Resistance Training Pump Up Your Weight Loss Power

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Not so long ago, resistance training--also known as strength training or weight training--was only for the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger or for the 97-pound weakling hoping to avoid getting sand kicked in his face by bigger guys at the beach. The average man simply didn't pump iron. And what woman wanted biceps like Rocky Balboa?

But those days are over. Today, health clubs and home gyms (even if that means no more than a corner of the bedroom or basement) are beehives of muscle-making activity. And we're all a lot savvier about resistance training and how it works: You provide a challenge to your muscles, and your muscles react by growing and getting stronger. When you challenge the muscles on a regular basis, you create a better, firmer, more attractive body, without becoming muscle-bound.

In fact, many people are beginning to realize that a complete program of health and fitness is . . . well, incomplete without some resistance training built into it. Resistance training helps increase your body's power and endurance, and it reduces the risk of injury to muscles, ligaments and tendons during everyday activities and especially while doing sports. The nice part is, you see results very quickly.

"The gratification is immediate," says William J. Evans, Ph.D., who heads the Laboratory for Human Performance Research at Penn State University and is the co-author of Biomarkers: The 10 Determinants of Aging You Can Control. "You get stronger by the second week, and in just 12 weeks you can double or triple your strength." Little wonder, then, that strength training can even boost your self-confidence. In addition, strength training has been found to help boost HDL (or "good") cholesterol and lower your risk of developing diabetes.

Creating the Look You Want

As if all that weren't enough, resistance training is also a key ingredient in any weight-loss plan. How? Since resistance training helps the body burn fat and build muscle, you'll look firmer and more toned. Remember that resistance training by itself isn't likely to produce weight loss--after all, muscle weighs more than fat. But once you start a regular program of resistance training, your body shape will definitely improve. In fact, don't be surprised if you notice you've dropped a dress size even without a change on the bathroom scale.

And because muscles burn calories at a faster rate than stored body fat does, sticking to your resistance-training regimen after you reach your goal will make weight maintenance much easier.

This is more important than you might think. When people lose weight by diet alone, a futile cycle can develop. They lose weight so quickly that their body shifts into starvation mode--that is, it tries to conserve as much energy as it can. The rate at which you burn calories then slows to a crawl, so you have to cut calories even more to continue losing weight. And once you start eating normally again, your body conserves each one of those precious calories in the form of fat. But with resistance training, "we're trying to maintain the metabolic rate so people can have a much easier time losing weight," says Miriam Nelson, Ph.D., a Tufts University research scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging.

Resistance training is particularly helpful for older people who want to stay trim. "Metabolism and muscle mass definitely decline as we age, which makes it tougher to keep off excess weight," explains Dr. Nelson. Resistance training helps the aging body hold on to its muscle, says Dr. Evans.

Women, Don't Resist Resistance Training! Resistance training may offer the most benefit of all to women past the age of menopause. Ironically, that's precisely the group that seems to be the most reluctant to work out with weights. You won't end up looking like the Terminator, but you will notice a dramatic improvement in your mobility and flexibility by performing a few simple exercises three times a week for eight weeks. In one study with a group of people over 90, a couple of them even ended up throwing away their canes! Resistance training is particularly important for older dieters. That's because it can help ward off crippling osteoporosis by strengthening and maintaining bone so often lost during dieting. "When a woman loses 20 or 30 pounds, she loses not only fat but also muscle and bone, which may compromise her health," says Miriam Nelson, Ph.D., Tufts University research scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging. Dr. Nelson is conducting studies at Tufts to test the effect of resistance training on bone mass, and she hopes to prove that adding strength training to a weight-loss program will mean the end of dangerous muscle and bone loss. "The results aren't in yet," she says, "but we speculate that the only thing these exercising women will lose is fat." So, get pumping! Invest in a pair of one- or two-pound weights and a resistance band, and get directions for a basic upper-body workout from a resistance-training pro. If you've got a stationary bike, it will provide you with resistance exercise that benefits the crucial hip area. "Just increase the resistance against which you're pedaling," says osteoporosis expert Sydney Lou Bonnick, M.D., research professor at the Center for Research on Women's Health, Texas Women's University, Denton, Texas. "This strengthens the muscles of the upper hips and thighs so they pull on the bone, which is a good stimulus to bone growth." You can get the same effect on a bicycle outdoors by going uphill.

Get Your Questions Answered

If you think launching a resistance-training program means enrolling in a pricey health club filled with scary-looking hardware and Sylvester Stallone clones, think again. While it is a good idea to learn the basics from a fitness pro--to avoid possible injury and to see how to get the greatest benefit from your workout--you can easily continue your regimen using some simple gear at home, or at your local Y or community center.

