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NEW RESEARCH: ONE HOUR OR TWO STRENGTH TRAINING WORKOUTS PER WEEK LINKED TO DECREASE IN HEART DISEASE

Authors of a new research studying examining the effects of strength training on metabolic syndrome (a clustering of risk factors that pre-dispose to heart disease including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, abdominal fat, and elevated blood sugar) published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings concluded that strength training, independent of aerobic exercise, reduced risk of metabolic disease risk by 29%. Perhaps even more interesting, the research indicated that a relatively small amount of strength training produced the best outcomes.

THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF STRENGTH TRAINING: An Unintentional Branding Issue

The year 1970 shaped how virtually all of us think about exercise today. 

EXERCISE VS. SPORT: What is the difference and why does it matter?

Exercise and sport are not the same thing. 
 
Exercise is designed to improve our physiology (not to degrade it). Exercise is a means to an end. 
 
Sport, on the other hand is not designed to improve our physiology. Sport is an end in itself. 
 
Clearly, many sports may positively impact our physiology; for example, playing basketball can stimulate improvements to our cardiorespiratory fitness. However, this is not the intent of basketball, it is merely a byproduct (and not always the byproduct). The intensity, duration, rest periods, and frequency of the game play would have to be carefully modulated in order to truly define basketball as exercise. Moreover, the risk of injury in basketball is far too high to qualify as exercise. If you get injured while doing an activity, that activity is not exercise. Again, exercise doesn’t degrade, it improves our physiology and physical function. Tom Purvis brilliantly captures this message stating, “If exercise is supposed to be good for you,  then sports are not exercise.  Sports are the reason we have sports medicine.   Exercise is supposed to be the medicine!”  
 
Over the last 20 years, more and more people are engaged in sports in the name of exercise; a short list of these  sports  includes marathon running, triathlons, basketball, Crossfit, dancing, and gymnastics. By all means, engage in sports because you enjoy them as recreation, but don’t do them as a substitute for exercise. In fact, continuing to perform safe, productive, resistance exercise is a great way to protect against the risk of injury inherent in so many sports. 
 

SUPERVISION: A 20 YEAR THEME IN EXERCISE RESEARCH

I’ve spent the last 20 years reading the scientific literature pertaining to all modes of exercise. Although the research has shifted my understanding and approach to exercise significantly over the years, one element has continued to emerge from this research: the importance of supervision in strength training.
 
A sampling of studies examining a variety of populations yield a similar outcome: Supervision produces better results. 
 
A 2000 study published in Medicine and Science and Sport and Exercise concluded, “Directly supervised, heavy-resistance training in moderately trained men resulted in a greater rate of training load increase and magnitude which resulted in greater maximal strength gains compared with unsupervised training."
 
A 2004 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research that utilized collegiate rugby players as subjects concluded, “The present findings provide strong support for the direct supervision of resistance training in young athletes. In the practical setting, the direct supervision of resistance training by appropriately qualified strength and conditioning coaches will significantly augment the absolute strength and percent increases of supervised athletes when compared to unsupervised athletes.”
 
A 2009 study published in Epidemiology and Clinical Medicine examined the impact of supervised exercise versus non-supervised exercise in overweight adults. Researchers concluded that, “Exercise under supervision of a qualified fitness instructor leads to a larger decrease (in fat mass).”
 
A 2011 study conducted in the Netherlands comparing supervised and unsupervised strength training concluded, “After four months, those who received supervision lost more weight (17.6 pounds compared with 6.16 pounds) and body fat (13.64 pounds compared with 3.74 pounds) than those who received no supervision. 
 
In research studies, two separate groups who perform the exact same workouts will have dramatically different results when one group has direct supervision.  Regardless of the type of exercise, the style of the workout, or the goals of the individual performing the workout (a type-2 diabetic or an elite athlete), the singular element of direct supervision always produces better results.  
 

SPRINT INTERVAL TRAINING WORKOUT

Improve cardiovascular function & maximize caloric burn

INTELLIGENT STRENGTH TRAINING IN THE MEDIA

Over the last two weeks, the New York Times and the Washington Post published two “must-read” articles around intelligent strength training.

"IT'S NOT THE TOOL, BUT HOW YOU USE IT"

Dan Riley, the long-time strength and conditioning coach of the Washington Redskins (winning multiple Super Bowls with head coach Joe Gibbs) and later the strength coach for the Houston Texans, has had the single greatest influence on how professional and high-level college football players strength train. In fact, Dan’s influence is largely responsible for the intelligent strength training that took place across the NFL in the 1980’s and 1990’s (Important side note: The strength training performed in professional and college football has regressed significantly over the last decade). 

GROWING MUSCLES AT 60 AND BEYOND

The average adult in the US loses about six pounds of muscle per decade after the age of 30. Which means, on our 60th birthday, we’ve lost 18 pounds of muscle relative to our 30-year-old self. We generally don’t recognize this, and rarely does anyone talk about it, because the muscle loss doesn’t show up on the scale; it is masked by the fat gain that frequently accompanies aging.

RADICAL TRANSPARENCY WITH OUR OWN FITNESS

Prior to purchasing our own Bod Pod, Discover Strength regularly scheduled times for our clients to Bod Pod test at the University of Minnesota. My first assessment was almost nine years ago (September 2009) as a part of our first ever Body Comp Challenge. Since then, I have tested three or four additional times at the University of Minnesota and another 10 times since we purchased our own Bod Pod. I had averaged about one test per year... until recently. 

MY PHYSICIAN TOLD ME I SHOULDN'T STRENGTH TRAIN

We have an injury and we receive the well-intended advice to "discontinue strength training.” This recommendation is rooted in the very genesis of strength training as a form of exercise.  When the average doctor, chiropractor, physical therapist (and let’s face it, anyone for that matter), thinks about the true roots of strength training, they think power lifting or Olympic weight-lifting.

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