Why we strength train versus workoutby Jason Yun
This is the first in a series of Improvement Digests that I will be producing for you to educate you on certain topics that Improvement Warrior Fitness & Athletic Revolution-Hilliard deems very important in regards to your progress. Topics will range from actual training, form, nutrition, mindset, health, and a lot of others that can help you become the strongest version of YOU! To be the Improvement Warrior!
The first one we are going to address is training versus working out.
We believe that any form of exercise when done correctly is better then nothing. So we would prefer that people ‘workout’over doing nothing.
However, working out is something that you do when you don’t know where you are going with your training. It is something that most people feel obligated to do. It is something that personal and group trainers give their clients to get them tired and sore so they feel like they are making progress.
Progress can be made working out but only to a certain extent. It gives people a feeling of accomplishment but they don’t really know how much farther they can go.
There is usually no regard towards form or quality of movement either. It’s just as many as you can or as fast as you can. This is what we want in our metcons but when maintaining correct form.
Now when you start training, in particular strength training, you are now moving towards something. You have a set goal or set purpose for your training.
The goal is to get stronger in a particular lift or exercise. For example you want to get from a banded assist pull-up to an unassisted pull-up, or from 1 pull-up to 10 pull-ups, or you can currently deadlift your own bodyweight, but now you want to get to 1.5 times your body weight.
Strength training is very focused and it is a skill. That is why you will not see a whole lot of variation in our strength training portion of your F.L.O. (Fat Loss Opportunity= Training session). Strength is a skill and to get better at it you constantly have to practice the same movements over and over again (with proper form). You don’t have to go super heavy all the time, but you do have to go heavy every once in a while. That is why we vary the rep ranges and/or the time sequences for our strength circuits.
The other thing that is a popular form of exercise and we do not do is distance running, or steady state running. Running is a skill and requires proper technique and training from a trained professional coach. So if you are going to do it, please hire someone to teach you correct form. There is a reason why when the weather breaks you see a bunch of 20, 30, 40 and some 50 year olds out jogging, and why you don’t see a bunch of 50, 60, 70 year olds out; the wear and tear on the body has forced them to stop. Recreational running is by far the most injured ‘activity’ in the world. 7 out of 10 who engage in it will get injured over the course of 1 year.
Strength training again is very focused and the basics always work. You just need to keep pushing your weight/resistance up. The basics include variations of the deadlift, squat, lunge, press, pushup, pullup, row, swing, clean, or snatch.
One issue will come up especially with women and strength training saying that they don’t want to get big, and bulky. This simply is not true unless you are following a body builder’s routine, nutrition program, and chemical program. Strength training will make the muscle more shapely and toned; you control how it looks rather then just hoping it will look good.
By getting stronger through strength training you will be able to do more in our metcons and also with our interval day training. 4 of the 5 days, Monday-Friday we have strength followed by metcon, then that 5th day is our interval style training session. You will be able to move faster, use more weight, do more reps then you used to do when you were weaker. If you just keep doing random workouts without dedicated strength training you reach a point where you reach your full limit--- you may get tired, sweaty, and sore but you are simply not progressing.
You always want to start your day off with dedicated strength when you are fresh so your muscles are able to push their hardest and they are not fatigued. Because remember it is a skill, you want to be able to focus all your energy into the movement which you would not be able to do if you just did 50 burpees with your elbows flared out followed by a ¼ mile bear crawl and now you are going to do a 5 rep maximum of your overhead press but now you can’t feel your arms.
Our strength training circuits should not be continuous work. There should be breaks between each exercise. Sometimes it’s ok to use a lighter weight and go to exercise to exercise without much weight if you are not feeling your 100% that day. But that’s the exception not the norm. For my deadlift training I will start off my lighter sets with just 1:00-:90 rest, then as I get into my heaviest sets I’ll take up to 3:00-5:00 between sets. If I’m super setting two exercise back to back, example Pullups and Dips, I will do my reps for both and then rest at least a minute before doing the next set.
