Exercise is the elixir of life, and adding strength training (also known as resistance training) to your program is like bolting on a superpower. Below are some of the amazing benefits of meeting strength guidelines.
1. Exercise, especially strength training, acutely reduces pain
2. If you do resistance training 2x / week, you halve your chance of dying in the next 10 years
3. Long-term resistance training improves insulin sensitivity & lowers blood pressure
4. Strength training is beneficial for future knee health and can decrease pain associated with Osteoarthritis
5. Strength training can improve sleep quality and quality of life in patients with Fibromyalgia
6. Resistance training is effective for increasing bone density
7. Strength training is an essential part of rehabilitating any injury
I could go on, but let’s get into it!
Guideline care suggests hitting 2-3 strength sessions per week. If you have been doing regular Pilates classes for some time now, it's very unlikely they still challenge you enough to count as strength unless strength training principles have been applied to the class. That spicey burn feeling you often get in Pilates is a better indicator of endurance than strength. Let me explain… The burn is caused by the release of hydrogen ions that cause the muscle cells to become acidic, hence the burning feeling as the muscle fatigues. But this only happens during moderate-intensity exercise where the load isn’t heavy enough for you to challenge strength effectively. The stimulus for increasing strength is tension on muscle fibers, not the burning fatigue you get from moderate-intensity exercise. Low and high-intensity exercise doesn’t cause the release of free hydrogen ions. To challenge strength, you must work at high intensity (i.e., 10 or fewer reps) and get close to failure. When you start to slow down, this is a pretty good indicator you’re probably 2-3 reps from failure. You would have stimulated the muscle, improving strength gains without the burn. It’s not that you won’t get any benefits if you're not exercising close to failure, but this is the way to give you the very best results regarding strength and its benefits.
We teach strength in the most efficient way possible – we recommend you choose a spring tension or a weight that you will struggle to do more than 10 repetitions of, then repeat that exercise for 2-3 sets. The exercises are usually much simpler and don’t require too much balance and coordination, so you can focus solely on moving the weight. Another benefit to adding strength to reformer classes is that we train at long muscle lengths, which makes you more flexible as you get stronger. It’s a win-win!
If I didn’t hurt the next day, does that mean it wasn’t heavy enough?
A good myth to bust is that DOMS (Delayed onset muscle soreness) after a workout is not a good indicator you are building strength. This could use a whole blog in itself, so for now, just know the research shows it is not a reliable gauge for results.
How do I know when it’s time to go heavier?
A great way to know when to add that extra spring is when you can do multiple sets of 10-15 repetitions without failing. Reformer strength is one of my favourite classes for beginners because you are usually all doing the same exercise, but you may all be on different weights of your choice. (I know the regulars will laugh at the word ‘choice’ here! What can I say other than I believe in you!) Plus, if you didn’t quite understand the exercise the first time, you get a few more tries to understand it and improve your form in your next set.
I have Osteoporosis. Can I still do strength training?
Absolutely! Guideline care for Osteoporosis actually recommends high-impact exercises and lifting even heavier weights so that you only get to about 5 reps max. This extra stress creates better bone density and muscle mass and is crucial, especially for older clients. There are some other points to consider regarding Osteoporosis, but our highly trained instructors can help you stay safe whilst getting stronger.
We are anti-fragile!
The narrative often heard is that we are fragile – ‘don’t pick that up, you’ll hurt your back,’ ‘I just twisted and did my back in.’ These simple movements seem to create what we sometimes believe are disastrous effects, but pain is always multifactorial and very often not caused by what we think it is. In fact, we are actually anti-fragile. We actually need to stress to build bigger, stronger bones, muscles, and respiratory systems. Without stressing the body, we become weaker, lose self-belief and illness and injury follow.
We find members who come to our strength classes improve and see results the quickest. You get multiple goes at perfecting 1 exercise, and you start to realise how anti-fragile and how much of a badass you are!
Strength classes are suitable for beginners - you choose the challenge
The springs make it easy to create different, individual challenges for everyone in a class. If our Reformer Strength class timings don’t work for you, we can always give you the option of making an exercise into a true strength challenge during both our Classic and Plus classes. Just ask your instructor!
Want to join a strength class, but you're still unsure?
Drop us a text or email to ask all the questions you need.
P: 07411 948779
References:
1. Pacheco-Barrios, K., Gianlorenço, A. C., Machado, R., Queiroga, M., Zeng, H., Shaikh, E., . . . Fregni, F. (2020). Exercise-induced pain threshold modulation in healthy subjects: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Principles and practice of clinical research, 6(3), 11. https://be-researchpapers.s3.amazonaws.com/Diploma+lecture+research+papers /Lecture+5+Psychosocial+elements/Pacheco-Barrios-2020- Exercise-induced+pain+thr.pdf
2. Kraschnewski, J. L., Sciamanna, C. N., Poger, J. M., Rovniak, L. S., Lehman, E. B., Cooper, A. B., . . . Ciccolo, J. T. (2016). Is strength training associated with mortality benefits? A 15 year cohort study of US older adults. Preventive medicine, 87, 121-127. https://be-researchpapers.s3.amazonaws.com/Diploma+lecture+research+papers/Lecture+1+P A+guidelines/Kraschnewski-2016-Is+strength+training+associa.pdf
3. Ashton, R. E., Tew, G. A., Aning, J. J., Gilbert, S. E., Lewis, L., & Saxton, J. M. (2020). Effects of short-term, medium-term and long-term resistance exercise training on cardiometabolic health outcomes in adults: systematic review with meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 54(6), 341- 348. https://be-researchpapers.s3.amazonaws.com/Diploma+lecture+research+papers/Lecture+ 1+PA+guidelines/Ashton-2020-Effects+of+short-term%2C+mediumterm.pdf
4. What causes the burn - https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpregu.00114.2004
5. Fatigue is not a stimulus for muscle growth - https://vuir.vu.edu.au/42420/1/Effects%20of%20resistance%20training%20performed%20to%20repetition%20failure%20or%20non-failure%20on%20muscular%20strength%20and%20hypertrophy%20A%20systematic%20review%20and%20meta-analysis.pdf
6. Stimulus for muscle growth is tension on themuscle fibres. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31231946/
8. Fibromyalgia https://www.scielo.br/j/adr/a/msjf4ZsV3XkxLtRBDP78RrD/
11. Osteoporosis and bone density https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10345999/
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