FITNESS EXERCISES

23. MABALOT JR., JOSE MARI C.

What Is Resistance Training?

Resistance training is any exercise that causes the muscles to contract against an external resistance with the
expectation of increases in strength, tone, mass, and/or endurance. The external resistance can be dumbbells,
rubber exercise tubing, your own body weight, bricks, bottles of water, or any other object that causes the muscles
to contract.

There are several styles of resistance exercise. There is (1) Olympic lifting (where athletes lift the weight overhead
like you see in the Olympics), (2) power lifting (a competition where athletes perform the squat, dead lift, and
bench press), and (3) weight lifting (a sport where athletes lift heavy weights—typically fewer than six reps). When
you lift weights at the gym to get stronger or bigger or more toned, you are performing resistance exercise.
Occasionally you will hear the term "strength training" associated with lifting weights. Technically, it's incorrect to
refer to resistance exercise as strength training. Instead, strength training would more accurately be described as
resistance exercise that builds strength. In this article, the term resistance exercise will refer to the general type of
weight lifting that you do in the gym to get bigger, stronger, more toned, or to increase your muscular endurance.

How Does Resistance Exercise Work?

Resistance training works by causing microscopic damage or tears to the muscle cells, which in turn are quickly
repaired by the body to help the muscles regenerate and grow stronger. The breakdown of the muscle fiber is
called "catabolism," and the repair and re-growth of the muscle tissue is called "anabolism." You're probably
familiar with the term anabolic when used with steroids. Anabolic means to grow, and that's exactly what happens
after you break down the muscle fibers with resistance exercise. In fact, many biological processes of growth in the
body require some breakdown, or catabolism, prior to re-growth. For instance, bones must be broken down first
before calcium and other growth factors repair the bone and make it stronger. With muscles, testosterone, insulin-
like growth factor, growth hormone, protein, and other nutrients rush to the muscle after a resistance-exercise
session to help repair the muscles to make them stronger. Importantly, your muscles heal and grow when you
aren't working out, and so that's why it's necessary to leave time between workouts for recovery.

Why Resistance Training?

The benefits of resistance exercise are well documented, and ongoing research continues to prove that it's an
important activity for Americans to be engaged in. Long ago in hunter-gatherer societies, humans' muscles got a
workout by building shelter, hunting, farming, and all the other manual chores necessary to live. Today, however,
we have engineered inactivity into our lives with labor-saving devices to the extent that our muscles rarely need to
be pushed very hard. We don't rake leaves or cut grass or shovel snow by hand; we don't climb stairs or even walk
in airports (people movers do it for us!); we don't wash our clothes or our dishes or even push a vacuum by hand
(Have you seen the robotic vacuum Roomba?), and we spend more and more time in front of our computers and
televisions than we do outdoors raking leaves, playing touch football, baseball, soccer, hiking, or participating in
any other recreational activities. Research shows that physical inactivity is the second leading preventable cause of
death in the United States, and it's literally killing us.
EXAMPLES OF RESISTANCE TRAINING

1. Squats

personal%20training%20functional%20squatsThe Squat is quite possibly the ‘Mac-daddy’ (i.e. the best) of all
resistance training exercises. It uses all the major muscles in the lower leg, thighs and hips and when performed
correctly uses numerous muscles in the upper body to help protect the spine when load is rested on the upper
back and/or shoulders. As it uses lots of muscle it is great as a calorie burner to help weight loss and toning, and
when progressively heavier loads and greater training volumes are used it is possibly the best exercise for building
strength and size in the lower body muscles.

Squats replicate a primary movement pattern that most people use variations of everyday whether it’s getting in
and out of a chair, using the toilet, or picking items off the ground. There is a version of squats available to suit
every client – whether its supported bodyweight squats for the beginner or heavy barbell squats for the more
advanced client – the movement is the same, the only variance is the way the movement is loaded and the depth
which is safe for each client.

2. Lunges

personal%20training%20functional%20training%20lungesUsing the same muscles as the squat, the lunge also

replicates a primary movement pattern – whenever you walk up and down stairs, up and down hills or even if
you’ve just simply walked you’ve used a version of the lunge.

Like squats, there is a version of the lunge that is suitable for most clients, limited depth supported lunges for
beginners and full depth lunges loaded with dumbbells or barbells for more advanced clients. Lunges can be used
to help burn calories and firm or tone muscles, or they are also a great exercise to build strength and size in the
lower body.

