Amy & Aron's

If you’re at home in quarantine or lockdown, then you might have some extra time on your hands, leaving you with time to plan out a few things and try out some new things. If getting fitter is on your list, then you won’t be alone. Staying inside can be a driving force to change and to be more active. But have you thought about strength or resistance training before? Exercising in this kind of way can increase muscle mass, tone muscle, and help you to strengthen bones. It can also help you to have the strength to do everyday tasks much more easily, like lifting groceries or running for the bus. Strength training doesn’t mean that you want to become a bodybuilder; you just want to become stronger, whatever that looks like for you.

How can you make sure that your training is safe and effective, though? If you’re new to it all, where do you start? You might hear things about prohormones and protein shakes when you look into weight training, but what do they all mean? Here are some things to help you get started, and to make sure what you are doing is safe, and will help you to achieve the goals that you have.

• A warm up and a cool down for each session is a must, in order for it to be effective. Five or ten minutes for each can make a difference. From walking to stretching, it can all help your body to get ready to train, as it raises your heart rate and your body temperature, which is ideal for getting ready to train.
• It is important to make sure that you are performing exercises right first, rather than focusing on weight. If you are lifting something heavy but aren’t lifting in the right way, for example, then you could do a lot of damage to yourself. So focus on the right form and control, rather than what the weight is.
• Believe it or not, your breathing plays a big part in what you do. If you pay attention to your breathing when you workout, then it will help. You should breathe out (or exhale) when you are pushing, lifting, or pulling against resistance. You should inhale as you release the tension.
• It is important to stick to a routine, working major muscles of your, and doing so a couple of times per week. You could break the training into upper body working out and lower body working out, or doing full body training. Find what works for you and it can make a difference.
• Just like you need some time off work from time to time, your muscles also need some time off. It is important to give your muscles some time off. When you train with weights you can tear your muscles ever so slightly. This is normal to help strengthen them and build muscles, but time to repair properly helps. Two days (or 48 hours) to recover between sessions is ideal.