After all, you might just want some simple advice on getting started. If so, this article is for you. This program starts you off with a few basic movements that are guaranteed to increase your overall strength and fitness if you’re a beginner.

Of course, this is just a start. You are encouraged to look around this site, take in all the information and even e-mail questions to Krista or myself. You’re definitely encouraged to learn enough to start putting things together on your own. Unless you’re an iron-pumping savant, however, this will take more than an afternoon.

And you want to get going now! Good. So while you’re learning, may I present a starter program.

Here’s what you’re going to do:

Warm-up

Move around. Step deep, reach high and breathe deep. Pay attention to where movement feels restricted by tight muscles and gently (gently!) move through that range of motion. Now start moving faster. Jog, crawl, shuffle from side to side. Up the pace until it’s a challenge to keep your breathing even. This whole process should take about 10 minutes. Good? Good enough!

Exercise 1: Split squat – 10 each leg
Weight: Bodyweight

Take a lunge position, but leave your feet in place as you go up and down. The front heel stays dug in, the rear heel stays up. Get nice and long – long enough for you to feel a real stretch. Your feet should be at hip width and both pointed forward. The rear knee should almost touch the ground with each repetition. Your front hip, knee and ankle should form a straight line. Up and down on one side, then the other. If there is any joint pain, stop.

Exercise 2: Dumbbell row – 12 each side
Weight: 40 lbs. for dudes, 20 to 30 lbs. for chicks

Put one hand on a bench. You can have the same-side foot on the ground or put the shin on the same bench. Whatever. Grab a dumbbell with your other hand and pull it as far away from the floor as possible, control your descent and then repeat. Don’t rotate your torso. If there is any joint pain, stop.

Exercise 3: Dumbbell bench press – 12 each side
Weight: 30 lbs. for dudes, 15 to 20 lbs. for chicks

Lay back on a bench with your feet on the ground. Keep your shoulder blades squeezed together throughout and push those dumbbells (one in each hand) toward the ceiling. Keep your elbows within about 45 degrees of your body. Control your descent and repeat. If there is any joint pain, stop.

Exercise 4: Forearm plank – 60 seconds total
Weight: bodyweight

Lay face-down, with only your forearms and feet touching the ground. Hold just a slight pike (your ass should just be slightly higher than the rest of your body). Take very short breaks whenever you feel like your spine is trying to bear the weight (as opposed to your abs). If there is any joint pain . . . well, you know.

Now that you’ve been through all four exercises, go through them a second time. Maybe even a third.

Now get on an exercise bike and perform the following:

Go fast: 30 seconds
Go slow: 2 minutes
Repeat this four times (that’s 10 minutes total).

Towel off, go home and do some more reading. Don’t forget to tip your servers. Thank you and goodnight!

Geoff is also one of my favourite boys in the whole world. He introduced me to the epic joy of Rottblott’s, a hardware surplus store — basically a candy store for people who love old-skool strength training toys. Thanks to Geoff I now own 20 feet of thick rope. And I’m eyeing a heavier sledgehammer…

Remember that one of the big lies in the gym was that women should stick to machines and stay away from free weights? Related to that is the lie that one should “start out” on machines and then “graduate” to free weights. Well, here’s why it ain’t so, as well as why free weights are often better for women.

from big to small… or even teeny

Many people are concerned about starting with free weights and assume that machines are safer. Their idea of “free weights” involves scary giant barbells and scarier, even more giant dudes lifting them.

Take a look at the picture to the right. That is a 2.5 lb. plate, the smallest size plate (although you can often buy even lighter ones if you look around). That’s my hand, and I don’t have very big paws.

That’s a free weight.

Not so scary, is it? You can start with just holding that little plate for your resistance. Hell, you can even start with soup cans.

No matter what your strength level and ability, free weights will accommodate it. Simply add weight as you practice and progress.

maximum muscle group work

Machines are designed to move a weight along a prescribed track. In many ways they allow you to cheat by helping you keep the movement along a certain arc. With free weights, more weird little muscles are engaged just to help you keep the thing going the way it should. Thus your overall use of your muscles is optimized, since we know that exercises which use compound muscle groups are the best for overall strength building.

stability and balance

A corollary of maximum muscle use, free weights build stability and balance in a way that machines cannot. Just trying to stand upright with, say, a squat bar across your neck requires your body to learn how not to tip over. The body’s muscles are engaged to a greater extent than they would be if you were standing under a machine which supported the bar for you. And you cannot learn this stability from a machine. In the case of muscles, they learn by doing.

You’ll often hear people talk about “stabilizer muscles” as if there’s a certain group of muscles that’s special. Stabilizer muscles are just muscles that act to provide stability during a movement. So, for example, when you squat, your leg muscles are the prime movers, but other parts are helping to execute the movement: calf and foot muscles are making sure your feet stay planted, torso muscles are making sure you don’t fold up like a wet noodle under the bar, back muscles are pulling shoulder blades back to make the shelf where the bar sits, throat muscles are helping to make that grunting sound like a bulldog burping up a bean burrito, etc. But when you do a standing shoulder press, your leg muscles become stabilizers as they work to hold you upright.

height

Being a short woman (5′0″), one of the major problems I encounter with a machine is that it simply cannot accommodate me. Shoulder pads hover around my ears, bars lie coyly just out of the reach of my stumpy arms, pulldown bars swing teasingly over my attempts to jump up to reach them (that was before I smartened up and stood on the seat). When I first began to squat, I thought I’d start on the machine, since I was a little timid about approaching the squat cage. To my surprise and annoyance I was too small for the machine, and my arms were not long enough to reach the release handle. I flailed about for a while and realized I’d have to face the dreaded cage. I did it and never looked back.

The moral of the story is this: free weights see no height. I can lift a dumbbell as high as I want or bring it down as low as I want. It doesn’t care. Machines, on the other hand, are designed so that an average person (read: man) can use them. Women are shorter than men on average, so it stands to reason that a lot of us wee women are going to be uncomfortable using many machines that just don’t want to accommodate us no matter how far down we lower the seat. Thus free weights are the ideal choice for doing many exercises comfortably and properly.

natural movement

Machines are pretty stingy with what they allow you to do. As I mentioned, the purpose of a machine is to allow you to move a weight along a pre-defined track. For many people, especially shorter women, the prescribed movement is not natural, and can in fact lead to injury. But free weights not only allow you to do the movement in a way that is natural to you, they also allow for slight variations in the exercise which many machines do not. In addition, many machines, such as the bench press machine, begin the movement when the body is in its most vulnerable position. On a bench press machine, the movement starts with the shoulder joint in a stretched position, its weakest point. In comparison, the bench press with a bar or dumbbells begins the movement at “lockout”, or with straightened arms. The trainee can then choose to use as much or as little range as she likes, depending on her individual needs.

I did some damage myself to my shoulder after I used a seated bench press machine on which the seat was stuck too low. By performing that movement which was neither natural nor comfortable, I managed to injure myself. If I had been using free weights, I would have had a better chance of finding a good groove for my individual biomechanics. The human body tends to move in an arc or curve. Machines tend to move in straight lines or limited ranges. What gives isn’t going to be the steel but your soft squishy flesh.

training for real life

Real life isn’t tidy, or organized, or perfect. Real life movements don’t usually happen while you’re safely strapped into a contraption that immobilizes most of your body, unless you’re biceps curling a 48 oz Super Big Gulp to your lips while seatbelted into a car — and c’mon, why are you doing that anyway? Real life movements are off-balance, asymmetrical, one-handed or one-legged, moving in curves and squiggles, done in funny ways, done unexpectedly, and done all day long. Real life movements involve lifting awkwardly shaped things like babies and couches and sloshy cases of beer and Rottweilers that don’t want to take a bath. Machines aren’t going to help you when it’s time to haul the groceries out of the car with a screaming toddler stuck to your hip, or when you need to move that load of topsoil for your petunia bed and can’t find your wheelbarrow.

machines that don’t suck

Now I’m going to contradict myself. There are some machines that are quite good and enable you to do things you cannot do on free weights, or things that may be somewhat awkward or impractical with free weights.

calf machine

While I do like single-leg calf raises done with a dumbbell in hand, machines offer some good options for calf training. The donkey calf machine is one of the best for training in comfort even when you are lifting a lot of weight. Unlike the standing calf machine, which places all the pressure on your shoulders (and which I swear makes me shorter when I use it), the donkey calf displaces the weight across your hips and lower back. (I suppose you could always substitute a friendly partner sitting on your hips, but that tends to get a little weird.)

Another good machine that is generally very adjustable is the seated calf machine. This one isolates your soleus because your knees are bent in the exercise. Because this one is designed to accommodate people’s lower legs, it usually allows you to go right down to the bottom of the rep, unlike the majority of standing calf machines (which are pretty much useless for anyone under 5′4″). X-tra short grrrls may have the occasional problem with the bar slipping off your knees; just try your best to hold on to it!

