EATING RIGHT AND LIFTING HEAVY, THE PERFECT COMBINATION

We love this quote by Mark Rippetoe, author of Starting Strength and who we’ve trained under to coach athletes the squat, press, deadlift and bench press.

"Strong People Are Harder to Kill, And More Useful In General” - M. Rippetoe

It’s true - life is just easier when you are strong.  

From carrying groceries to carrying children and everything in between, things are easier when you can move weight around with ease. 

In addition to that, strength training is the most effective way to burn fat and build muscle.  

Here’s why…

Strength training both builds muscle and helps you retain the muscle that you have while eating at a caloric deficit to lose weight/fat.

If you aren’t seeing changes but you’ve been working hard, do you fall into one of these categories?

You work your butt off in the gym moving weights regularly but don’t eat a lot of protein.

OR, you are eating tons of protein but only running.

We’ve talked at length about the importance of eating a diet rich in protein in order to build muscle and in order to save muscle when eating at a deficit.

A diet sufficient in protein along with a regular strength training program is how to add muscle to your body, avoid the dreaded ‘skinny fat’ and get STRONG.

Strength training burns a lot of energy both in the gym and for a long time after you leave.  

At a much higher rate than aerobic exercise alone, strength training continues to burn fat hours after your session in the gym has ended. What is happening is your body is trying to return itself to its ‘normal’ state and this requires a lot of energy expenditure. This process boosts your metabolism and continues to burn fat.

Hand in hand with a diet that supports your energy expenditure and you can get ready to see change start to take place!

Strength training increases bone density which helps us stay strong, more resistant to bone breaks and independent into our older years.

THIS is what we are working for. To be strong and healthy and independent as long as we possibly can. Most of us aren’t competitive athletes so we are hitting the gym regularly and watching what we eat in order to be healthy people. Moving weights in addition to watching our nutrition is the way to do this!

Strength training even increases our balance and coordination.

We need to focus, engage or core, take a giant held breath, and remain in a steady position when moving weights. By moving weights around we are practicing all of these things and getting better at them each time we do it. 

So how do you add strength training to your program in order to get strong and stay strong?

You get strong by using compound lifts that allow you to lift the heaviest weights, using the most muscle mass, over the longest effective range of motion.  

Specifically, the squat, the press, the bench press and the deadlift. 

Perform these lifts at about 80-85% of your 1 rep max in the 5 reps per set range and most importantly, do so in an organized fashion that allows you to add weight to the bar consistently over time.

When you recover from these workouts, your body adapts and gets stronger.  

Example:

MON: Squat 3 x 5 (@ 80% of my 1RM)

WED: Press 3 x 5 (@ 80% of my 1RM)

FRI: Deadlift 3 x 5 (@ 80% of my 1RM)

MON: Squat 3 x 5 (+ 5lb from my set last week)

WED: Bench Press 3 x 5 (@ 80% of my 1RM)

FRI: Deadlift 3 x 5 (+ 5lbs from my set last week)

MON: Squat 3 x 5 (+ 5lb from my set last week)

WED: Press 3 x 5 (+ 5-lbs from my last set)

FRI: Deadlift 3 x 5 (+ 5lbs from my set last week)

Lift heavy and lift often.  

If you need guidance, please reach out!