Can Lifting Weights Only Once a Week Build Muscle?
Is strength training only once a week worth it for muscle gain?
Here’s a better question: Why would you want to limit strength training to just once a week?
Here is the answer to the first question: Strength training once a week will induce a training effect, even in older people.
Many bodybuilders strength train one muscle group per week, and see plenty of gains. However, they do so very intensely.
I blast my chest muscles, for instance, once a week. But on other days I’m also exercising, but not the chest muscles.
The Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State did a study with literally once-a-week exercise.
It was strength training, however, and the researchers found that the study subjects (men over age 70) maintained the effects of strength training.
However, the experiments started the 10 men off with a three-times-weekly progressive resistance program for three months.
After that, they were divided into two groups: One group continued strength training but for just once a week for six months, and the other group stopped altogether.
After six months, the first group had maintained the benefits picked up during the three-month progressive program, and the second group lost significant thigh muscle size and strength.
These findings don’t mean you should settle for a once a week program. There are over 600 muscles in the human body.
Once a week strength training is not practical if you want your entire body to be affected.
I’ve heard of people spending several hours in the gym for one session, once a week, hitting all the major muscle groups.
But I can’t imagine doing bench press, dumbbell press, squats, dips, deadlifts, lat pull-downs, pushups, leg press, rows and chin-ups all in the same workout. There is no way I could go all-out on these routines in the same session.
If you’re used to giving a routine all you have, you’ll be trashed long before you’ve covered all the major muscle groups.
Of course, you can go lightly, but I’m an advocate of intense exercise. If you strength train lightly all muscle groups, once a week … again, expect minimal results.
If you are hell-bent on working out lightly, then you should do it three times a week, and not two days in a row.
The Ball State study involved low volume, high-intensity strength training, which does not surprise me; high-intensity workouts can maintain their effects with just once a week.
Apparently, the men in the study exercised only their legs. The study summary did not mention other muscle groups.
As for that second question, why would you limit strength training to once a week, the allegedly No. 1 reason is lack of time, even among retired folks.
Ask yourself where is all your time going week after week.
How much of that time is spent ‘Net surfing or watching TV?
How much of that time is spent dawdling around at shopping centers or gossiping with neighbors?
People actually have more time today to exercise than they did a generation ago, because these days, just about everything is done with the click of a button.
People who work 40 hours a week state they don’t have time to exercise.
This includes people without young kids.
Make strength training a priority, and you’ll magically find time for it. And make it at least twice a week.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained clients of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Depositphotos.com
Source: sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/05/020514072950.htm
Which Is Better for the Heart: Brisk Walking or Step Aerobics?
If all you do for cardio fitness is take an evening walk or use a treadmill, you are not getting adequate aerobic exercise. (more…)
Which Is Better for Fitness: Fast Walking or Slow Jogging ?
Let’s take a pace of 4.5 mph, and then ask yourself if jogging this will yield more fitness benefits than walking this speed (which would be a very fast walk).
For most people, walking very fast feels like more work than jogging the same speed.
This is especially true when an incline is involved (hill outside, or treadmill without holding on).
Why does fast walking seem harder than slow jogging at the same speed?
There’s a very logical explanation for this: the gastrocnemius muscle in the lower leg. This is the main calve muscle.
At around 4.5 mph, jogging makes more efficient use of the gastrocnemius, better use of it than while walking.
This was shown by Dr. Gregory Sawicki and Dr. Dominic Farris, biomedical engineers at North Carolina State University.
The researchers used ultrasound imaging, high-speed motion-capture methods and a force-measuring treadmill to investigate the “gastroc” muscle’s behavior during jogging/running and walking.
This powerful muscle makes adjustments based on whether a person walks or runs.
The gastroc “speeds up,” i.e., alters its length more and more rapidly as a person walks faster and faster.
However, this correlates to decreasing power as a person walks faster: less efficiency.
Now, when people start jogging at around 4.5 mph, the gastroc “slows down,” that is, the length changes more slowly.