Finally, the leg press machine is a handy backup for calf work if no other machine is available. Seated leg presses in particular, where the body is upright in a chair sort of thing, and legs press straight out in front, parallel to the floor, are best for this, because like the donkey calf machine, the weight is distributed across the hips. If you find that you’re uncomfortable moving a lot of weight with both legs, try using only one leg at a time to reduce the load.

assisted chinup machine and lat pulldown machine

Chinups and wide-grip pullups are wonderful basic exercises that work several muscle groups. However women do not generally have the upper-body strength when they begin training to execute these movements. The assisted chin machine uses a counterweight to make it easier. You can counterweight up to 90% of your body weight and lower the amount of counterweight gradually as you become stronger.

As soon as possible, however, you should move to doing negative pullups. This means moving a bench over to a chin bar, and starting in the top position, then slowly lowering yourself down. Clamber up there again, and lower down again. A helpful training partner is also good for heaving you up to the top, or for giving you just enough of a push to help you get up there mostly on your own steam. You can even begin with modified lat pulldowns that more closely simulate the demands of a pullup by doing them standing. Stand facing the pulldown machine, just behind the seat. Grab the handles as you would normally, squat down slightly pushing butt back a little and bending knees a bit, then hold that position while doing pulldowns.

More on that here.

cable stations

These is also known as a high/low pulley machine. It has a weight stack, and pulley with a loop to attach a handle in both a high and low position. Some have the pulley on an adjustable track so that you can set it at various heights. You can do a wide variety of exercises on this, as well as modify familiar exercises for either rehab or novelty.

The first thing I want to tell you is that this article is for women. I am — in case you’re wondering — a man. I hope that’s cool. I’m writing this because you’ve come to this site looking for advice on strength and conditioning (or maybe just getting “toned”), but may not really believe that lifting heavy things will help you. You may actually think that doing so will make you bulky, unfeminine or some other terrible thing. I want you to be clear on what proper training will and won’t do. And I want you to maximize your potential.

Staying weak because of how it might make you look is the same as staying illiterate for fear of appearing nerdy. Stop it. You’re better than that.

I see you made it to the third paragraph. Welcome! This is the part where I tell you that women have somehow been sold a false bill of goods when it comes to working out. Guys certainly have their own douchebag idiosyncrasies, but that’s for another article at another time. In this one, I’m going to tell you that high reps with very low weight do not “tone.” They do not strengthen. They pretty much just waste your time. Below I’ll provide details for some of the things that do not waste your time. If you want to know why flapping your arms around with purple dumbbells is not typically helpful, you should be able to do the math on your own by the end of our magical journey.

I don’t have the space (translate: patience) here to detail an approach to every possible physical goal, so I’m going to focus on the following:

1. Looking better naked
2. Getting stronger
3. Not gaining unwanted muscle

I am going to help you with the items above. But before I do, there is another list of things that we need to be clear on:

1. Lifting heavy things is essential for maximizing strength
2. Looking better naked can be achieved far more efficiently if you’re already strong
3. It’s possible to get strong without significant gains in size
4. Being strong is, in fact, pretty awesome

Now is the time for you to get over any pictures of female bodybuilders you may have been unintentionally scarred by. These women don’t look masculine because of strength training; they look masculine — first and foremost — because they take male hormones. Don’t want to look masculine? Don’t take androgens. It’s pretty simple.

Even if you’re not a fan of bodybuilders, it’s an insult to all their hard work to think that you might look anything like them without years of ungodly dedication, unwavering adherence to programs specifically designed for size gain, great genetics and (most likely) some unnatural supplementation. Without embracing the lifestyle wholeheartedly, the closest you’re ever likely to get will be a bad spray-on tan. So, put that stuff out of your head.

This may come as a bit of a surprise, but most people who train for performance (aka athletes) don’t actually want to put on size. With a few notable exceptions, carrying unneeded muscle around makes about as much sense as strapping a car engine to the back of your bicycle. So instead of packing new muscle onto to their bodies, athletes make the most of what they already have. In other words, they get stronger by becoming more efficient. Like most good training, this involves fine-tuning the nervous system.

To give you an idea of how nervous system-focused work impacts strength development, I’m about to drop science on you like a clumsy chemist, so if your eyes are going to glaze over, just skip the next section. If not, here we go…

the science of strength

Signals from your brain travel from your spinal column into motor neurons. Motor neurons connect to multiple muscle fibers. This little assembly is called a motor unit. Bear in mind that multiple motor units comprise any given muscle. If your brain is the boss and your muscle fibers are workers, then motor units are middle managers – overseeing numerous team members. If one of them isn’t working, then their entire team (in this case, the entire group of muscle fibers) won’t work. There’s no halfway here; it’s all or nothing.

In an untrained person, motor unit recruitment is generally pretty lackluster. The brain will send out the signal for a certain movement (the ubiquitous biceps curl, for example), but only about half of the motor units assigned to that movement will be activated. By tapping into these dormant muscle fibers, we are able significantly increase strength with a minimum of outward change. Cool, no? It’s kind of like discovering a superpower. Before we start jumping over buildings, though, we need to understand why so much strength has been lying dormant within you.

To further stretch out an already fatigued analogy, your middle managers have been taking three-hour lunch breaks for years and no one has even noticed. Why? There’s been no need for adaptation. If you don’t consistently challenge your muscles with enough weight to require full recruitment, this adaptation will never occur. No heavy weight with any consistency = no need to lift heavy weight. It’s simple.

If we truly want to get stronger, we’re going to change the way we do things. Especially if we want to put down the purple dumbbells and reap the benefits of powerful, efficient workouts. Since the progression of motor unit recruitment (what gets turned on first) follows the transition from light stuff to heavy stuff, to access the whole workforce, we’re going to need something heavy. How heavy? The research tells us 80% or more of capacity (what you can lift for one repetition). In absolute terms, this translates to a big difference between, say, what a mighty lumberjack can lift vs. a self-cutting emo vegan. However, in relative terms, both should find their respective loads to be extremely challenging. Remember this: no matter who you are, these workouts will be tough. Strong people don’t get off any easier.

“Wait. Wait! Wait! Wait! How can all this not make my muscles bigger?”

Okay, I’m not going to lie to you. If you are weak and have never done any real strength training, you will see some adaptations pretty quickly. For example, you’ll need stronger forearms just to hold onto enough weight. Listen. Please. The gains you’ll experience will not be linear. They will not continue forever. Do not freak out about them or delude yourself into thinking that you will turn into She-Hulk overnight. Unless your mom and dad were both Olympic shot-putters or you gained superpowers in a freak atomic accident, the odds are far, far lower than you think. Far lower.

“Are you sure I won’t get bigger after this initial period of adaptation?”

Emphasizing or de-emphasizing size gains comes down to the following factors:

• Caloric surplus: If you don’t exceed your daily caloric needs, you will not have the raw material to build new muscle. Although it’s rare to meet a female athlete who takes in enough protein anyway, suffice it to say that if you’re getting less than a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day (what is, in my opinion, the minimum required for maintenance), Ms. Olympia will not be calling.

• Density: Two parts here:
  • Trying to lift maximal loads while fatigued is kind of like practicing chess while drunk. After months — even years — of this approach, you will still suck. As such, it’s essential to ensure that ATP (the fuel for muscular contraction within the cell) is completely replenished before you lift. This process takes between four and five minutes so I’ll give you some details on how to best make use of your downtime in Part 2 of this article.
  • Most of the stresses responsible for hypertrophy (increased muscle size) come from creating a stressful intracellular environment. Lowered PH (more acidity) and increased accumulation of waste products impair performance. Your body will respond by increasing its capacity to restore balance. It’s these adaptations that are largely responsible for size. So, to avoid them, you need to avoid stresses. By sticking with rest periods long enough to facilitate full ATP recovery, you will have also waited long enough for the cell environment to normalize.

• Volume: Once again, the root of adaptation is stress. There are a number of peripheral factors (including the degree of damage inflicted on your muscles) that will accumulate in spite of lengthened rest times. To avoid these, we’ll reign total volume in somewhere between 24 and 30 total reps (that’s the total number for all sets of any given exercise). We’ll get into actual set numbers in Part 2.

• Intensity: As stated above, we need loads in excess of 80% of our single-rep maximum for neurological improvement. You don’t need to be scared of big weights, but you need to be respectful and train safely.

• Tempo: There’s a lot to be said for slow, controlled reps. I emphasize these for beginners because of what they bring to the table in terms of coordination and control. With those skills as a prerequisite, people training for performance, not size, should move fast. How fast? If we go by Canadian strength coach Charles Poliquin’s recipe for hypertrophy as being 30-70 seconds of time under tension, then having the total time for your set come in at under 30 seconds will be fine. For the type of lower-rep sets that we’ll be getting into, a fast lift and controlled eccentric (lowering) motion will be more than enough to ensure this.

• Training frequency: Since training your nervous system for strength is similar to practicing a fine motor skill, there’s only one way to get to Carnegie Hall. Instead of practicing scales, though, you’re going to squat, deadlift, press and pull. The low volume of your workouts will help minimize the accumulated factors that contribute to hypertrophy.

Do you feel better? Do you at least believe that you can add strength without size? I hope so. There’s not a whole lot more that needs to be said. However, you may still have some questions about how heavy weights relate to looking hotter. Fair enough.