Sometimes you won’t break a sweat. We are training the neuromuscular system as well.
We provide you with a set purpose and goal already in FitRanx Levels. Our goal is to move everybody to Level 7, and in order for us to do that strength training must be a priority and getting stronger must be a priority. It’s impossible to get to Level 7 without changing your strength, body, and mindset.
FitRanx we understand might not be enough to drive you. I ask you to come up with your WHY or purpose for training. Don’t make it be for weight loss—why do you want to lose the weight? We just don’t wake up and want to lose weight, there is a deeper reason behind it—figure out that reason and you will have your strong driving WHY!
When you get stronger with proper strength training everything goes up- you’re ability to perform more rounds in our metcons goes up, your ability to perform more pushups in the same amount of time goes up, your ability to keep your butt down on mountain climbers goes up. Also your mobility and flexibility will increase (as long as you are working through a full range of motion).
Some people may be frustrated that some of their strength numbers or ability to perform certain exercises is not going up or is stuck and has been stuck for a while. If you are doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result then you are just going to get the same thing. Example for our strength circuit it is a :30 round to do a certain exercise, most people conditioned to working out, even our program was like this before, will pick a weight that they can do for all :30, even if it means sacrificing form near the end. WE DON’T WANT EITHER. During the strength circuit the goal is to get stronger; if you can do 20 pounds for 10 reps of an exercise in :30, then increase the weight to 35 pounds, you may only be able to get 5-7 reps and last only :20 and that is what we want. You getting stronger! You can pick 50 pounds for your exercise and say you only get 1 rep, or you get 1 rep then rest :15 and do another for a total of 2. GREAT! That’s how you get stronger! Then when you go back to the 20 pounds now you can get 12-14 reps in :30.
The key to strength is having the mindset of ‘I can do more.’ Then just keep doing more. If you just do 1 rep at a time then rest, eventually that weight will become 2 reps, then 3 reps and so on. And that increases your confidence in your ability.
If you do miss or fail at a weight, so what! That just means a couple things: 1. You were just not 100% that day.Maybe you were sick or didn’t get a good night’s sleep, or your boss yelled at you earlier that day, or you just bought the New Kids’ new album and all you could think of was getting back in your car to listen. 2. Your form was incorrect. We just need to keep practicing until we make it right.3. You are not strong enough (YET)!We will go back to the drawing board and make a plan to get you to that level.
That’s why it’s so important to be consistent with your training. Show up. And schedule your FitRanX assessment, even if you know there is no possible way you are going to pass the next level. It doesn’t matter. You and your coaches need to see where we need to improve then we need to re-adjust your training to get you there.
The warm-ups---- If you have 1 or 2 exercises that are keeping you from reaching your goal or leveling up to the next level then double or triple up on that exercise. Say it’s pull-ups and pushups and you are going to do 2 rounds each for both: Round 1- Do as many reps as you can perfectly then stop. Round 2- Do 1 perfect rep then stop, depending on your strength level you may be able to do 1 rep every :5 or :10, some might be able to get only 2-4 reps during a round like that and that is fine. The key is to keep progressing. There are literally 100’s of ways to help you get stronger in an exercise or movement. We are going to help you get there, but it also requires you to be fully invested in the betterment of yourself.
Please remember as you get stronger you will be able to shape your body more to how you want it to look (this of course will also depend on your nutrition, but that is for another newsletter
You may have noticed quite a few changes in recent months, especially downtown. Myself and all of the coaches of IWF/AR are continually learning to figure out the best and most efficient way to move you to that next level, whether it is fitranx or your own personal mountain.
We will be bringing in new forms of tracking for your strength numbers in the coming weeks. As well as barbells to the downtown location, heavier kettlebells at both locations and more personalized strength routines based on you.
Never stop improving!
Why would you let anything or anybody stop you from doing what you have the ability to do?
Stay strong, Stay Positive, Be The Improvement Warrior!
The Coaches of IWF/AR
Jason Yun
Kaitlin Smith (aka Rosa)