Fitness
Strength Training
I’ve been at this game called “exercise” my entire adult life, and it is my ever-growing certainty that no matter the issue, no matter the benefit sought, no matter the disease to be addressed or the problem to be surmounted, strength training seems to be the answer.
Want to look better in your clothes (or out of them)? Want to address diabetes, hypertension, obesity and other diseases?
Are you about to enter into chemotherapy? Are you suffering from depression? In almost all of these situations, strength training is the most effective measure you can take on the road to good health. Numerous studies in recent years have proven this.
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When it comes to strength training, I have definite opinions on the best and most efficient way to perform it, but those opinions are not as strong as my belief that you should perform strength training in almost any form. Muscle has evolved over billions of years and is the most adaptive and plastic tissue in our body. As such, strength training can be incredibly simple, precisely because muscle is so complex.
There are many different ways to train, and skeletal muscle will adapt to them all. My only concern is when improper training techniques pose an injury risk. As training expert Arthur Jones once said, “It won’t matter if you have 20-inch arms if you injure your back.”
In the past 10 years, scientific literature has exploded with studies that uncover benefits to strength training that we never imagined. Much of this is linked to myokines, the hormone-like substances released by exercising muscle that benefit other body tissues.
Like my lifelong focus, most of this literature centers on the why of strength training. As the why becomes more accepted and obvious, the focus will begin to shift to the how.
I believe that strength training is the single most effective public health initiative that we can undertake. Last year was the first time that life expectancy in the United States dropped. If the strength training message spreads broadly enough, we can reverse this trend and serve as a bridge to true life extension.
Jeff Tomaszewski is owner of MaxStrength Fitness. For a free initial consultation, demo workout and two free sessions, contact him at his Willoughby location (440-226-8080) or Westlake location (440-835-9090).