It’s like this: the amount of energy you expend correlates directly to the total amount of work you do. If you are so weak that you can only move itty-bitty weights and your fastest sprint is a lame jog then your workout productivity will be limited and you will be sad. However, if you are so strong that you can move great big weights and that your fastest sprint can blister the paint off of nearby houses, your workout productivity will be great and you will rejoice. In practical terms, when strong people perform energy-intensive work, they get more done in the same amount of time. These workouts are not easier, but they are superior.

Put into the framework of circuit training (performing groups of exercises), your strength development will translate into highly effective workouts that absolutely blow any kind of low-weight, high-rep program out of the water. Instead of performing bad cardio with minimal strength gain, you will be stronger and leaner in less time. You will develop the kind of muscle tone you’ve always wanted with strength to go along with it (surpass it, actually). Most importantly, you will begin your transformation into a bad-ass.

This concludes Part 1 of this article. We’ve gone over all the conceptual stuff. I’m hoping that any remaining questions you have pertain to the nitty gritty of working out. We’ll get to those details in Part 2.

Geoff is also one of my favourite boys in the whole world. He introduced me to the epic joy of Rottblott’s, a hardware surplus store — basically a candy store for people who love old-skool strength training toys. Thanks to Geoff I now own 20 feet of thick rope. And I’m eyeing a heavier sledgehammer…

In the first part of this article, we discovered why lifting weights for strength is not going to turn you into a she-beast. To this end, I provided several ways to minimize size gains just in case there was any residual paranoia.  In the second part (you know, the one you’re reading now), I’m going to give you some concrete examples of how to put the theory of getting stronger into practice.

Safety first… information a distant third

One of the main barriers to mainstream advice about women’s strength training is fear. Not fear of angry Amazons roaming the streets and flipping over parked cars. Rather, a fear of litigation. After all, the potential for injury certainly can rise alongside the number of plates on a barbell. The amount of detail that goes into teaching proper lifts is substantial. In Starting Strength, Mark Rippetoe’s primer on core lifts, 40 dense pages are dedicated to the squat alone. Even with all that information, a whole bunch of supervision and guidance is needed for most people. It’s easier (and far less contentious) for magazines to include an adorable dumbbell complex that will let you hit those stubborn spots, you saucy, saucy modern woman. Saucy!

Well, guess what? I don’t want to get sued either. So, before you attempt to squat your bodyweight, you’re going to need to get things right with broomstick weight. Proper exercise technique is beyond the scope of this article, though, so if it’s still something you’re working on, please continue to do so until you (and your body) are ready to start lifting heavy.

The truth about program design

Designing custom programs for any one of you unique snowflakes out there is something I really enjoy. It’s an exercise in creative problem solving . . . one of my favourite things. That’s why it’s kind of a bummer to have to generalize for a wide audience. It’s like a lottery where I offer up six digits and you have to check your ticket (in this case, your specific physical status and goals) to see if they match. Some people will find the program template below closer to what they need. Some people will find it farther. For a tiny number, it might even hit their needs exactly. We all just hope it’s not some a-hole who already has a six pack and 400 lb push press.

The good news is that there are a few things we can do to ensure you’ve got most of those numbers right before you buy your ticket.

1. You need to have been lifting consistently for at least a couple of months. This foundational stage is necessary to help develop connective tissue and tendon strength, proprioception, technique and enough neuromuscular activation to even make this worthwhile. In other words, your joints need to be strong enough to take this, and your body needs to have at least a good working theory of where your arms and legs are at any given moment.

2. You need to know what muscular failure really feels like. Not muscular discomfort. Not muscular annoyance. Failure. The imaginary scenario I like to use is this: an eccentric man in a coonskin cap wanders into the gym as you finish an exercise. “I will give you $10,000 if you do one more rep,” he says. When your student loans go unpaid, that’s failure.

3. You need to have your technique down pat. If you’re still at a beginning stage, don’t worry. This is the perfect time for you to be practicing squat and deadlift technique with low intensity (just enough to keep you honest). Don’t rush things. Progressing at the right times will be the fastest long-term approach anyway.

4. Don’t be [a] baby. Think carefully about starting this program. If you’re going to start it, see it through. Don’t second-guess yourself every couple of steps. I can honestly say that you will get more out of sticking with a less-than-ideal program than faffing around with minimal consistency. In fact, learning (with confidence) what doesn’t work for you can be well worth the time investment over the long haul.

5. Understand that it’s impossible to get big overnight from lifting weights (unless you drop one on yourself). Give yourself a chance to maximize strength. Even if we wanted to get as huge as possible, it would still be a slow progression. So, know that if you’re unhappy with any muscle you might be putting on, you will be able to stop at any step of the way.

6. Know when to push yourself and when to rest. Session to session, this means sucking it up when you need to and leaving enough rest time for full recovery. Week to week, this means sticking with programming, but deloading when prescribed.

While many people fail to work anywhere near hard enough, there are always a few hardcore nutcases (if you’re reading this article, you’re more than likely to be one) that have trouble getting in enough recovery time. For the latter, if you do happen to feel very fatigued, you may want to either lighten the load or take a day off. Don’t be a tough guy until it’s time to be a tough guy.

Primary concepts

Here are a few basics to know.

Circuit training

The primary fuel your muscles use for contraction is ATP. How much gets eaten up is based, in part, on how long your muscles are contracting. For maximal work, you’ve got about 8-10 seconds worth of this stuff.  That in itself is an interesting fact.

Once your initial stores of ATP and CP are taxed, your limit strength drops to about 70% of what it was. Longer lifts, despite feeling like more work, do not help you maximize strength development. To keep your total time under tension to be under 11 seconds, sets have to be shorter. That’s why, as a general rule, sets for strength development are typically 5 reps or under. This is important for maximizing strength while minimizing the stresses that trigger hypertrophy (aka muscle mass gain).

The time requred for ATP/CP stores to fully recover is 4-5 minutes. Since we’ve all got better things to do than sit around admiring our guns in the mirror for 4+ minutes after every set (most of us, anyway), circuits are a great way to make use of this time. While we challenge one muscle group, another can rest.

Muscular failure

You actually won’t be going to failure on every exercise. That would be too fatiguing – especially for the frequency of training in this program. However, you should periodically push yourself to failure on different exercises (one per session is plenty) to give yourself a clear idea of whether or not the weight you’ve selected is adequately challening.

Variety

Try to change up the exercises you’re doing in a specific circuit every 2-3 weeks.

The fall of the machines

I promised myself I wouldn’t write an 18-page diatribe against machines, so let’s just say this: try to do as much as you can with free weights.

Boulders, leopards and dudes at clubs are all examples of things that need to be periodically shoved away from (or off of) you. Clearly, there is no fixed track or external stabilization to rely on when this happens. That’s why free weights offer better carryover.

Yes, there are some places where lifting with machines can be helpful. These are the exception, not the rule. Let’s just agree to stick with free weights whenever possible.

Compound exercises first

When it comes to real strength – the kind that carries over into our lives – training compound exercises are essential. Any single-joint movement that people may default to, from biceps curls to leg extensions is automatically integrated into a compound movement, such as pull-ups or squats. For those trying to minimize time spent in the gym, this is an essential fact.

Selecting the appropriate intensity on your primary compound exercises may be tricky. Knowing your actual 5RM (what weight you can perform 5 repetitions – and no more! — of) will help a lot. Ideally, you’ll build through your first three or four sets (including the warm-up) to find a weight that you’ll go to failure at within six or seven reps (even though you’ll only be completing five). Your final set should be closer to a true 5RM as long as you have sufficient safeguards in place.

Many people will start too low (or build too slowly). The result will be insufficient intensity. That’s no good, so you may want to add an additional set to bring you up to the appropriate level. At the very least, record your totals so you don’t make the same mistake twice.

Unilateral exercises next

Not only is it important to balance strength development from front to back (you’ll notice our primary and secondary circuits do just that), it’s important to balance things from left to right. Often if one side is lagging, the other side will pick up the slack, which maintains – and sometimes even exacerbates — the strength imbalance.

There’s absolutely no problem in choosing unilateral (one-sided) exercises for your primary lifts. However, this program ensures weak links are addressed by emphasizing this approach for the second circuit of each workout.

Single joint exercises later (if ever)

You can add isolation exercises to supplement strength development in your primary lifts. As a matter of fact, we do that in this program. However, there’s a reason that compound exercises come first: the type of neurological adaptations we want work best when you’re fully rested.

Single-joint exercises certainly do have their place. They can help clean up some of the weak links in a movement. However, for the reasons above, they need to come later in a session. In our program, they’re going to be integrated with energy system work. This will translate into more bang for your buck, both in terms of strength development and caloric expenditure.

If you’re ever stretched for time (on any workout, really), it’s the isolation movements that should go first. Many programs, in fact, do just fine without them.

What’s this energy systems training of which you speak?

Technically, everything we’re doing is energy system training. If we skip past my bitching about semantics, though, we can focus on what we’re really going to accomplish: burning through as many calories as possible. This isn’t the main focus of our program, but training in this manner will allow you to experience how increased strength translates to increased energy output (and efficiency). For those looking to lose weight, these strength gains will pay off hugely when translated to weight loss focused-programs.

