Some people are very comfortable in a weight room. They know a couple of exercises for each muscle group, and execute them with confidence. Others are intimidated by the weight room, with its complicated equipment and brawny, sweaty people. Still others are satisfied with their cardio routine, and feel no need to use the weight room. Finally, some people have never even considered strength training, and think a “lateral raise” is a salary increase and a “tricep kickback” is defined in the criminal code.

Regardless of your perspective, let’s first clear up a common misconception: if you lift weights and build muscle, and then discontinue your strength training program, the muscle you gained will not turn into fat. Rather, the muscle you gained will gradually diminish due to lack of use. Weight gain occurs when we consume more calories than we expend. Strength training burns calories. So if we stop lifting weights and do not decrease our caloric intake or replace weightlifting with another calorie-burning activity, we will lose muscle mass (due to lack of use) and gain fat mass (due to the calories we’re not burning). So, for the skeptics out there, grab your weight gloves and head for the gym. If you hate it, you can stop, and you have nothing (but muscle mass) to lose.

Benefits of Strength Training

Whether you’re pressed for time or simply a creature of habit, it’s easy to become complacent with your cardio routine. Biking, swimming, running, and various cardio machines are terrific, but when done repeatedly and without variation, you risk overusing certain muscles and ignoring others. This heightens the potential for injury in several ways: (1) the muscles that you use day after day are not given ample opportunity to rest; (2) the overused muscles become disproportionately stronger than the muscles that complement them, which can lead to structural imbalances; and (3) the ignored muscles are more easily injured when you are forced to use them — such as shoving your suitcase in an overhead compartment of an airplane, picking up your nephew or grandchild who really has grown, or doing fast footwork to prevent yourself from tumbling down Piestewa Peak when you accidentally step on a loose rock. By emphasizing all major muscle groups, strength training can enhance your performance during your favorite cardio workout, and decrease the chance of injury during ordinary activities.

For those of you who insist that a strength workout is not sufficiently cardiovascular, think again. You’ve been watching the people who hang out and socialize in the weight room. A properlydesigned strength training program will tire you out. Techniques such as “active resting” and shorter breaks between sets will keep your heart rate up, making strength training an ideal part of your cardio routine.

Strength training can also increase lean muscle mass (the portion of body weight that is not fat) which, in turn, can increase metabolic rate. As a result, the body burns calories more efficiently, even at rest. This is a terrific benefit for individuals seeking to achieve or maintain their desired body weight.

Consistent strength training has also been shown to improve bone density. In fact, my family history of osteoporosis drove me to the weight room. My mother, who chooses running as her exclusive form of exercise, has fallen a couple of times while running in dark areas or on rough terrain. As a result, over the course of the past seven years, she has sustained two broken ribs and a compound fracture of her forearm. She has never been interested in upper body strength training, believing that she only needs her legs in order to run. After trying to run with her arm in a cast or with a broken rib, she quickly learned otherwise. Although strength training would not have prevented her from falling in the dark, it might have mitigated the damage.

A professionally-designed strength training program will also address posture, positioning, and body mechanics. These factors not only decrease the potential for injury at the gym, but they also help prevent injury in general by enhancing body awareness. For example, is it easier to perform an exercise with your feet together, or hips’ width apart? With the hands in an overhand or underhand grip? Does the body respond differently to machines than it does to free weights? These weight room experiences are readily transferable to everyday tasks. For example, the phrase “lift with your legs, not with your back” has little meaning until we understand what it feels like to use the major muscle groups in our legs to bear the weight that we are lifting.

Finally, strength training is ideal for those who thrive on instant gratification. A healthy but somewhat deconditioned individual who begins a strength training program will feel it. Guaranteed. Although postexercise soreness should not be painful or debilitating, many novice weightlifters feel muscles they never thought they had, and strive to work these newly-discovered muscles more effectively. With appropriate progression, they can gradually increase the weight load and/or the number of sets and repetitions, and record their improvement. Early progress in a strength training program is common, as the mind and body become accustomed to the exercises and work together more efficiently.

Overcoming the Plateau

Although becoming accustomed to the exercise is great for beginners, it’s not so great for those of you who have been around the weight room for awhile. You’ve achieved your initial fitness goals, and you’re satisfied with the amount and intensity of the weight you are lifting. You can do a bench press and bicep curl in your sleep. You can’t lift much more, and you don’t really need to. Are you stuck with this routine for the rest of your exercising life?

Not at all! There are countless ways to modify your strength training program. Try varying the pace of your repetitions within each set. Try doing your routine for a specific muscle group in reverse order. Think of a different exercise to replace each of the exercises in your routine. If you primarily use machines, switch to free weights. If you’re tired of free weights, try your own body weight (pushups instead of bench press; dips instead of kickbacks). Perform your entire exercise routine on a stability ball, wobble board, or other balance-challenging tool and discover that you’re not nearly as coordinated as you thought you were. Incorporate some dynamic techniques with a partner or small group, such as combining strength and coordination in an obstacle course or medicine ball drills.

After a few weeks of variation, try your standard routine again. Chances are, you’ll notice improvement, and you’ll continue to challenge yourself in new ways.

Published in July 2003 Arizona Women Lawyers Association, Perspectives.