Lifting (Read 188 times)

This thread is too many pages deep for a long detailed workout post, but I skimmed it all.  Anyway, I think the biggest error people make is to not clearly define their goals for "lifting."  So, they just aimlessly do what everyone else does, what they think they are supposed to do, or what (gag) "bodybuilders" do.

 

In these 5 pages, I have seen 3 different reasons or goals for "lifting" danced around which could have drastically different optimum approaches and time requirements.  The 3 I've seen touched on are improving running, getting stronger, and looking better.   To that I'll add my personal fitness goals which have been to preform well in combat (infantry soldier my whole life) and self-defense, emergency preparedness, general health and fitness.

 

So; for my goals as an infantry officer and someone who wants to be generally prepared and all-around fit, the last thing you'll ever see me doing is complex and time-consuming bodybuilding split routines of many different exercises designed for max hypertrophy.  I also wouldn't take the extra muscle mass if it came in a pill...'cause then I'd have to carry it with all my other gear! (I wouldn't say no to 10lbs more lean mass...but I'm not willing to adopt the type of routine it would take to maintain it which would take away from other things)  On the opposite side of the spectrum, you won't see me doing high reps with "barbie" weights to get "toned" (gag at that term!), because that isn't going to build any useful strength at all!

 

Why are you doing any strength training?  That should guide the "what" and "how."  There are lots of options and tools, many of them with no gym membership required.

First off, thank you for your service!

Yes if I were you, I would be doing, and not doing the same thing. Trust me, I'm the last guy you want on your team as you tromp through some jungle or haul ass across a desert. Staying alive and teaching others to do the same supersedes race times, power lifting records and a beach bod.

 

Great perspective strambo! Care to share some of what workouts you do in a given week? And how much running do you fit in?

The attributes I wanted to focus on were anaerobic capacity, limit strength, strength-endurance, and relative strength (strength/weight ratio).

My typical week would be 3-4 workouts at 20-45 mins each.  I would do something along the lines of kettlebells (mix of strength and strength-endurance moves) or calisthenics (body-weight strength focus not "aerobics") 2-3x per week and if I did a 4th workout is might be a 5k run if the weather was decent or something different like HIIT.  The beauty of this type of training is you are hitting both the anaerobic and aerobic energy systems at the same time as the strength training.  Only caveat is if your focus is raw strength for an exercise or period of time, you will need lots of rest to lift heaver (or harder body weight variations) and to get your cardio elsewhere.

I've also done a circuit training with free-weights (or a mix of weights and body weight), have spent some time working heavy deadlifts and overhead presses.  I used to run maybe 6 mi per month, just when I felt like it (and I almost never do).  For general fitness, one doesn't ever need to run (don't kick me off the board   ).  I've slashed a minute or more of my Army 2 mi run times having not ran in up to a year while deployed.  In Afghanistan, I brought a 52# kettlebell and mostly just worked that.

Now is a different story, I have a crazy bucket list idea to do a trail ultra...so I'm here to learn about endurance training and I quickly realized I knew nothing about it!  It is almost the opposite of the principles that apply to general fitness and strength.  Now I do a lot of long slow running of course, but I get 2x per week of body weight strength training in (variations of pull ups, push ups, squats, bridges, leg raises etc.)  and I like to get 1x week something anaerobic.  Lots of times I'll only hit legs once just due to all the running.

I think body weight strength training is the perfect compliment for runners.  It's free (or the cost of a pull up bar).  Is time-saving since you can do it at home and you are using the same tool you run with.  There is also no practical limit to the strength you can build...unless you can do 1-arm pull ups, 1-arm push ups, handstand push ups and pistols for reps.  The same principles apply, want to add muscle doing calisthenics?  Just eat a lot more and do exercises in the 8-12 rep range for higher volume.  Don't want mass (but want strength)?  Do really hard variations in the 1-5 rep range for just a couple sets.