Be sure to talk to your doctor or physical therapist before starting a resistance-training program. This advice is particularly important if your doc-tor has told you that you may be at risk for osteoporosis or muscle tearing. When you start your program, stick to very light weights, follow instructions closely, go slowly and pay attention to form to avoid sprains or strains.

Here are answers to the most common questions that beginners ask.

Q. How much time must I spend on resistance training? (I already do aerobics for 30 minutes, three times a week.)

A. You can get the greatest benefit from your resistance-training program if you do it for about the same amount of time you do your aerobics, around 30 minutes, three times a week. It's best to space out your workouts, giving yourself a day off in between.

Q. How many repetitions do I need to do of each exercise?

A. Each activity--arm curls, knee extensions, whatever--should be done in sets of two or three, 8 to 12 repetitions per set. Give yourself a couple minutes' rest between each set before continuing.

Q. Are warming up and cooling down as important in resistance training as they are in aerobics?

A. Yes! You need to get your muscles, ligaments and tendons loose and supple before starting your workout. A five- or ten-minute warm-up--in which you walk around or do some easy stretches--is a good idea. Then cool down after your workout with a slow five-minute walk.

Q. What kind of equipment do I need to buy?

A. Little, if any. Sure, you can invest in barbells or hand weights, but beginners might want to start by using clean, plastic milk or detergent bottles (with handles), filled with water or sand. Ideally, each should have the capacity to be filled to two or three times the weight you can comfortably lift now. (So, if you can easily lift 10 pounds, after ten or so weeks of training, you might progress to 20 or 30 pounds of weight per bottle.) But don't overdo it; it's best to start very slowly and easily and work up from there.

Q. How do I know when I've reached a muscle-building plateau?

A. You've plateaued when you can do more than 8 to 12 repetitions (reps) of an exercise with practically no rest time in between them and when your muscles don't feel fairly exhausted afterward. When that's the case, you should either add more weight to the barbells or hand or leg weights or try a new exercise aimed at building that muscle (or muscle group).

Q. When can I quit my resistance-training routine?

A. Uh . . . we were afraid you'd ask that question. The answer is: never, not if you want to maintain the benefits you've achieved. Unfortunately, as soon as you stop resistance training, your body will return to its prefitness levels within a couple of weeks--although Dr. Evans has some evidence that you might be able to reduce your regimen to just once a week following a ten week, three-day-a-week program and maintain your fitness level. But stop completely? Once you start, you're going to look and feel so terrific, why would you even think of it?

Boost Your Muscles and Your Ego! While you're losing weight, how would you like to lose all those bad feelings about yourself that accumulated along with the extra pounds? Pumping iron can help pump up your self-esteem as well. "Exercise has a powerful impact on the way we view ourselves," says Robert Motta, Ph.D., director of the doctoral program in school community psychology at Hofstra University, in Hempstead, New York. "It offers one way to attain mastery over a task, while in life's other activities we might not be so successful." Mastery--becoming successful in a given area--is key for self-esteem, whether it occurs in your work, a hobby or a recreational sport. "In addition, resistance training compounds the benefits of mastery by offering almost immediate, powerful feedback in the shape of increased muscle and a trimmer body," says Dr. Motta. Self-esteem then benefits from a double dose of physical medicine: You've mastered something real, with the tangible rewards seen clearly in the mirror. "That's something you may not be able to do with other kinds of programs," says Dr. Motta. What's more, to attain mastery of resistance training, you don't need to be a master. "You can reap all these physical and psychological benefits without necessarily being an athlete or expert. Improvement is generally a function of effort and motivation," says Dr. Merrill J. Melnick, the State University of New York sports sociologist. You don't need a Ph.D. in quantum physics to load up a barbell, lie on your back and push up a weight, but it does take discipline, enthusiasm and drive. And it also makes you feel better about yourself.

On Your Mark, Get Set . . . Pump!

Here's a simple strategy to ensure and maintain success.

Personalize your program. If you want to succeed at resistance training, take the workout offered below and create your own version of it. "The key is to construct an individualized program that meets your needs and has realizable goals rather than a general one-size-fits-all program with goals that are not attainable," says Merrill J. Melnick, Ph.D., a sports sociologist at the State University of New York, College at Brockport.