The gist of it all

Now that we’ve gone over the details of what will emphasize or de-emphasize size gains, I’m going to give you the kind of program that I think will work best as a bridge to intermediate strength development. There are a few things here that prevent it from being ideally configured to stave off size gain so, if that’s still a concern for you, the next section will show you how to modify the program accordingly (pro tip: don’t bother).

I still fear the thickening!

If you’re still truly afraid of putting on any size, there are a few adjustments you’ll have to make to this program (review Part 1 for the logic behind them).

1. Ensure a full four minutes rest (anything over 5:00, however is overkill) before repeating the same exercise. I recommend starting a stopwatch after completion of the first exercise in a circuit and then waiting for it to hit 4:00 before starting a new circuit.

2. Maintain the same intensity for the exercises in Circuit 2, but drop the number of reps down to 6-8.

3. Maintain the same intensity for the exercises in Circuit 3, but drop the number of reps down to 8-10.

4. Skip either the second or third circuit OR do only one of each.

5. Don’t get a full eight hours sleep every night, don’t eat adequately (especially protein) and do let day-to-day stresses really get to you.

How to build

This program is designed for four workouts per week.  I’ve included a spreadsheet detailing a progression. You can download that here. (PDF)

The basic progression details are as follows:

• Alternate between Day 1 and Day 2
• Do two workouts a week for two weeks
• On Week 3, you’ll begin building a third day, one circuit at a time (per week)
• By Week 5, you’ll be up to three days per week
• On Week 6, youll begin building a fourth day, one circuit at a time (per week)
• By Week 8, you’ll be up to a full four day per week
• Week 9 will provide a de-loading week (use it!)
• After week 9, the four day per week program (as in week 8) will be repeated until week 14
• Instead of de-loading in Week 14, you can try a different activity altogether, as long as it’s relatively light in intensity
• If you wish to resume this program, you can simply repeat the cycle between Weeks 8 and 14

4 workouts a week!? Fuhgedaboudit!

If you are only able to work out three times a week, add one more circuit to the first two groups. This would add up to 3-4 x 5 reps (not including warm-up) for Circuit 1 and 3 x 7-10 reps for Circuit 2.

If you are only able to work out twice a week, add two more circuits to the first group and one more to the second. This would add up to 5 x 5 reps (not including warm-up) for Circuit 1 and 3 x 7-10 reps for Circuit 2.

Finally: the program

Day 1

Circuit 1

4-5 circuits: warm-up (8 reps) plus 3-4 circuits with 5 reps per exercise
A1: Deadlift variation
A2: Pull-up variation
A3: Overhead pressing variation
0-1 minute rest between sets for a total of 3-4  minutes before repeating any given exercise

Circuit 2

2-3 circuits, 7-10 reps per exercise
B1: Split squat, lunge or step-up variation
B2: Single-arm rowing variation
B3: Single-arm chest pressing variation
B4: Core work: reverse crunch variation
No rest between sets for a total of 3-4 minutes before repeating any given exercise

Circuit 3

2 circuits
C1: Sprint, push or drag (20-25 seconds) + core stability work (20-30 seconds) + elbow flexion
C2: Jumping variation (10-12) + rear delt or low trap work  + elbow extension
Record your total time for both circuits and try to beat it during your next workout

Day 2

Circuit 1

4-5 circuits: warm-up (8 reps) plus 3-4 circuits with 5 reps per exercise
A1: Squat variation
A2: Row variation
A3: Bench or dumbbell press variation
0-1 minute rest between sets for a total of 3-4  minutes before repeating any given exercise

Circuit 2

2-3 circuits, 7-10 reps per exercise
B1: Single-leg hip extension variation
B2: Single-arm overhead pressing variation
B3: Single-arm pull-down variation
B4: Core work: stability variation
No rest between sets for a total of 3-4 minutes before repeating any given exercise

Circuit 3

2 circuits
C1: Lateral movement variation (20-25 seconds) + side planking variation (20-30 seconds) + external rotation (10-12)
C2: Kettlebell or dumbbell swings (5 each hand) + crunching variation (10-12) + wood chopping variation (10-12)
Record your total time for both circuits and try to beat it during your next workout

Geoff is a deceptively charming man who turns into a hardass when he’s training you. He enjoys yelling “Don’ be baby!” at people in a fake accent and then making puppy eyes. It really screws with your head. And it definitely gets results.

I get a lot of email from folks who have young daughters (or sons) interested in weight training. They worry about what they have heard of the ill effects of training too young: stunted growth, injury, impaired development, etc. However, an appropriately designed, monitored, and instructed weight training program is probably much safer for a young person than other sports and activities in which they commonly engage: football, baseball, soccer, tree climbing, skateboarding, etc. (which isn’t to say that they shouldn’t do all these things and more, but just that worry over weight training is somewhat misplaced).

Here is a link to the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s position on youth weight training, which states that weight training is a safe activity for children. [Update August 2009: See the full text of the updated 2009 statement below.]

By the way grrls, this should make you think twice about using the pink dumbbells. The Mighty Quinn is only a few weeks old and already he can use them.

For young women in particular, I believe weight training is an excellent activity. Girls are very vulnerable to negative messages about their bodies as they enter adolescence. In North America, nearly a third of girls are dieting or preoccupied with their weight by the time they hit fourth grade. Obesity in young people is on the rise, accompanied by troubling health conditions such as the predecessors to heart disease and diabetes.

Weight training helps shift the focus from looks to achievement, teaches skills and self-discipline, provides a base of functional strength for sports and daily life, and gives girls a sense of positive physical accomplishment. It can be done by just about anyone, even nonathletic dorks like me, and it can be a solitary activity or done as part of a social event. Personally I hated team sports as a kid and always loved individual activities like riding my bike and hiking, but some girls prefer to do things in groups.

guidelines

There are some guidelines to follow when considering and implementing a weight training program for young people.

1. Proper supervision by adults

You don’t have to be a strength and conditioning coach to watch your kid, you just have to be aware of lifting safely and correctly. This includes serving as a spotter when necessary, ensuring that she is always working within her abilities and using proper technique, and establishing a rule that your daughter does not train potentially dangerous lifts like the bench press unless an adult is around.

Training should be fun, but trainees must also respect the risks involved, so it is wise to convey a sense of gravity and respect to the wee one; make a rule that there is no fooling around while using the weights. I think it’s great for mom and daughter to work out together if mom is also into weight training, but then again, in my early teens, I would have been, like, ohmigod, soooo grossed out if my mother was my workout partner, euw.

2. Awareness of growth and development

Girls mature at different rates, so what is appropriate for one 13-year-old might not be appropriate for another. In general, by the time a girl gets her period, she is approaching the final stages of physical growth and maturation, but the process might continue for several more years, albeit more slowly. The physically (rather than chronologically) younger the girl, the more care must be taken in order to ensure that workload is not too heavy.

3. Awareness of overall activity level

If your daughter does other activities such as organized sports, swimming lessons, etc., it is important to make sure that she has lots of time to recover. If weight training is her only activity, then she will be able to dedicate more resources to it, but should still be careful of total workload. Think of the program in holistic terms such as total hours per week, and be on the lookout for budding overload injuries. You may also choose to tailor her program to complement her other activities. I give tips on how to do this here.

4. Deal with early injury signs immediately

Weight training is very safe compared to many other sports. Ideally she will stay injury-free, but every now and again, trainees get little aches and pains, and accidents can happen. Encourage her to distinguish between soreness from a workout, and pain that signals a potential injury. She should not be told to walk off bad pain or “suck it up” if there is a real problem. Sure, it’s good to create an ethos of meeting challenges and not making a fuss over every little thing, but it is not okay to promote the idea of working through an injury which could result in permanent damage. I would like to hunt down and shoot my youngest sister’s cheerleading coach for leaving her and most of the team with major lifelong injuries such as destroyed wrists and herniated lumbar disks.

5. Start with low intensities for at least the first year

Using lower intensities (percentage of maximum) will provide a good stimulus but allow connective tissue to recover and get stronger. It will also reinforce technique. Beginners of all ages can see results from intensities as low as about 30% of max (so, if a person’s maximal squat is 100 lbs. for 1 rep, then the working weight will be 30 lbs.). But this is pretty boring to use for a weights workout.

A good intensity for a young beginner is somewhere around 50-65% of max. Since it’s not advisable to do one-rep maxes with beginners to determine their max, this will be a bit of a guesstimate and trial and error. I’d say try to shoot for a weight that is controllable and doable for 12-15 reps per set, whether or not you actually do sets of 12-15 reps (I’ll explain that a little more later). Once all sets can be completed in good form, then you can add a little weight. Weight should be increased in small increments. If you want smaller plates than the commonly available 2.5 lb., hit the local Home Depot for large washers to tape together, or get some fractional plates from PDA.

6. Substitute calisthenic-type or bodyweight exercises for weighted exercises wherever possible

These can be a fun, safe challenge, and young people often have a great time with these because they have such an optimal strength to mass ratio. When I was 12, I could scuttle up a rope like a monkey on speed. Pretty easy to do when you only weigh 75 lbs! By the way, climbing is a great activity for kids, so maybe book the indoor climbing gym for the next birthday party.