3. Deadlifts

personal%20training%20functional%20deadliftsAlong with squats, the deadlift is a serious contender for the ‘Mac-
daddy’ of all resistance exercises award. The deadlift actually combines two primary movement patterns – the
squat and the pull, as a weight is pulled into the body, and lowered at the same time as a squat is performed.

When appropriately loaded the deadlift uses more muscles than any other resistance exercise – all the lower body
muscles, and the majority of the upper body muscles. As such it is great for burning calories, firming, toning and
developing muscles, building strength and size and losing weight – all depending on how it is performed.

4. Chin Ups / Pull Ups

personal%20training%20functional%20chins%20upsUsing all the big pulling muscles of the body – all the back
muscles, the shoulders and the arms, the chin or pull up is a great exercise for firming, toning, building and
strengthening all these muscle groups.

personal%20training%20functional%20pull%20up%20on%20barAs chins also use a lot of muscle then they are a

great exercise for burning calories and assisting weight loss. And like the previous exercises the chin or pull up can
be modified to suit most clients’ abilities. Stronger or more experienced clients can perform full chins as shown
above and weight can be added to make the exercise even harder. Less experienced clients can perform pull ups
onto a lower bar and shown here, keeping their feet on the ground and thus minimizing the total amount of
bodyweight they have pull directly upwards.

5. Lat Pulldown
personal%20training%20functional%20lat%20pulldownA great alternative to the chin or pull up is the lateral
pulldown which works all the same pulling muscles, and is probably more suited to beginners as the load is easily
adjusted.

The lat pulldown is known as an ‘open chain’ exercise as opposed to all the previous exercises which are known as
‘closed chain’. Closed chain exercises are exercises where you push or pull against a fixed or immovable object,
whereas open chain exercises are when the resistance that is being pushed or pulled against actually moves.

6. Bent over Row

personal%20training%20functional%20bent%20over%20rowAnother great pulling exercise is the bent over row

which uses all the big pulling muscles as the chins, pull ups and lat pulldown. As the bar is pulled up to the torso it
moves away from the centre of mass of the client, thus pulling the client forward and off-balance. This places a
greater demand on the ‘core’ muscles to stabilise the body during this exercise.

And again the more muscle that is used the greater the beneficial effect of the exercise.

7. Push Ups

personal%20training%20functional%20push%20upThe humble old push up is a closed chain exercise that uses all
the big pushing muscles of the body – namely the chest, shoulder and triceps. It also requires core muscles to work
to maintain a safe ‘neutral’ spine position throughout the movement, meaning lots of muscle is used during this
exercise and because the exercise is closed chain that muscle will work a little harder to try to overcome the
immovable barrier being pushed against. personal%20training%20functional%20wall%20push%20upSo push ups
are great exercises for burning calories to achieve muscle firming and toning, weight loss, strengthening and muscle
building…all again depending on how the exercise is performed

8. Bench Press

personal%2520training%2520functional%2520bench%2520pressThe Bench Press is essentially an open chain

version of the push up. It works all the same pushing muscles – the chest, shoulders and triceps. There is however
less need for the core muscles to work to keep the spine locked in neutral throughout the movement as the rigid
bench provides support.

You could substitute the bench for a stability ball as many personal trainers do, in order to make the exercise less
stable, however this added instability actually negates the advantage that the bench press has over the push up,
namely that the load being used in this exercise is easily adjusted.

9. Tricep Pushdown

personal%20training%20functional%20tricep%20pushdownThe tricep pushdown is an isolation exercise that really

only works the tricep muscles – so how on earth is this a ‘functional’ exercise?

Well if your definition of functional is truly client centric and linked to the major goals clients have for exercising
then this becomes a functional exercise. One of the areas many female clients want to firm and ‘tone’ is the back
of the upper arm. Now sure, any big pushing exercise like push ups will be more effective for this purpose – it will
burn more total calories than the pushdown and stimulate the tricep muscles as well as others.
10. Barbell Curl

personal%2520training%2520functional%2520barbell%2520curlIn the same vein as the tricep pushdown is the

barbell curl. Many males (especially younger ones!) consider having well developed biceps (or ‘guns’) as being
critical to being, and demonstrating being ‘male’.