Write it down! Plan your exercise routine, then keep a log of your efforts. "Keeping track of your workouts shows your accomplishments on paper, which accentuates the ones reflected on your body, providing even more motivation," says Leo Totten, head coach for the 1987 U.S. Weightlifting Team for the Pan-Am Games, and assistant coach for the United States in the 1989, 1990 and 1991 World Games. Establish a baseline weight for each exercise you do, and enter it in "Your Perfect Weight Success Diary," on page 275. After you run out of pages, you can simply continue your record-keeping in another notebook. Keep track, workout by workout, as you get stronger.

Set realistic goals. Start at a low-enough level to allow you to work your way up. Underestimate your strength in the beginning and step up the ladder slowly--a pound on this machine, a pound on that. By improving slowly, you're less likely to burn out or plateau.

Reward yourself. Keep the momentum at a peak. Periodically give yourself gifts--say, some new clothes and a night out in them, or perhaps just a new T-shirt--to reward your efforts and your success at meeting new challenges.

Change your routine. For instance, you can increase the repetitions instead of the weight and work on endurance. You may even want to drop some weight and increase the number of repetitions in order to concentrate on form and work on defining and toning muscle. Use a variety of exercises for the same muscles and muscle groups. By switching exercises, you help maintain the momentum that may be stymied by a plateau in your workout. "With the lifters I coach, I stress a great deal of variety," says Totten. "The body needs a 'shock' to the system to jolt it out of the doldrums."

Go slow. Avoid jerky, fast movements. If you do your exercises sloppily, you just open yourself up for injury. A sore shoulder or pulled muscle will definitely put a dent in your momentum.

Recruit a workout partner. It can be a spouse, a friend or a neighbor, who can offer moral support as well as safety-helping you (spotting) while you do an exercise. And having someone else around is just more fun, and more likely to keep you going.

The Total-Body Battleground Besides helping you lose weight and stay trim, how else can resistance training help you? Let us count the ways! (If you're unfamiliar with some of these exercises, have a fitness pro explain what they are and how to perform them properly.) * Neck exercise: reduces strain; improves posture * Bench press: builds upper-body strength; improves posture * Lateral raise: protects rotator cuff; boosts upper-body strength * Dumbbell row: improves posture and back flexibility; may build bone mass * Arm curl: boosts forearm and biceps strength; targets wrist bone * Stomach curl: builds abdominal muscle; tones belly; adds stability for back * Hip flexor: may build up bone supply at hip * Hamstring curl: builds thigh muscle; improves mobility * Quadriceps extension: adds to knee stability and overall mobility * Calf raise: boosts calf strength; may guard against shinsplints

Getting Started

Here's a beginner's resistance-training workout with two purposes: to give you a sense of momentum, and to produce results you can see. These two purposes combined offer the best motivation for you to continue exercising for the rest of your life. Each exercise hits major muscle groups to ensure fast, noticeable results. For instance, we've included the bench press because it builds the chest, shoulders and back, while in turn making your midsection appear slimmer.

Begin with one set of 8 to 12 repetitions, working up to two or three sets if you feel up to it.

Bench press. Lie on your back on an exercise bench with your knees bent so your feet are flat on the floor. Grasp the barbell from the rack (or have it handed to you) with your hands slightly more than shoulder-width apart. Slowly lower it to your chest. Press the barbell up until your arms are almost fully extended, with elbows almost, but not quite, locked.

Arm curl. Stand with your back straight. Hold the barbell with both hands, palms up, with the bar at arm's length against your upper thighs. Curl the bar up in a semicircular motion until your forearms touch your biceps. Keep your upper arms close to your sides. Lower the bar slowly to starting position, using the same path.

Squat. In a standing position, with feet about 16 inches apart, and using a comfortable grip, place the barbell (with light weights) across your shoulders, behind your head. With your back straight and head up, squat slowly until upper thighs are parallel to the floor. Return to the original position and then repeat. (Note: Start with a light weight or none at all--this exercise is a toughie, but it offers a lot in return. If it's too difficult to go all the way down, try a partial squat instead, returning up before your thighs become parallel to the floor.)

Lat pull-down. Grasp the bar at the lat pull-down station of a weight machine with your hands about 36 inches apart. Then sit down, allowing your arms to extend overhead. Pull the bar down slowly until it touches the back of your neck right above your shoulders. Then return to starting position. (Note: For variation, bring the bar down in front of you.)

Military press. Grasp the barbell and sit at the end of a bench or chair, with your feet firmly on the floor. Lift the weight over your head and rest it on the back of your shoulders. Push the bar up until your arms are almost extended, then lower it to starting position and repeat. (Note: This can be done with a straight barbell or separate dumbbells, or on a weight machine. Also, if you find this movement too difficult, try raising and lowering the weight in front of your shoulders.)