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Your back should be flat, abdominal muscles contracted, elbows straight, knees slightly flexed, and eyes looking at the floor about 2 feet (61 cm) ahead of the bar. Reduce the weight on the bar and concentrate on touching your chest with the bar. When the bar touches your chest, pause momentarily before beginning the downward movement (figure 5.1a ).
Use half of the amount determined for the trial load for your warm-up load in the exercise. Calculate the warm-up load by multiplying the trial load by 0.6 and round down to the closest weight-stack plate (figure 5.6). If you performed 12 to 15 repetitions with the trial load, then your trial load is your training load.
For instance, alternating upper- and lower-body exercises produces a lower intensity level on the upper body or the lower body muscles than performing all of the upper-body exercises or all of the lower-body exercises one after the other. Exercises that train larger muscles and involve two or more joints changing angles as the exercises are performed are called multijoint exercises (abbreviated as “MJEs” throughout this book). When arranging exercises in your program, be sure that a triceps ...
Strength training combats the effects of aging by providing improved muscle strength and bone density. Wayne Westcott and Tom Baechle, authors of Strength Training Past 50 demonstrate how to begin a strength training routine that will not only increase strength, but reduce injuries. One set of an exercise is the minimum required for strength improvement, and single-set strength training is an efficient and effective means of muscle development.
Cross-Training for the Muscle-Toning ProgramTo add cross-training workouts to your muscle-toning program, include an aerobic exercise “interval” after every weight training set. Cross-Training for the Body-Shaping ProgramTo add cross-training to your body-shaping program, add an aerobic workout on the days that you do not weight train; you will be exercising a total of four to six days per week. Cross-Training for the Strength-Training ProgramIf you are serious about developing high levels ...
Strength training can slow the metabolic decreases, muscle loss, and weight gain that normally occur in middle-aged women. Incremental bone formation occurs within 8 to 12 weeks of strength training, but four to six months of progressive resistance training is the minimum amount of time needed to increase bone mineral density (Graves and Franklin 2001). Because bone loss, muscle loss, and decreases in strength and endurance occur when strength training ends, postmenopausal women are urged ...
