What is strength training?
Strength training involves using your own bodyweight, or equipment like dumbbells and barbells to build muscle mass, strength and endurance.
Just SOME of the different types of strength training:
Hypertrophy Training: Hypertrophy is an increase and growth of muscle cells. Hypertrophy refers to an increase in muscular size achieved through exercise. When you work out, if you want to tone or improve muscle definition, lifting weights is the most common way to increase hypertrophy.
Muscle Endurance Training:This is lifting a higher volume, meaning more reps and sets, of lighter weights.
Circuit Training: Circuit training involves going through a series of several exercises until you reach the last one, resting, and then repeating all the moves again.
Max Strength Training:Generally, you would transition into this type of training once you’ve built up your muscle endurance and mastered basic form. This kind of training involves bringing your number of repetitions down to about 3–6 and increasing the amount of weight you’re lifting. Lifting heavy weights can be used to get significant gains!
Explosive Power Training:Explosive power training involves training at maximum intensity for short periods of time. Olympic lifting is an example of explosive training.
Myth Busting
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It is NOT a man thing! Women are just as legendary with strength training and for plenty of reasons other than just grunting with a big lift.
Sure, there may have been a time when the weights area was hugely dominated by men, but this is 2021 and none of us should miss out big heavy squats!
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Muscle and fat are both completely separate types of tissue in the body, so this theory is not only totally untrue, but also a common misconception around weight training.
If you stop training altogether and let your great work go you are more likely to gain body fat and changes to your body composition may be that of more 'soft' bits and a bit less firm. But, this is not due to muscle converting to fat, it's all to do with not training and keeping up the gains.
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Weight training can actually increase flexibility! Let's use a stiff leg deadlift for an example; placing your hamstrings in a lengthened position with added resistance and time under tension can help to improve the range in which this muscle can fully extend.
Not stretching properly is what can lead to tight muscles. It is important to include stretching as part of your routine.
Typically, women won't get ‘big and bulky’ like men (unless you want to and are training in a certain way specifically to get huuuge) because males have 10 times more testosterone as females.
So, unless a female decides to take supplements or other unnatural means to get more testosterone, there is only so much muscle gained.