Fundamentals of Repetitions From: Lance Phillips March 01,2010
Click on the Train for Life logo below to view the video: "Fundamentals of Repetitions"
Noteworthy Nuggets:
Strength training not only strengthens muscles but also builds up connective tissue and improves balance, thus helping to prevent injuries. In addition, studies have found that strength training helps to prevent osteoporosis, to control blood sugar, to improve quality of sleep, and to boost mental health. It can help you burn calories, lose weight, reshape your body, and increase your confidence.
To reap these benefits, it is important to perform strength training exercises with proper form and technique.
According to Leigh Hawkins, an exercise physiologist, “The most important thing to think about is the quality of each individual repetition, which comes down to control—how you control whatever resistance you have in your hand or wherever the resistance is being applied to the body.”
Strength training is an essential component of total body wellness and its benefits are well documented. It not only strengthens muscles but also builds up connective tissue and improves balance, thus helping to prevent injuries. In addition, studies have found that strength training helps to prevent osteoporosis, to control blood sugar, to improve quality of sleep, and to boost mental health. It can help you burn calories, lose weight, reshape your body, and increase your confidence. But to reap these benefits, it is important to perform strength training exercises with proper form and technique.
According to Leigh Hawkins, an exercise physiologist, “The most important thing to think about is the quality of each individual repetition, which comes down to control—how you control whatever resistance you have in your hand or wherever the resistance is being applied to the body.”
Leigh offers these helpful tips:
Don’t use too much weight (a common mistake).
Start with a very limited amount of resistance, and then work up from that to make sure that control is always your main objective.
To actually make the muscles do more work, you want to take any kind of momentum out of the exercise.
The slower you go, the more the muscles are going to work, which is the purpose of weight training.
Watch the Train for Life video for a demonstration of proper technique.
Strength training can add a great deal to your life and to your health. Paying proper attention to the quality of each repetition is the best way to get the results you want. So remember to slow down and check your form.
