights (weights that aren’t connected to a track or locked in a position) should be used whenever possible. While a curl machine attempts to isolate the work on a specific muscle, free weights use a compound movement by working a group of muscles, while still focusing the stress on one at a time.

To get an idea of this, imagine how muscles work together when opposing each other. On any given lift, one muscle is contracting and another is relaxing, such as the biceps and triceps when performing a biceps curl. Since the tricep must be worked, the bicep is not completely isolated. Hence free weights work the muscle, but go a step further.

Pick up a 10-lb dumbell in each hand. Immediately, you notice you’ve changed the dynamics of the workout by adding 20 lbs to your body weight. Now larger stabilizer muscles in your abs, legs, and back are working to keep you in balance. Using free weights develops your stabilizer muscles, not to mention your coordination, and this compound movement results in the most effective gains for muscle growth.

Use variation for the continued gains

If you’re new to strength training, keep in mind that the lighter the weight you lift and the more the repetitions you do, the more likely you are to tone the muscles but not see great gains in strength. So let’s take a look at a standard biceps workout using:

• Biceps Standing Barbell Curls
• Preacher Curls (seated on Preacher bench with dumbells or barbell)
• Seated/Standing Dumbell Curls

For the barbell curl: Stand with your feet comfortably apart and hold a barbell with both hands using a palms up grip about 18 inches apart. With the bar against your upper thighs, exhale, then curl the bar up to the height of your shoulders. Lowering the bar back to the starting position in an easy controlled movement. Do three sets of 12 to 20 repetitions, always to exhaustion. Be sure to use enough weight to completely exhaust the biceps muscle (i.e., enough that you can do at least 12 reps, but not more than 20 reps).

Seated/standing dumbell preacher curl (also called Scott curls): Position yourself behind a preacher bench holding dumbells, using an underhand grip. Working one arm at a time, lean into the bench, and lift the dumbell slowly upward in an arc until they almost touch the biceps, then return to the starting position. Use a full range of motion, including positive and negative tension, which means raising and lowering the weight slowly, rather than bouncing them up and down.

Alternating dumbell curls: Pick up two dumbells of equal weight in each hand, and do three sets of 12 to 20 repetitions, working to exhaustion. Hold them palms out and curl one arm at a time, then the other, up towards the shoulder. You can lift with the palm up (where the bicep is forced to carry the full load at all times) or use a supinating wrist twist. This latter routine, the twisting dumbell curl, is one of the most proficient means of shaping the biceps and produces the peak seen on so many bodybuilders.

When you want to train for strength, you increase the amount of weight and decrease the number of reps. You need to select enough weight that will allow you to exhaust the muscle—but now you’ll want to make only 2 to 8 repetitions per set. Just be careful to lift correctly and isolate the biceps, otherwise, you’ll end up with sore forearms the next day.

What if you don’t see the results you want?

You might be anatomically challenged and not know it. It’s true. For some people, the brachialis muscle (which runs underneath the outer part of the bicep) may be absorbing the majority of stress which limits what the biceps get to do. In other words, the biceps will only receive as much of the workout as the brachialis will allow, so concentrate on isolating the muscle.

Since biceps are receptive to the variety of free weights training you’ll need to experiment to see what is right for you. Likewise, if your muscles have developed but now resist further growth, you need to fool your body by expanding your arsenal of workouts. You can do that by frequently changing the different types of curls using barbells, dumbells, bench, machine, or cables.

Women lifters also like to add some fun exercises with strands of rubber tubing. You can use them standing or lying on your back, place the tubing over your feet, and you’re ready to pull. Do three sets of 12-20 reps and feel the deep resistance.

Just keep this in mind when lifting with free weights: For strength, do low repetitions (2-5); for size, do moderate reps (10-12); and for toning, do high reps (15-20). Mix up the workout by varying the weight and number of repetitions, and you’ll keep your body guessing. Give ‘em something they aren’t used to and they’ll build fiber for you, anticipating your next move!

Fatigue is the necessary ingredient for muscle growth and a rapid increase in strength. A typical workout will require you to rest and take off a day or two between workouts so your muscles can recover.

For example, once you’ve begun training the biceps and arms, you won’t see a noticeable change in size right away, yet your body is working continuously to increase the thickness of the muscle fiber. A muscle fiber is thinner than a human hair but can support up to 1,000 times its own weight, so increasing volume in the muscle fiber causes hypertrophy (increase in mass), which then allows for more force production.

But what happens during an exercise? In a fascinating bit of physiology, your body focuses all attention on a working muscle. When a muscle is asked to contract, your brain sends a message to the rest of the body to constrict blood vessels and blood flow is diverted from nonessential organs (your digestive system, for example).

Meanwhile, the working muscle dilates its blood vessels (vasodilation) and receives an increased blood supply. That’s why bodybuilders like to do bicep curls before a competition—because the exercise increases oxygenated blood flow to the muscle, which causes it to look bigger.

That immediate response is available because biceps are fast-twitch muscles. There are also slow-twitch muscles, and those are the large stabilizing muscle groups in the abdomen and back. The muscles of the arms and legs are fast-twitching, meaning they can contract and respond well to strength training. Since they are easy to over load and fatigue, it’s relatively easy and quick to produce bulging biceps and calves, while it may take months to develop cut abs. To put it another way, abs are difficult to overload and fatigue; therefore, difficult to tone and define.