Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights_ - Alex Hutchinson [48]
CHEAT SHEET: STRENGTH AND POWER
• Starting in your 30s, you lose 1 to 2 percent of your muscle mass each year. Strength training can slow this decline and help keep your bones strong.
• A standard beginner’s program is one to three sets of 8 to 12 repetitions, reaching failure at the end of the last set. Decrease the number of reps to emphasize maximum strength; increase it to emphasize muscular endurance.
• No matter how much weight you use or how many reps you do, the most important factor in building muscle is reaching muscle failure by the final rep.
• “Toning” muscles with light weights accomplishes little if you’re lifting less than 40 to 50 percent of your one-rep maximum.
• Power—the ability to deliver strength in a rapid burst—is more important than absolute strength in many sports. Develop your power by training with explosive movements.
• Weight machines are safe and easy to use, but free weights offer a more “realistic” challenge, forcing you to develop balance and stabilizing muscles.
• A whole-body strengthening program can reduce strain on your back and possibly fix lower-back pain—but you should not persist with any exercises that cause discomfort.
• People exercising under the guidance of a personal trainer gain more strength than those exercising alone, mostly because they’re encouraged to lift heavier weights.
• Contrary to conventional wisdom, the amount of protein in a typical North American diet is more than enough to build muscle with any strength training program.
Chapter 6
Flexibility and Core Strength
TO STRETCH OR NOT TO STRETCH? A decade ago, not many people would have dared to even ask that question. But a series of careful studies have upended assumptions that endured for decades, leading to major changes in how scientists view the link between flexibility, injuries, and athletic performance. In particular, it turns out that traditional “static” stretching before exercise not only doesn’t help you—it actually reduces your strength, speed, and endurance. Instead, new research suggests that the best way to warm up involves “dynamic” stretching.
Beyond traditional stretching, many people turn to activities like yoga and Pilates to enhance flexibility and build core strength. Researchers are only now beginning to study these activities and draw conclusions about what benefits they can and can’t offer.
Will stretching help me avoid injuries?
If there’s one topic that perfectly illustrates the divide between sports scientists and athletes of all levels, it’s stretching. From peewee to the pros, almost everyone does it—despite the publication of study after study suggesting that stretching won’t prevent injuries, won’t prevent soreness, and in some circumstances will make you slower and weaker. Hockey players, for example, are “pathologically obsessed with stretching their hamstrings and groin,” says Mike Bracko of the Calgary-based Institute for Hockey Research. The pre-game ritual is so ingrained that the players don’t really care what the evidence says.
The evidence, to be fair, is still full of contradictions and unanswered questions even after decades of study. This is partly because there are so many different ways to stretch and because people expect so many different benefits. For clarity, we’ll first examine the general question of whether a stretching program can help prevent injury. Then we’ll take a separate look at whether pre-exercise stretching helps you produce your best performance, and whether post-exercise stretching helps you recover and avoid soreness.
It seems intuitively obvious that you’re most likely to pull a muscle if it’s tight. That’s why we stretch. The simplest and most common form of stretching is “static” stretching, which involves holding a position at the very edge of your range of motion for, say, 30 seconds at a time. There’s no dispute that this form of stretching increases your