top of page
Yasmine Mucher

Why We NEED to Strength Train

Updated: Sep 23

There is so much noise out there about what exercise is the best exercise. Your doctor tells you to get 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per week (whatever that means), the magazine by the cashier has a big headline saying HIIT is the quickest way to get thin, and your neighbour swears by her Pilates class as the best and safest. Who's wrong here? Are any of them right?


Now, none of these modes of exercise are bad. Any movement is going to be beneficial in some way. But, anybody and everybody NEEDS to strength train.


Let's start with the basics: What is strength training?

Strength training

This means applying heavy resistance to the body in order to increase our strength, i.e our muscles’ ability to create force. Standing up from a chair? Our leg and arm muscles create the force that pushes us from the floor and chair up. Picking up a pot of soup, a child or grandchild? Our core muscles create force to stabilize the spine, and our arm muscles create force to lift.


If we do not have the strength to do these things, our joints may get injured under our own body's weight or under the weight of the thing we are trying to carry. If we cannot generate enough force from the arms to lift a pot off the stove, our wrists may bend excessively causing injury to the bones or joints. If we cannot lift our bodies out of a chair, we may cause the knees or ankles to collapse inwards, which can result in wear and tear on the joints, or even cause you to lose balance and fall.


Strength training gets our muscles stronger in two ways:

  1. They get more efficient at a given movement or exercise, meaning all the different parts of the body working in an exercise are better at coordinating and working together.

  2. We increase overall muscle mass. Each individual muscle cell contracts to create force; more muscle means more muscle cells, and therefore more contractions and more force.


No, You're Not Going to Get Bulky (unless you want to, we can program for that)


I know as soon as I wrote "increase in muscle mass" some of you definitely said, oh no, I don't want that! Look, the amount of effort it takes to get "bulky", especially for women, is enormous. Just by lifting weights a few times a week, I can promise you you will NOT all of a sudden turn into The Hulk. But here's the thing: More muscle mass, means a faster metabolism, means a healthier, more toned body. Strength training means denser, harder bones, that will support you longer through life.


Strength training

This fear around gaining muscle is one of the most harmful things that has come from the 90s and 2000s diet culture. A lack of muscle, especially as we age leads to frailty and thinner bones (think an increased risk of falls, an inability to do daily tasks of living), poor blood sugar regulation, and increased fat mass. Poor blood sugar regulation increases our risk for diseases like diabetes, and increased fat mass increases our risk for various cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Muscle is the key to aging gracefully and powerfully.


We often think of strength training and think of young overly muscled men at a crowded gym pounding back a protein shake, and curling a sixty pound dumbbell. This is not what it is and not what it needs to be!


When we talk about lifting weights, and we say lifting "heavy", heavy is relative to you; your ability, your strength, your health history. When starting out, heavy might just be doing an exercise with body weight, and that is perfectly okay if that is what your body needs to be challenged. Often in a Pilates or HIIT class, we are not getting the right amounts of heavy load along with appropriate reps and rest that facilitate strength and muscle gain.


Appropriate progression is key. We need to progress, i.e. make a movement or exercise harder, in order to see improvement and make the gains we want. It is important that you and your coach progress at a rate that is safe for you. We're not jumping from a body weight exercise to loading it with 100 pounds and expecting a good result. Appropriate progression in weight, speed of the movement, and repetition is important to decrease risk of injury, and ensure strength gains. If your coach is pushing you to use weights you are not comfortable with, get a new coach.


Strength training can be done with weights, bands, balls, and even just your body. There is no excuse to not do it! Anything that applies heavy resistance to your movement is going to be beneficial.


Not sure where to start, book your consult here. We have options for one on one and small group training, whichever would fit better for you and your lifestyle.

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page