Ideas for bodyweight exercises include various types of pullups, pushups, unweighted squats and lunges, rope or wall climbing, jumps and hops (including rope jumping), hill/stair runs, and medicine ball throws. Check out Bryce’s page, Body by Fish, and Crossfit for ideas on bodyweight stuff. Pushups can stand in for bench pressing, rope jumping and hill running for calf work, horizontal pullups for rows, superman exercises for back hyperextensions, etc.

She might find the local playground too babyish, but if not, there can be cool things there to play with: horizontal ladders to swing from or do pullups on, steps or ladders to run up and down or climb using only arms, etc. Hell, I wish I had one of those near my house! I’d boot all the little toddlers off so I could do the ladder thing and walk the rope bridge, just like in the army!

7. Emphasize skill acquisition and mastery over weight

This means that proper technique is essential, and should always take precedence over adding weight. When she loses form on an exercise, that set is done. No working to failure or allowing messy reps to count. There’s always time to work with heavier weights a few years down the road. As my former art teacher used to say, “First you learn the rules, then you learn how to break them”.

Setting goals can also be a useful motivation, if that is desired (some girls won’t like it, but some will thrive on it). Goals, if they are set, should be strength-oriented (e.g. lifting X lbs. or working up to Y pushups), fitness-oriented (e.g. increasing running time or ease) or technique mastery-oriented (e.g. learning a squat properly), rather than weight loss oriented.

8. Emphasize good nutrition for athletic performance, health, and meeting of goals, rather than dieting to be skinny

I cannot overstate this point enough. Girls receive an unbelievable amount of destructive messages about their body, and they are much more receptive to this negativity in adolescence. Don’t be part of that cycle, and as much as possible, don’t exhibit that body-hating behaviour yourself. Point out that she needs to eat, and eat well, to fuel performance.

9. Be on the lookout for signs that she is training too hard

These will include disordered eating behaviour, sleep disruption, ongoing injuries, excessive weight loss, and irregular or absent menstruation (I know, I know, I can hear the anguished cries of “Mo-om!” now). She should start with weight training two to three times weekly, for about thirty minutes per session. This can be done on its own or in conjunction with other activities. Over several months the duration of the session can be increased minutes if desired, but be aware of the teenage attention span! If exercises are well chosen, it’s really not necessary to go over about 45 minutes per session.

10. Training should be fun and never a chore

It should be the child’s choice and not an obligation to please a parent. If possible, include workout “toys” such as the swiss ball, lightly weighted sandbags or sleds to pull, etc. Make sessions into games or timed circuits, if she would enjoy that. If you can stand it, let her listen to her music.

11. Young people can do challenging compound exercises such as squats, pullups, rows, presses, etc. provided that they learn good form and use a weight which is manageable

Renowned strength coach Chris Thibaudeau taught Olympic lifts to young figure skaters (and there used to be some really adorable pics of the girls still wearing their skating costumes while hauling weight around). The adult in charge will have to make a judgement call about how to teach skills based on what s/he knows about the girl’s intellectual and emotional maturity levels.

12. Use a full body routine instead of focusing on one or two body parts

It’s fine to do different parts on different days if you prefer to organize training that way, but make sure everything gets some attention in the course of the cycle. Kids need to learn motor control and coordination more than they need to work on their upper pecs.

13. Use free weights and body weight

Because she may have a smaller body than the average adult, free weights and bodyweight/calisthenic activities are probably a better choice for most exercises than machines, which are often too big for a teen’s body (hell, some are too big for my body). Free weights allow her to adapt the movement to her own needs. If you are concerned about barbells, there are lighter ones available, and/or she can use dumbbells for many things. A complicated setup isn’t necessary for a great workout.

sample workout

Here’s a sample workout I suggested for a teenage girl interested in throwing sports (shotput and discus), to augment her beginner technique training in that sport. It would work well as a general beginner routine, though. This could be done 2-3 days weekly, alternating Day 1 and 2. Notice that although a couple of exercises are done with 5 reps per set, it doesn’t mean that her 5-rep-max weight is used.

Day 1

1. Deadlift to shrug on toes, 5 x 5 @ 50-65% of max
2. Pushups, 3 x as many as possible (once these get really easy for her, have
   her elevate her feet, and once those get easy, have her try them one-handed
   or do clapping pushups)
3. Squat jumps, 3 x 10-15 (these are done unweighted; squat down, jump up as
   high as possible, land and immediately drop down into the squat position
   again, jump up, etc.)
4. Ab exercise of choice, 2 sets
5. Rope jumping 5-10 min, or hill/stair run, 10 min

Day 2

1. Front squat to overhead press 5 x 5 @ 50-65% of max (using clean grip, do a front squat, then return to standing position, drop elbows and press bar up overhead, return bar to clean grip position across collarbones, front squat, etc.)
2. One-arm dumbbell row 3 x 12-15
3. Close-grip bench press (close grip pushups are another fun challenge if she
   likes) 2 x 12-15
4. Ab exercise of choice, 2 sets
5. Rope jumping 5-10 min, or hill/stair run, 10 min

Faigenbaum, AD, Kraemer, WJ, Blimkie, CJR, Jeffreys, I, Micheli, LJ, Nitka, M, and Rowland, TW. Youth resistance training: Updated position statement paper from the National Strength and Conditioning Association. 2009.

Current recommendations suggest that school-aged youth should participate daily in 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity that is developmentally appropriate and enjoyable and involves a variety of activities (219). Not only is regular physical activity essential for normal growth and development, but also a physically active lifestyle during the pediatric years may help to reduce the risk of developing some chronic diseases later in life (196).

In addition to aerobic activities such as swimming and bicycling, research increasingly indicates that resistance training can offer unique benefits for children and adolescents when appropriately prescribed and supervised (28,66,111,139,147,234). The qualified acceptance of youth resistance training by medical, fitness, and sport organizations is becoming universal (5,6,8,12,18,33,104,167,192,215).

Nowadays, comprehensive school-based programs are specifically designed to enhance health-related components of physical fitness, which include muscular strength (169). In addition, the health club and sport conditioning industry is getting more involved in the youth fitness market. In the U.S.A., the number of health club members between the ages of 6 and 17 years continues to increase (127,252) and a growing number of private sport conditioning centers now cater to young athletes. Thus, as more children and adolescents resistance train in schools, health clubs, and sport training centers, it is imperative to determine safe, effective, and enjoyable practices by which resistance training can improve the health, fitness, and sports performance of younger populations.

The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) recognizes and supports the premise that many of the benefits associated with adult resistance training programs are attainable by children and adolescents who follow age-specific resistance training guidelines. The NSCA published the first position statement paper on youth resistance training in 1985 (170) and revised this statement in 1996 (72).

The purpose of the present report is to update and clarify the 1996 recommendations on 4 major areas of importance. These topics include (a) the potential risks and concerns associated with youth resistance training, (b) the potential health and fitness benefits of youth resistance training, (c) the types and amount of resistance training needed by healthy children and adolescents, and (d) program design considerations for optimizing long-term training adaptations.

The NSCA based this position statement paper on a comprehensive analysis of the pertinent scientific evidence regarding the anatomical, physiological, and psychosocial effects of youth resistance training. An expert panel of exercise scientists, physicians, and health/physical education teachers with clinical, practical, and research expertise regarding issues related to pediatric exercise science, sports medicine, and resistance training contributed to this statement. The NSCA Research Committee reviewed this report before the formal endorsement by the NSCA.

For the purpose of this article, the term children refers to boys and girls who have not yet developed secondary sex characteristics (approximately up to the age of 11 years in girls and 13 years in boys; Tanner stages 1 and 2 of sexual maturation). This period of development is referred to as preadolescence. The term adolescence refers to a period between childhood and adulthood and includes girls aged 12-18 years and boys aged 14-18 years (Tanner stages 3 and 4 of sexual maturation). The terms youth and young athletes are broadly defined in this report to include both children and adolescents.

By definition, the term resistance training refers to a specialized method of conditioning, which involves the progressive use of a wide range of resistive loads and a variety of training modalities designed to enhance health, fitness, and sports performance. Although the term resistance training, strength training, and weight training are sometimes used synonymously, the term resistance training encompasses a broader range of training modalities and a wider variety of training goals. The term weightlifting refers to a competitive sport that involves the performance of the snatch and clean and jerk lifts.

This article builds on previous recommendations from the NSCA and should serve as the prevailing statement regarding youth resistance training. It is the current position of the NSCA that:

1. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program is relatively safe for youth.

2. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can enhance the muscular strength and power of youth.

3. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can improve the cardiovascular risk profile of youth.

4. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can improve motor skill performance and may contribute to enhanced sports performance of youth.

5. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can increase a young athlete's resistance to sports-related injuries.

6. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can help improve the psychosocial well-being of youth.

7. A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can help promote and develop exercise habits during childhood and adolescence.

