Sunday, November 12, 2006

Is weight lifting a must? - Fitness Q + A

I do about 12 hours of exercise a week, including swimming, running and yoga. Do I really need to strength train too? ... and more of your questions answered here.

Q: I'm 33, and I exercise about 12 hours a week, including Masters swimming, trail running and yoga. Given all that, do I really need to strength train? If so, what is the minimum amount I can get away with?

A: "Even though you're already really active, you're leaving out a crucial component of exercise that has far-reaching ramifications as you age" says Kent Adams, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., an associate professor of exercise physiology at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Research suggests that endurance exercise such as jogging or swimming isn't sufficient for maintaining muscle mass; only strength training can do the job. And while weight-bearing exercise such as trail running can help maintain bone density in the spine and hip, combining this type of exercise with strength training can help even more.

Although exercise scientists have not studied the long-term effects of yoga, they speculate it doesn't provide enough stimulus to prevent the loss of bone and muscle that comes with age.

You can reap the benefits of weight training in just 15-20 minutes of total-body strength training twice a week using dumbbells at home, Adams says. Perform at least one set of eight to 12 repetitions for each major muscle group. 'The key is lifting heavy-enough weights that you come close to failure on your last repetition," Adams says. "If you're doing eight reps, it needs to be a true eight." This is especially important if you're doing just one set of each exercise.

Not only will strength training benefit you later in life, Adams says, but "it will have tremendous benefits for the other activities you love to do right now." For instance, with stronger leg muscles, you'll better absorb the impact of trail running downhill.

Q: I start my workouts with 45 minutes on the elliptical machine, and then I lift weights. But a friend said I would burn more fat by doing strength training before cardio. I tried this but felt really tired on the elliptical. Is the fatigue a sign that I'm burning more fat? Or does it mean I should go back to my original program?

A: "Go back to what you were doing," says Chicago trainer CC Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise. "If you're fatigued from the strength training, you're probably working at a lower intensity on the elliptical, so you're actually burning fewer calories and doing yourself a disservice." If you want to put more energy into your strength training on certain days, you may want to split up your cardio. For instance, do 20 minutes on the elliptical, then lift weights, then do another 25 minutes of cardio.

Q: My boyfriend says you get better toning and strengthening results by exercising different body parts on different days. I say it's better to do a total-body routine. Who's right?

A: There's no right or wrong answer. "It comes down to what works best for your schedule," says Chicago trainer CC Cunningham. As long as you hit each muscle group at least twice a week and give each muscle 48 hours to rest between sessions, it doesn't matter how you organize your routine.

There are advantages to both types of programs, Cunningham says. If you do total-body workouts, you only have to lift weights two or three times a week. However, your workouts will be longer than if you split up your routine, and you may not have the time to perform more than one exercise per muscle group. If you divide your routine, you may have the motivation to perform two or three exercises per muscle group and push harder. "You might feel fresher and get more variety," Cunningham says.

There are several ways to split your routine. For instance, you could alternate upper-body and lower-body workouts. Or you could even split your upper-body routine into two days, performing back and biceps exercises one day and chest, triceps and shoulder exercises the next.

Q: I'm 47 and unfit, and I started taking water-aerobics classes four months ago. Every 15 minutes, we check our heart rate, and mine varies from 190-210 beats per minute. This is quite high, yet I'm barely winded. The instructor insists I'm counting wrong, but I don't think so. With my heart rate so high, am I in danger?

A: If you feel certain your count is accurate, see a physician. You may have a medical condition that is causing an abnormally high heart rate. However, it's more likely that your count is inaccurate, says water-exercise researcher Mary Sanders, M.S., an adjunct professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. "In several studies, even trained instructors were unable to accurately assess their own heart rates," Sanders says. "In water it is even more difficult to take a heart rate manually because of water currents."

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