k y's List: Strength Training

• Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) provides the energy currency (fuel) for the body to perform mechanical work such as muscle contraction
• 30 minutes prior to exercise fully hydrate by consuming 14 - 20 ounces of water
• During exercise fluids should be replenished every 15 - 20 minutes.  And, not just water.  A drink consisting of a 4:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio can increase endurance and limit muscle damage.
• 30 minutes post-workout is the window of opportunity where a muscle’s potential to rebuild peaks. 

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• training for endurance, for flexibility, or for speed are all very different; and training for strength has little in common with any of them. One must ‘overload’ (in the physical educator's sense of ‘load beyond the ordinary’, not the engineer's sense of ‘break’) the ability of muscles to produce extreme force,
• Strength trainers characterize loads in terms of the individual's ‘repetition maximum’ (RM). A 1 RM load can be managed just once in a session
• Working against loads less than 60% of 1 RM is not considered capable of increasing strength at all.
• increase in muscle size and absolute strength
• toughening of connective tissue in the tendons and ligaments
• increase in bone density and strength
• Strength training more than three times a week can be damaging and does not allow sufficient time for the muscles to respond to increased demands
• it must be specific, progressive, and provide sufficient overload to stimulate muscle growth.
• • PREPARATION PHASE. General conditioning, including body-weight exercises and light resistance (see circuit training)
  • FOUNDATION PHASE. Continuation of whole-body conditioning, but with an increase in the resistances
  • STRENGTH TRANSFER PHASE. Introduction of specific exercises. These will depend on individual aims, but may include absolute strength-gain exercises for those who wish to be weight-lifters, and bounding exercises (see plyometrics) for potential sprinters, jumpers, and throwers
  • SPECIFIC STRENGTH PHASE. Exercises that increase the strength of muscle groups used in a specific activity. A variety of exercises may be performed (e.g. bounding exercises, medicine ball drills, and conventional weight training), but muscles should be worked in the same way as in the activity for which you are training. The duration of each phase and the choice of exercises will depend on the individual and the activity for which he or she is training. Ideally, during a strength-training session each of the major muscle groups should be used, and, to avoid fatigue, successive exercises should not use the same muscle group.
• • Sets of one to five repetitions primarily develop strength, with less impact on muscle size and none on endurance.
   
  • Sets of six to twelve repetitions develop a balance of strength, muscle size and endurance.
   
  • Sets of thirteen to twenty repetitions develop endurance, with some increases to muscle size and limited impact on strength.^[5]
   
   
   
  • Sets of more than twenty repetitions are considered to be focused on aerobic exercise. They do still use the anaerobic system
• Commonly, each exercise is continued to the point of momentary muscular failure. Contrary to widespread belief, this is not the point at which the individual thinks they cannot complete any more repetitions, but rather the first repetition that fails due to inadequate muscular strength.
• Adrenaline and other hormones may promote additional intensity by stimulating the body to lift additional weight (as well as the neuro-muscular stimulations that happen when in “fight-or-flight” mode, as the body activates more muscle fibres), so getting "psyched up" before a workout can increase the maximum weight lifted.
• Three important variables of strength training are intensity, volume and frequency.
• Intensity refers to the amount of work required to achieve the activity, and is proportional to the mass of the weights being lifted. Volume refers to the number of muscles worked, exercises, sets and reps during a single session. Frequency refers to how many training sessions are performed per week.
• Periodization is the modulating of volume and intensity over time, to both stimulate gains and allow recovery. Commonly, volume is decreased during a training cycle while intensity is increased.
• The benefits of weight training include greater muscular strength, improved muscle tone and appearance, increased endurance, enhanced bone density, and improved cardiovascular fitness.
• Stronger muscles improve posture, provide better support for joints, and reduce the risk of injury from everyday activities
• Strength training is the key to maintaining good flexibility. It takes your body parts through a full range of motion
• One side-effect of any intense exercise is increased levels of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine, which can help to improve mood and counter feelings of depression
• popular sources advising weight trainers to consume a high protein diet with from 1.4 to 3.3 g of protein per kg of body weight per day
• Protein that is neither needed for cell growth and repair nor consumed for energy is converted by the liver into fat,
• An adequate supply of carbohydrates (5-7g per kg) is also needed
• A light, balanced meal prior to the workout (usually one to two hours beforehand) ensures that adequate energy and amino acids are available for the intense bout of exercise. Water is consumed throughout the course of the workout to prevent poor performance due to dehydration.
• Glucose (or another simple sugar) is often consumed as well since this quickly replenishes any glycogen lost during the exercise period. To maximise muscle protein anabolism, recovery drink should contain glucose (dextrose), protein (usually whey) hydrosylate containing mainly dipeptides and tripeptides, and leucine.
• What muscle builders refer to as a toned physique is one that combines reasonable muscular size with moderate levels of body fat
• Untrained individuals may have some muscles that are comparatively stronger than others. An injury can result if, in a particular exercise, the primary muscle is stronger than its stabilising muscles
• In "isotonic" exercises the force applied to the muscle does not change, and in "isometric" exercises the length of the muscle does not change.

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