(C) 2009 National Strength and Conditioning Association

• genetics: if mom has osteoporosis, you are also at risk
• age: risk increases with age
• menopausal status: menopause initiates changes in hormone levels which eventually can decrease bone density (by the way, improving bone density post-menopause is one useful application of testosterone supplementation)
• smoking: you all know you shouldn’t smoke, so I don’t have to tell you
• history of drastic dieting: this takes its toll on your bones
• high caffeine intake
• corticosteroid use (e.g. Prednisone)
• thyroid disorders
• body composition: if you are too thin, especially if you have been amenorrheic (your periods have stopped) for lengths of time, this increases your risk

Osteoporosis and osteopenia are distinguished by the degree of bone density present. Healthy bone looks like havarti cheese: mostly solid with a few little pores here and there. Bone that has lost its density resembles Swiss cheese that’s been left in the sun: giant holes predominate and it seems that only a few strands of solid matter are holding it all together.

We tend to think of bone as inert, sort of like a Tinkertoy construction that holds our bodies together. In fact, bone is a responsive tissue that reacts constantly to the demands imposed on it. It is always breaking down and remodelling itself. Astronauts exposed to zero-G rapidly lose muscle tone and bone density, while weight training improves bone density. Much of the bone loss associated with “normal” aging is simply a result of poor nutrition, inappropriate lifestyle choices, and lack of proper activity.

A fitness/diet strategy aimed at bone density health and osteoporosis must incorporate the following things:

• Weight bearing exercise (to improve functional strength and bone density)
• Balance and stability training (to prevent falls)
• Adequate vitamins and minerals, particularly calcium, but also magnesium and vitamin D (to provide the building materials for bone, and to help calcium be absorbed)
• A diet that is not hypocaloric (taking in fewer calories than the body needs) for long periods of time, and a bodyweight that is healthy, not underweight

The rest of this article will deal with the first and second components, and discuss how to put together a fitness program that will give you bones of titanium!

weight bearing exercise

Well, duh, we should know by now that that’s weight training. But what kind of weight training is best? Ideally, your workout should include movements that load the bone along its length. That means a squat is better than a leg extension, for example. The weight in a squat is transmitted down along the spine, through the hip, and down along the bones of the leg. The weight in a leg extension is transmitted across the shinbone, and mostly just puts pressure on the knee joint. Most types of presses, such as bench presses, pushups, and overhead presses, are another good choice for bone loading.

A second type of weight bearing exercise is impact exercise. This can be walking, running, jumping, skipping rope, hitting a heavy bag, or any other type of plyometric exercise like clapping pushups. This is also good to incorporate into a workout.

One study found that even a single bout of high-impact exercise can increase bone turnover. Study participants jumped up and down until they were exhausted. Afterwards, markers of bone formation (procollagen type I amino terminal propeptide [P1NP] and bone resorption (carboxyterminal crosslinked telopeptide [CTx]) were both elevated, signifying that the body was busily fixing the damage and rebuilding the bones to be stronger.

Rantalainen, Timo, et al. Short-term bone biochemical response to a single bout of high-impact exercise. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2009) 8, 553 – 559.

While other forms of exercise like swimming, yoga, and tai chi are also good for you in general, fun to do, and can help train balance (see below), they don’t provide the same kind of loading that weight training and impact activities do. Indeed, a recent study found that cyclists had surprisingly reduced bone density despite plenty of exercise, because cycling doesn’t really load the bones along their length — the combo of training plus lack of bone loading led to significant problems. So, feel free to do these types of activities, but just make sure to do the bone-loading stuff at least twice a week.

what’s right for me?

Your existing level of fitness and bone density will determine your exercise choice. If you’re a bit older, a bit less fit, and/or already showing signs of degeneration, don’t start right off with two-metre plyometric depth jumps or pounding a cement wall. Start with lighter versions of the recommended types of exercises. Avoid excessive rounding of the spine, especially under load.

Level 3 would be done by someone who is already fit, and interested in prevention. You may find that you can’t progress past Level 1, or Level 2, but that’s okay. The main thing is that you do at least something. I’ve suggested some ideas below. These aren’t the only exercises you should do, of course, but you should include at least a few of them.

There are many ways to integrate these into a workout. You can do a conditioning-type workout where you do them all at once, in a circuit (e.g. jump rope 1 min, 10 pushups, jump rope 1 min, 10 squat jumps, jump rope 1 min, 10 walking lunges, repeat). Or you can just make sure to put one or more movements into your workouts, 2-4 times weekly.

balance training

As we age, if we do not train it, we lose our balance. Falls are one of the chief dangers for people with osteoporosis, and loss of bone density combined with loss of balance presents a very risky situation. However, balance, like other physical qualities, can be trained. Regular free weight exercises such as squats, deadlifts, Olympic lifts and their variations, and performing exercises standing (e.g. standing press) are all a big help. But there are lots of other ways to train for balance. One of the best ways I know is martial arts. If you are a Level 1 – Level 2 person, something like tai chi, yoga, or even dancing might be better. Below I’ve listed some ideas for training your balance, again sorted into levels of difficulty.

There are exercises here called “perturbation stimulus”. This means putting yourself into a position which is a bit unbalanced, then having someone else supply further instability by pushing you. You are then forced to respond. Make sure your partner is gentle initially and doesn’t shove you. Gentle pushing and pulling will be fine. All you need the partner to do is unbalance you enough so that you have to respond.

This is a personal story of how I created a hybrid training protocol with punching bags to strengthen weak tendons. I have some unique genetics. I am big in back and legs, but small in arms and shoulders. The net effect of this is that I am strong in some movements and weak in others. I have always had problems with my forearms. After any kind of physical work or a workout my forearms would be sore for days. This greatly affected my ability to continue work or workouts. The tendons were definitely the weak area of my forearms and slow to heal. The tendons in my forearms just did not seem to get stronger even when I trained using the usual forearm exercises. The solution to my problem came about in a most unusual manner.

I was interviewing a number of martial art schools in the area. I had a very interesting conversation with one gung fu instructor who built some innovative training equipment to train his students. He was a good teacher and the equipment obviously did perform the tasks that he designed them for. He also had some unique theories about exercise and conditioning. Although intrigued, I did not feel that this was what I wanted to do just then. So I talked to some of his students and went on to do other things.

Several months latter I was reading a book by Fred Hatfield (Dr Squat) in which he described in detail how he used plyometrics to increase strength in various lifts. I know the use of plyometrics for this purpose is very controversial. You would never catch me doing the exercises that were mentioned in the Hatfield book. They just seemed too risky. But in the middle of this material was the little gem that certain kinds of shock, particularly very short, fast jerky movements could cause an increase in tendon strength.

A light bulb came on over my head!! I immediately recalled the conversations I had at the gung fu school. Some of the punching exercises that were demonstrated for me could easily be modified to accomplish the plyometric criteria that Dr Squat had presented. And I would NOT have to do them with 700 lb deadlifts!! I have had some martial arts training and I knew just what to do. I immediately ordered a Wave punching bag. This is a punching bag with a water bladder in the center of the bag. This gives the bag weight while reducing the hardness of the bag. It is much easier on the hands that a traditional punching bag. I also ordered a good pair of leather punching gloves. When the bag arrived I filled it with water and hung it in my garage.

First a little biomechanics lesson. When a punch is delivered there are two primary functions of the arm. The first function is to transfer the force generated by the body to the target. The power of the punch is directly attributable to how much of the force generated by the body is transferred to the target. This is where form comes into play and each fighting style has their own particular method of accomplishing this task.

The second task that most people are not familiar with is to transfer the force (or shock) back to the body. This is a tremendous safety issue. How the fist strikes the target, the angle of the elbow, your stance and many other factors determine your ability to deliver a punch without injuring yourself. The ideal of course is to transfer as much as force to your opponent while experiencing as little of the shock yourself as possible. A poorly thrown punch will hurt you more than your opponent.

What this gung fu instructor had pointed out to me was that certain punching techniques created unique stresses in specific parts of the body. He used this knowledge to work out special punching and striking exercises to target areas and techniques that were lagging in his students. This helped both conditioning and motor skills. This was particularly true of the arm which was my primary interest. He had created some punching exercises that could be easily modified to fullfil the plyometrics criteria Mr Hatfield had outlined in his book.

Soooo… I put the two of these together and created my own unique punching plyometrics routine.

I will now describe what is done with the punching bag. It may be hard to visualize if you have never worked out on a heavy bag before, but it is really very easy to do. Stand in front of and slightly to one side of the heavy bag. Line one fist up vertically with the center of the bag. Push the bag gently into a slow gentle swing away from you. Follow the bag with your fist. Now pull back your fist and place it near the end of the swing. Make sure your stance is solid enough to keep from getting knocked over. What you do is brace yourself and allow the bag to bump into your hand which is attached to a totally rigid body and an almost rigid arm.

Start off really gently with this. You can easily hurt yourself if you do this very hard. Keep working with the swing and various arm, foot and body positions to develop a feel for delivering a shock to different parts of the arm.

This is not an exercise for muscles or fightng technique. It is a shocking technique. If done properly it feels like a shocking vibration or an electric shock. The total purpose is to deliver just enough shock to wake up the tendons. Don’t overdo it. A few reps to any one area is all that you will need. Just keep shifting the emphasis around to different areas. You are not going for the burn or fatigue here. Just a little “electrical” stimulation.

