Whatever your goal, whether it is improving your shape, losing weight or living a healthier lifestyle, every small step you take will bring you closer to achieving your goal.
This booklet is comprised of three short strength training sessions. The aim is that you don't spend loads of time exercising. Ten to fifteen minutes of regular strength training can make a big difference to body shape, metabolic rate (MR) and health.
The three workouts are;
Upper body - shoulders, arms, upper back and chest
Abdominals, deep abdominals (core muscles) and back
Lower body - legs and buttocks
Each session is designed to work all opposing muscles to improve strength in a safe and balanced way, for example exercises are given for both the front and the back of the upper arm. It is very important to perform all the exercises within each session to avoid muscles imbalance, therefore if you are doing the abdominal and back session you must work the back as well as the abdominals or the muscle imbalance may cause back injuries or pain. Apart from avoiding injury doing all the exercises encourages the body to function more efficiently.
If you perform the same session each day you may actually slow down improvements. This is because muscle groups need to rest for one day after a workout, so if you do upper body one day then perform a different session the next day to give the upper body time to recover before you work it again.
It is recommended that you perform all three sessions rather than just one or two, to avoid one body area dominating another. However it is perfectly fine to work a little more on one session than another, for example you may want to perform the lower body twice per week and the other two only once. How often you perform the sessions is up to you, use the guide below to help you decide how often.
Perform all three sessions three times per week Faster results
Perform each session twice per week medium results
Perform each session once per week slower but steady results
The sessions are designed to be performed in ten to fifteen minutes to fit into your daily routine, you may however find it takes a little longer at first until you become familiar with the exercises.
There are a great many benefits to partaking in a strength training programme. Strength training …
Increases the Metabolic Rate (MR); when muscles are toned they actually use more energy while resting and can use up to five times more when exercising. Research has shown that adding 3lbs of muscle increases MR by 7% and daily calorie usage by 15%. (Bean 2001) This can assist in both promoting fat loss and avoiding weight gain. You need to remember toned muscle is heavier when you come to weight yourself, therefore other forms of measuring weight loss can be used such as how your clothes feel or actual body measurements
Improves appearance by reducing body fat due to extra energy expenditure inactive adults can gain up to 15lbs of fat every 10 years. Exercise including strength training can stop, slow down, and can even reverse this fat increase (Bean 2001)
Increases bone size and density, and although it does not stop osteoporosis developing it can minimise the effect (Marieb and Hoelm 2007)
Helps avoid age related muscle loss thus helping to maintain MR and general strength
Raises confidence levels and promotes a feel good factor which may lead to a reduction in stress, depression and improvements in psychological wellbeing
Improves sleep quality therefore improving general wellbeing
Improves posture, balance and co-ordination which can all deteriorate as we mature
Improves energy levels through increased strength