This yields more power while working less: higher efficiency. This explains why it’s easier to run at 4.5 mph for 10 minutes than it is to walk at this same speed, unless a person is a trained “race walker.”
This phenomenon can be applied to slow incline walking vs. same-speed jogging.
“The muscle can’t catch up to the speed of the gait as you walk faster and faster,” says Dr. Sawicki.
“But when you shift the gait and transition from a walk to a run, that same muscle becomes almost static and doesn’t seem to change its behavior very much as you run faster and faster, although we didn’t test the muscle at sprinting rates.”
A fitness walking program should include fast walking, and a jogging program should include it as well.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Shutterstock/ pathdoc
Source: sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120105131655.htm
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Upper Body Exercises for Total Knee Replacement Recovery
Here are great upper body exercises to do while recovering from a total knee replacement.
Total knee replacement doesn’t mean that two days after surgery, you’re bouncing around on your new titanium knee.
It takes weeks of therapy to get the body used to total knee replacement.
But a person with new total knee replacement must not neglect upper body exercise routines.
Total knee replacement surgery means that the patient not only is confined to a walker for days, but can only be up and about for very limited periods of time.
Ravedave, CC BY-SA
Following surgery, the patient will be spending a lot of time in a seated position, but from here, he or she can conduct exercise routines for upper body muscles.
The patient’s upper body muscles will benefit tremendously from weightlifting workouts.
Just because a person is confined pretty much to a chair doesn’t mean they shouldn’t perform exercise routines for the shoulders, back and arm muscles.
Upper Body Exercises You Can Do Following Knee Replacement Surgery
Dumbbells are a must. Several pairs of dumbbells should already be waiting for the patient’s arrival home.
The patient must sit in a stable seat that has no arm rests. Such seats can be found at many different stores.
The rule of thumb is to work whatever you CAN, and in the case of total knee replacement, it’s the upper body.
Biceps Curl
There are many ways to engage the biceps. One way is called concentration curls, and only one dumbbell is needed, as shown below. Plant your elbow in a comfortable spot on your upper leg, and begin curling.
Shutterstock/Marcos Casiano
Side Raise
Hang arms straight at sides, then simply raise them on either side of you so that arms are parallel or a little past parallel with floor. Go no higher, then lower the dumbbells.
Though it’s usually done standing, it can also be done while seated.
Freepik/pressfoto
Shoulder Flexion (Front Raise)
Hold dumbbells with any palm angle, and, keeping arms straight and shoulders relaxed, lift them up in front of you so that your arms are parallel with floor. Go no higher, then lower. Can be done seated.
Shutterstock/ruigsantos
Shoulder Press
Hold dumbbells (or soup cans) at shoulder level, elbows pointing to floor, palms facing away from you. Now, simply push them above your head, straightening your arms.
Freepik.com, katemangostar
Triceps Press
Hold a dumbbell above your head, arms straight.
Keeping upper arms fixed in place, bend only lower arms so that the weight is behind your head, elbows pointing to ceiling. Then straighten arms.
Overhead Band Pull
Hold either end of an elastic exercise band and pull in opposite directions. Of course, do NOT copy the model’s lower body. Do this exercise while seated in a chair.
Shutterstock/Alexander Raths
Row
Loop a band around a secure object, then begin pulling the handles towards your chest. For a knee replacement patient, this exercise is best done while seated.
Shutterstock/Aaron Amat
How many sets?
I recommend four sets per exercise with 1-2 minutes’ rest in between. You have all the time in the world, remember.
Also realize that total knee replacement means severe restriction in calorie-burning. It’s unlikely that you can overdo upper body exercises.
How many reps?
Eight to 20. If you can do more than 20, use heavier weights.
How often?
Never do the same exercise two days in a row. Three times a week will work if you apply moderate effort; and twice a week will work if you apply intense effort.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Scientific Animations, Creative Commons/BY-SA/Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
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