Wear bag gloves. Be very protective of your hands. By assuming various positions you can shock different parts of the arm, shoulder, etc. Feel free to move around to get in a good position to shock the area that you want. Experiment with different hand, palm and fist positions. Always work from a solid stance as this technique can easily floor you.

Another variation of this movement is to hit the bag lightly while it is moving into your hand with a heavy force. The whole idea is to do a lousy punch. Actually many people do this technique quite spontaneously the first time they punch a heavy bag. It is often referred to as lousy bag technique!! Remember our second biomechanical function listed above is to transfer shock. You allow the body (and arm) to absorb the shock. You direct the shock to where you want it for the express purpose of increasing tendon strength.

This technique worked very well for me. I would do about three to five minutes of the punching plyometrics two or three times a week. I felt that the forearms were getting stronger. My workouts were better. But I did not have any way to test them at a real work type of task for awhile. Several weeks later I was pressed into service at a friends house where a freezer and several large, heavy cabinets needed to be moved from a basement onto a truck and unloaded at another location. Since I owed this person a big favor I could not decline. While wrestling with these big uncooperative items I kept thinking that my forearms would ache for at least a week. The next morning my back was a little sore but for the first time in my life my forearms were not totally trashed from the stresses experienced the day before. I was very happy that my home brewed punching plyometrics did exactly what I had hoped for.

It has been almost 15 years since the above events have taken place. I have shared this technique with others and continued to experiment with it. These are some of the lessons learned to date.

Take it easy!! Remember the shock is being delivered to a small area. Any more shock than what is needed, you begin to transfer the stress to other areas. This reduces the adaptive stress to the tendon. Remember, work the tendon and nothing else. This is a hard point for some people to understand. You are working tendons. And working tendons in this manner is different than almost anything else you have ever done. If you don’t do it right, you will not get the desired results. I must say for the time and effort put into this, it has produced faster results than anything else I have ever done.

The stress must be padded and movable!! The punching bag is a perfect vehicle for this type of training. Do not try this with fixed objects or straps. These have great injury potential. The same caveat applies to any form of gym equipment or weights.

You can do punching plyometrics after your regular workouts. I have seen results from as little as one workout a week to every day. I think best results are from two to three times weekly.

You can work the biceps tendon by putting a small bag up high. Strike it with the palm (or other hand positions) towards you. Keep you head out of the way!!

You can do this technique with legs as well. You can use your regular bag or go to a special horizontal kicking bag; These are readily available from a good martial arts supplier. These are particularly good for working the hip flexors. I have set up programs for ballet dancers, sprinters and running backs by having them do high knee strikes against a heavy horizontal bag. Some chain, eyebolts, ceiling rafters, a punching or kicking bag and you are in business! The chain allows you to adjust the bag to any height.

You can use this technique for many more purposes than rehabilitation of an injury. Think about it. Where could you use a little more tendon strength? Be creative. Once you understand this technique, you can figure out many kinds of movements based on your particular needs. Just find a position that you can deliver a shocking type of movement to the target area. By moving the bags to different heights, you should be able find something that works.

Look in martial arts magazine to buy various punching bags. I am sure a web search will reveal many more sources. Don’t buy junk. Buy the good stuff. Be sure to get your hand and/or foot protectors at the same time. The foam protectors do a good job.

After your tendons are in good shape, hitting or kicking the heavy bag is an excellent warm up for your workouts. Being able to hit something hard is a very useful self defense skill. Interval training on a heavy bag is an excellent aerobic workout.

I should point out that this is an unusual technique that should be done carefully and precisely. If you have an injury, definitely get a medical opinion. This will help give you the proper information to make a sound decision.

I don’t claim that this will help all problems, but it certainly helped mine. This is an unusual technique. When people observe you doing punching bag plyometrics, they want to know what you are doing. One problem that many people (including editors and publishers) have had was trying to catagorize this technique. Is it rehab, martial arts, strength training, tendon training, etc?? I just consider it to be my home grown solution to a problem. It is unusual enough that most people won’t do it. But unusual and effective has never been a problem for me.

As for my professional credentials, I have none. I am just your typical 50 year old, eclectic, pragmatic, techno-nerd farmboy. I do business research and writing. Training and nutrition are serious hobbies of mine. I train in my garage because I can’t stand commercial gyms. I also build most of my own gym equipment.

Happy punching,
Big Lee

Anyway, the hideous legacy of these times is still with us. Today, cardio (as we now tend to call aerobic activity) is a riddle shrouded in an enigma. We “know” that we’re supposed to do it to be healthy, right? Yet, there are complicated alchemical formulae to follow lest we do something “wrong” and initiate a chain reaction of destructive physiological processes which will end in our kidneys popping out our bellybuttons or something. There is a “target heart rate”, a “fat burning zone”, a “calories-per-minute” measure which requires knowing our body weight…

And let’s be honest, it’s kinda boring to just shuffle on a treadmill for 30 minutes. I see people reading the newspaper on the recumbent bikes at the gym. I’m not so much about rules, but c’mon — you should not be able to read 10 point font about interest rates when you are exercising. I have the urge to whip out a megaphone and start drill sergeant yelling into their ear.

Anyway, between the boredom and the confusion, it just makes you want to say, “Aww, batshit” and forget the whole thing entirely.

In the spirit of giving the finger to pink fuzzy headbands, let’s be destructive. Let’s go through the things that we think we know about cardio and aerobic activity, and then figure out what the real story is. I’ll conclude by discussing how you, yes you, dear reader, can incorporate cardio into your program in a way that is useful, sane, and works with your goals and lifestyle.

what’s “aerobic” anyway?

First, let’s look at what defines aerobic activity. Aerobic, or “with oxygen”, is generally used to refer to activities that increase the heart rate and the intake of oxygen. These are typically understood to be activities such as walking, jogging, dancing, or cycling.

Aerobic activity requires the body to be able to take in and efficiently deliver oxygen to the working tissues. When you perform aerobic activity, your heart rate and stroke volume increase. Your heart beats faster and with more gusto, delivering more of the good stuff with each contraction. Both carbohydrates (glucose and glycogen) along with free fatty acids are metabolized for energy.

Here’s the catch: the body can only do this up to a certain point, and at a certain speed of transmission. You can’t raise the heart rate to 400 beats a minute, nor can you dump huge amounts of blood through the heart instantaneously. The body isn’t able to deliver the oxygen rapidly and effectively enough. The demand is too high. So, for instance, you can jog easily at a slow pace for ten minutes. But you could never full-out sprint for ten minutes. The body can’t keep up with the need to get oxygen and nutrients where they have to go.

When this second type of situation occurs, in which the body’s demand for oxygen outpaces its ability to get it to working cells, the activity is said to be anaerobic, or “without oxygen”. An example of anaerobic activity is sprinting or squatting. What this usually means in practice is that the intensity of the activity is too high for the body to meet the demands through increasing oxygen intake alone. The body will crank the heart and lungs up anyway, just to help out. But it won’t be enough. Muscles are greedy things. Just like a spoiled screaming brat in a toy store, they want mooooooore!! So the body will turn to its short-term emergency fuel stores: glucose and glycogen. This is great stuff — it’s what lets you do most weight training activities as well as things like short dashes and jumping — but you don’t get very much of it if you’re really hauling ass and using it up quickly in the process known as anaerobic glycolysis.

Oh yeah, and here’s where “feeling the burn” comes in. If you’ve ever tried doing a high intensity exercise for a period longer than 30-60 seconds, you’ll know the burning sensation that results. This “burn” signifies the buildup of lactic acid in the tissues. Lactic acid is a byproduct of the body’s production of energy. It’s normally present, minding its own business quietly in the bloodstream, but when the activity intensity is very high, it can’t clear out quickly enough. However, despite a temporary buildup, lactic acid nevertheless clears fairly rapidly after exercise. The soreness you feel the day after training is not lactic acid — that’s a myth.

Speaking of myths, I think it’s just about time to discuss some more.

myth #1: aerobic exercise is the only way to lose fat

On paper, fat loss is relatively simple. All you do is expend more calories than you take in. You do this by adjusting your caloric intake (in other words, changing your diet) and perhaps getting more activity. But more activity doesn’t have to be aerobic activity for fat loss to occur. Many folks are able to lose fat quite well with weight lifting alone, both because of the extra calorie demand of the activity, and because of the retention of muscle which weight training facilitates.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t do cardio when trying to lose weight. Indeed, for women, cardio may play a more significant role in fat loss than men because of hormonal differences in the way that fat is mobilized. But aerobic activity is not the only way to lose fat, and it should be only one part of a fat loss plan.

myth #2: aerobic activity is the only path to good health and longevity

Weight trainers used to be considered terminally unhealthy meat mountains who were immobilized in their steak prison. Snooty joggers and jazzercisers turned up their noses at the iron freaks who were viewed as steroid-laden, narcissistic, and above all, not long for this world. Current research now shows us that the fountain of youth may be iron after all. Study after study shows that weight training has benefits for young and old, athletes and plain folks, rehab and recreation. Indeed, recent theory suggests that large amounts of endurance-type cardio provoke oxidative processes which lead to eventual degeneration and decay. Additionally, higher intensities but shorter durations of cardio-type activity are turning out to be superior to lower intensity, long duration bouts for both fat loss and overall conditioning (Tremblay et al; Metabolism 43: 814-818 (1994)).

