We hosted a Q&A session with some of our clients about fitness and their experiences in the gym and working out. It was such a great conversation we thought we’d share some of the awesome questions everyone had, along with our answers!
Why should I strength train?
There’s so many reasons to strength train including; improving your quality of life, increasing your strength, improving your body composition, etc. But one of the big topics we discussed was bone density loss as we age and how important it is to strength train in order to help keep our bones protected and muscles strong.
According to Harvard Health, A combination of age-related changes, inactivity, and inadequate nutrition conspire to gradually steal bone mass, at the rate of 1% per year after age 40. And for postmenopausal women, they can lose up to 10% of their bone mass in the first five years after menopause. YIKES!
Research is now showing that strength training can not only slow the bone loss process, but also building bone. Activities that put stress on the bones (ahem strength training) can stimulate bone-forming cells into action resulting in stronger, denser bones.
You don’t have to lift heavy for these benefits. Do what makes sense for you, especially if you’ve never strength trained before. Hiring a trainer (OH Hi!!) can help you understand how to strength train for your body keeping you strong and injury free.
Question: How often should I do cardio vs weight training
The American Heart Association recommends - 150 minutes of Moderate Intensity Cardio OR 75 minutes of Vigorous Intensity Cardio AND 2 days of strength training. Now this may seem like a lot, but if you break it down its 30 minutes a day. And if you need to break that down even further, it’s 15 minutes in the morning, and 15 minutes at lunch. You. Can. Do. This. Especially if you’re not exercising at all, this can seem overwhelming, just start small, work your way up to these recommendations and soon they’ll become a lifestyle.
Here are some examples of each recommendation:
Moderate Insensity Cardio - Activities where you can comfortably talk, with a slightly increased heart rate and breathing.
Brisk Walking
Swimming laps
Biking on level ground
Water aerobics
Vigorous Insensity Cardio: Activities that make breathing hard, significantly raise your heart rate, and make it difficult to talk.
Running or intervals
Biking uphill
High Intensity Interval Training
Jump Rope
Is Pilates strength training
YES! We get this a lot. Pilates is NOT Yoga, although we do incorporate the breathe into every movement and we do stretch, we also incorporate a lot of strength training in the workout to help your body get stronger. On the mat, this can include hand weights or body weight, on the Reformer/Tower/Chair this can include the use of springs and pulleys at different angles to increase or decrease the resistance. You can definitely expect to get strong doing Pilates!!
How long do I have to exercise for it to be effective
This all depends on how much time you have. Think quality over quantity so you don’t get stressed out defeating the purpose of exercise! You do NOT have to exercise for an hour for something to be effective. Use the time you have effectively. Here are some recommendations for your quick workouts so you can use them effectively and get the results you want!
Don’t be on your phone half of your workout. Put all distractions down and use the time you have.
Take shorter breaks to increase the intensity of your workout and get your heart rate up
Do big movements - think squat to overhead press, lunge to row - this gives you more bang for your buck, tackles more muscle groups, and burns more energy than sitting down doing bicep curls.
Do intervals instead of steady cardio (if that works for your body) you burn more energy doing vigorous activity so if you’re strapped for time, try doing more vigorous cardio to burn the energy in half the time!
When should I eat before/after a workout?
Our take on this is to listen to your body. We wouldn't recommend fasting when lifting first thing in the morning -your body needs the energy and you may not get the best workout. Depending when you workout is what you should eat. The closer to the workout you are, the more simple carbs and easy to digest foods you should eat (banana, toast with pb, oats). After the workout there's no magic number as to WHEN to eat but WHAT you eat matters. Focus on a meal high in protein to rebuild the muscles you worked, recover your body, and restore glycogen in your body.
Should I workout if I'm sick
This depends how you feel. We don't recommend coming to the gym when you're sick (keep your germs to yourself!) but you can certainly go for a walk outside or do a light workout in your home if you're feeling up to it. If you have a fever or any GI issues perhaps it's best to save your energy and rest, but sometimes getting some fresh air and "sweating it out" can be helpful. When sick we recommend focusing on protein as protein helps your body heal and recover. We love having bone broth when we're sick - it feel so healing!
How do you know when to take a break?
LISTEN to your body, it talks to you. We love that you’re working hard … but your body will tell you when it’s time to take a break, you just have to listen to it. Here are some tell tale signs it’s time for a rest and recovery day such as stretching or gentle Yoga or a walk.
Your muscles are sore to the touch like a bruise - they need more recovery time.
You’re getting sick. Sometimes your immune system is effected when you overtrain causing you to get sick. If you find yourself getting sick a lot while you’re pushing your body hard, it may be time to rethink how you’re working out and how much time you’re giving your body to recover.
You’re getting hurt. Similar to getting sick, your muscles need time to recover, if you’re finding that you’re getting hurt, pulling muscles, losing your balance etc - give your body more rest time in between those tough workouts.
Things you can do for recovery include: foam roll, theragun, get a massage, take an epsom salt bath, and stretch!
These were some amazing questions and we had a great conversation! We hope that you can benefit from our answers and enjoy your workouts!! As always - reach out to us with any questions … info@vos-fitness.com.
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