Again, this is not to say that lower intensity, long duration cardio shouldn’t be done, or shouldn’t be a part of one’s fitness program. After all, many people (like me) start out doing what they can do, which includes gentle activities such as walking. Lower intensity cardio is great for rehabilitating injuries and conditions such as lower back pain. There is also some evidence that traditional cardio has benefits for mood stabilization. But aerobic activity should be applied intelligently, should be tailored to individual goals, and should be only one aspect of a well-rounded regime. For older people, loss of flexibility and strength is a more significant problem affecting quality of daily life than cardiovascular endurance, and thus weight training should be a fundamental part of any good fitness initiative.

myth #3: cardiovascular endurance should be the goal of all aerobics programs

I won’t dwell too much on this point because I think the problem of applying one goal to everyone should be self-evident. As I indicate in the article on sport-specific training, different people have different needs. Sure, an endurance athlete, such as a distance runner, should indeed train her endurance capabilities. However, endurance-type work comprised of long sessions of low intensity is not the only type of cardio activity that can be done, and may not always be the best choice.

You can adjust both length and intensity of the session, as well as vary activity choice and rest intervals. Short bursts of cardio-type activity may be as effective for your goals as longer sessions. In fact, I would go so far as to say that unless you are an endurance athlete or starting at a low level of fitness, you would be better off working on increasing the intensity of your cardio, rather than the duration.

Even activities which don’t seem like “official” aerobics, such as shoveling snow or chopping wood, can provide cardio benefits. Try shoveling snow as quickly as you can, and you’ll see what I mean. The bottom line is: train for what you need. If you don’t need endurance, then don’t train for it as a primary objective. And even endurance athletes can benefit from doing more intense training. Distance runners and other endurance athletes incorporate sessions of higher intensity into their training to build speed and lactate threshold tolerance.

myth #4: endurance cardio in the “fat burning zone” is best for bodyfat loss

I don’t get pissy easily, but this one really steams me up because it’s so patently contrary to demonstrated evidence. There are many, many athletes who do no endurance cardio at all, and who are ripped. Of course what elite athletes look like doesn’t necessarily apply to us average folks, but again, the research seems pretty clear that endurance cardio is not best for bodyfat loss.

To understand this, let us consider the physiological processes behind the contention. How many times have you heard people say, “Keep your heart rate within 65-75% of your max, otherwise you’re not burning fat?” The notion of the fat burning zone is based on a rather poor understanding of how the body burns fuel for energy. To put it in a simplified way, as I mentioned earlier, the body burns different kinds of fuels in an order of preference, depending on the intensity and duration of the activity. You can only do a high intensity activity like sprinting for a short time, whereas you can walk for hours without stopping. The body uses a mix of fuels for energy at all times; sometimes it’s primarily fat-based fuel, sometimes it’s glucose (sugar) based fuel. The lower the intensity, the greater the likelihood that you’ll be using a larger percentage of fat for energy. So that part is sort of right.

BUT here’s the part people miss in promoting the fat burning zone: just because you’re burning more fat as a percentage of fuel during a certain activity doesn’t mean that you’re going to burn more fat overall. You burn the most fat, relatively speaking, while sleeping! Now don’t get me wrong; if someone could figure out a good way to burn fat while sleeping 14 hours a day, I’d be first in line to buy it. Just because you’re burning fat at a given moment does not mean that you’ll burn more fat in general.

What really matters for fat loss are two things: metabolic demand (i.e. does the body have a need to use fat for energy?) and long-term energy balance (in other words, calories in versus calories out). Let’s say you create a deficit of 300 calories doing an hour of high intensity cardio, and 150 calories doing an hour of low intensity cardio. Now let’s say you do this every day. At the end of a week, you’ve created a deficit of 2100 calories with the high intensity stuff, and barely more than 1000 with the low intensity stuff. Which do you think will be more important in the long run? Which leads me to one of the big apparent paradoxes of fat loss: interval training, which uses periods of high intensity alternated with periods of low intensity cardio, is the most effective form of cardio for fat loss, even though while you’re sprinting like hell you’re not burning primarily fat for fuel!

myth #5: circuit training is a good way to do cardio

Circuit training was popularized as a way to gain the benefits of both strength and cardio training. It involved doing a “circuit” in which one moved from weight machine to weight machine rapidly, doing high-rep sets with low weight and short rest intervals. This was supposedly to keep heart rate up as well as strength train. Unfortunately this did not really develop either capability. In fact, it proved a significantly poorer method of development on both counts. As is often the case in training, when you try to do two (or more) things at once, you tend not to do either thing as well as possible.

Now, this isn’t to say that circuit training is useless.  I use it almost all the time in my own training. There are effective ways to circuit train, just not in that fashion. For example, circuit training could be used as a fun way to circulate athletes between “technique stations” or various types of drills. In this case, each activity is performed with adequate rest and the emphasis is on the skills developed from the variety of exercises. Other types of circuit training could be something like an obstacle course, where again the focus is not on development of maximal strength or muscle mass, but rather mastery of difficult, repeated activities. Another great example of a circuit-type workout style aimed at general fitness and work capacity is CrossFit.

I do my circuit training by assembling a variety of demanding, full-body exercises such as jumps, Olympic lifts, burpees, etc. and then doing each one for a specified length of time (usually 30-60 seconds), moving between each exercise without rest, and then resting between “rounds”. This style of training is tougher, and better, than both traditional low-intensity cardio and traditional lower-intensity circuits.

myth #6: cardio is antithetical to strength training

Well, this one isn’t completely a myth. But it’s all a question of proportion. I get lots of email from people who are terrified to walk to their local 7-11 for fear of burning through precious muscle. OK, maybe not lots of email about that one. Anyway, people who are trying to gain mass and strength often worry that too much cardio will impede this. Too much cardio, especially endurance-type cardio, will indeed do so, because of the physiological processes involved.

Endurance cardio tends to be catabolic (”breaking-down”) while weight training is thought of as anabolic (”building-up”). The hormonal enviroment which is produced with long sessions of low intensity cardio is not the same as the one which is needed for gaining mass and strength. The body can balance these pretty well, as long as both activities are kept in the desired proportion. Indeed, well-directed strength training can also benefit people who make endurance training their main focus.

So how much is too much? A moderate amount of cardio, say three or four 20-minute sessions per week, should pose no problem. You may wish to experiment with different amounts and intensities of cardio to see what works for you. For example, substituting 15-minute sessions of sprints for a typical cardio session may actually improve your performance overall, while too much of this might hinder the development of squatting strength. Regular walking may serve you well as “active recovery”, but power walking an hour a day may cut into your gains. The opposite is true for an endurance athlete: if endurance training is your main goal, then keep strength training moderate and tailored to your needs. Three general rules, then: everything in moderation, work according to your goals, and don’t be afraid to experiment.

what kind of cardio is best for you?

Well, the answer to that depends on your own needs and interests.

What activities do you like to do? Irrespective of any other consideration, sometimes the best exercise is whatever you’ll do regularly. Do you like to dance, whack a punching bag, jump rope or ride bikes with the kids, throw a frisbee around, chase a soccer ball, hike through nature, walk through a shopping mall looking at the fabu new shoes? As best as possible, do something you enjoy.

What do you want out of your cardio? Do you want it to give you cardiovascular endurance? Do you want to improve your speed? Do you want to improve your general fitness? Do you want some lighter, “active recovery” cardio for rehab and restoration? Do you enjoy the social atmosphere of a walking partner or cardio class? Do you want fat loss?

How much time are you willing to devote to it? If cardio endurance isn’t your main goal, then you don’t need to do huge amounts of it. 3-4 sessions a week of 20 minutes per session is fine. If you’re short on time but still want to train cardio, experiment with using brief episodes higher intensity cardio, such as sprints, hill/stair runs, or jumping rope. 10 minutes of sprints will make a big difference if done regularly.

What’s your starting level of fitness? Tailor the intensity to your abilities. Don’t start running if you can’t briskly walk well. Build a base of cardio fitness and work from there. A good way to develop your ability is to gradually introduce “intervals” of higher intensity alternated with “intervals” of lower intensity. I put “intervals” in quotes because it could be something as simple as walking up a hill, walking briskly, jogging, whatever you can do for 30 seconds or a couple minutes at a faster pace. It doesn’t need to be the standard sprint-walk of regular interval training.

The bottom line is this: cardio and aerobic activity have a place in a well-rounded fitness program. But what their place is, and what that looks like, is up to you. You don’t need to follow anyone else’s exercise prescription, and you don’t need to worry that you’re doing the cardio “wrong”. If you are working within your abilities, are building a good base of general fitness, and are tailoring your activities to your goals and interests, then don’t, uh, sweat the small stuff.