• Strength exercises: advantages of practicing them at any age
• What happens if muscles are not used?
• Why do strength exercises
• Golden Rules When Using Weights in Home Strength Exercises
• How to optimize strength training sessions
• Home strength exercises for each area of the body

Any action we do, get out of bed, wait for the bus, sit down, read while holding the book with our hands, have a cup of tea, paint a picture, go hiking … Everything requires strength to a greater or lesser degree.

The main responsible for reacting and transmitting forces is the musculoskeletal system. When we train it, we can relate better to the environment.

STRENGTH EXERCISES: ADVANTAGES OF PRACTICING THEM AT ANY AGE

Most machines do not improve with use. An old city bike does not become a racing bike with 18 or 27 gears no matter how high a speed we subject it; A pocket calculator does not become a supercomputer no matter how many mathematical problems we solve with it.

The human body is different. The muscles are renewed every five years and if I dedicate myself to sports training, legions of novice cells are created and ensure the relay. Without doping, the number of these cells can be perfectly doubled after prolonged efforts.

As scientists, doctors and weightlifters know, the more muscles are used, the stronger they become and that is not only applicable to a young body.

In 1990 a group of scientists from Tufts University (USA) showed that people of both sexes, aged between 86 and 96 years, improved their strength and balance in 8 weeks of supervised training, regardless of how they had treated the body until that moment.

Since then, other studies have shown that training with weights or bodybuilding machines helps restore bone density loss, decreases arthritis of joints, including knees, and moderates’ insulin levels in diabetics.

Naturally, it is not necessary to wait until eighty years old to train with weights and improve fitness. Actually, the best results, always for people who have never exercised before, are obtained when we start practicing with weights from the age of thirty or forty.

WHAT HAPPENS IF MUSCLES ARE NOT USED?

Disused muscles do not stay the same, lack of activity leads to wear and tear and atrophy.

Hard work does not bring them wear, on the contrary, they become not only stronger, but bigger. It’s a surprising result, something scientists don’t fully understand. Somehow the muscle cells sense how they are used and remodel themselves to cope better with the work.

This effect, as has been proven with astronauts, only happens when we are in gravitational orbit, not when we leave it.

The body of all animals does a hard job that goes unnoticed: it is animated by the gravitational force.

Gravity is not only a force, it is also a signal, a sign that speaks to the body and tells it how it should act. It communicates to our systems and devices how they should be to function more effectively.

It automatically provides the strength of resistance that keeps muscles and bones in shape.

In a zero-gravity environment, muscles atrophy because the body perceives that it doesn’t need them. Those of the hip and back, which are the most used to counteract gravity, can lose muscle mass at a rate of 5% per week. Bone losses go at a rate of 1% per month.

WHY DO STRENGTH EXERCISES

A baby, when awake, moves his limbs in the crib, investigating the limits of his movement without knowing it. And, when we give him the finger of one hand, he clings to it tightly. It is his way of feeling the body.

This is how we do it, also when we grow up, because the easiest way to feel the body is by making strength.

What has a positive side: when we finish a weight training, we feel invigorated, capable, full of confidence and with the most marked figure.

And a negative, which can act against us by taking the effect for the cause: wanting to feel vigor, confidence in ourselves and capacity only with strength exercises, without realizing that with an excess of training we lose sensitivity, dexterity, expression, capacity for perception and we are filled with strength, but brute.

It is what has given force a bad name, considering it in some circles as a lack of intellect and being associated with violence.

The ideal force for an individual is the one that allows to endure and move one’s own body, which will be useful in the event of any setback (for example, avoiding the impact of a fall, transporting the shopping bag or pushing a revolving door).

Therefore, beyond this controversial issue, if strength exercises are performed with moderation, they have great advantages:

• They lighten the burdens of everyday life. A friend told me that she needs help removing the parking brake from the car every time her son or another man has picked it up. Being able to move that brake is fundamental for her.
• They improve physical health and not only increase muscle strength but also that of tendons and ligaments.
• They improve the flexibility of the joints.
• They reduce fat and increase muscle mass.
• They lower blood pressure.
• They produce positive changes in cholesterol.
• Improve glucose tolerance.
• They form and shape the figure of the body in a visible way. Even after the first day of training we can observe how our muscles have grown and the fofa meat is transformed into tight muscle.

This last quality becomes danger, when the force is not at the service of an activity or health but of what can be seen. Whoever only has the restraint of himself in what he sees and not in what he feels, ends up a slave to what he seems to be and moves away from what he is.

The difficult balance point is between being strong and being strong, between feeling good and looking good. It is the harmonic point in which we know how to apply different degrees of force according to the activity we perform.

We can exert a powerful force when we need it, but also have dexterity and know how to use the fine mechanisms of the body: the ability to thread a thread on the needle to sew, fix a clockwork or write a letter.

Have the sensitivity to adapt to the environment and know how to perceive our needs and those of our peers. No force can match that of the perception and expression of feelings.

In this regard, let us recall the words of Gandhi: “The most powerful force available to the world and the humblest is love.”

Two ways to measure excess weight training are breathing and voice.

When performing an exercise or finishing it breathing does not reach through the diaphragm to the belly, we must reduce the weight we use or the repetitions.

We will also do it when we have a hoarse or irritated (darkened) voice after training.

GOLDEN RULES WHEN USING WEIGHTS IN HOME STRENGTH EXERCISES

• If you are over 35 years old or have any injuries or physical difficulties, consult a doctor before starting the program.
• Wear appropriate footwear, especially if you train standing up.
• Use weights that are in good fastening condition, especially if they are adjustable weights.
• Keep your back straight when lifting weights. Watch when you move them or take them: everything is part of the training.
• Start by doing a run of 10 to 15 repetitions of the exercise for each muscle. When you gain strength do two or three sets resting a minute between exercises. The fewer repetitions and more weight, the more muscle volume.
• Spear when you make the effort to lift the weight. Don’t breathe quickly: it will cause hyperventilation. Do not hold your breath when working with heavy weights: it can raise your blood pressure, make you dizzy and lose control over weights.
• Visualize internally the work that the muscles do while training with weights: it increases the effectiveness of the exercise and physical strength.
• Don’t exercise the same muscles more than three times a week.
• Don’t try to lift more weight than you can.
• If you feel pain, immediately stop exercising for a few weeks or try less weight. If it persists, consult your doctor.
• From time to time visit a teacher to show him what you do and avoid the vices of practice.

HOW TO OPTIMIZE STRENGTH TRAINING SESSIONS

• Preheating. You start by warming up the body and never exercising directly with weights. For 5- or 10-minutes jump rope, run with or without displacement, do athletic walking.
• Progressive pace. We start small and add rhythm, for example with music. At the end of the weight exercises we walk, gradually slowing down and when we notice that the pulse returns to normalize, we stretch, to finish with a re-laying exercise on the floor, feeling the weight of the body and breathing.
• To prevent injuries and intensify and increase the benefits of strength and aerobic exercises, warm-up, cool-down and relaxation are essential.

HOME STRENGTH EXERCISES FOR EACH AREA OF THE BODY

TRICEPS AND SHOULDER EXTENSION

1. Open your legs wide and turn both feet to the right, slightly bending the right knee and tilting the trunk towards it, resting the right elbow on the thigh. The left arm remains glued to the body, stretched, holding the weight at hip height.
2. With your elbow fixed to your side, drop your forearm and weigh it at a 90-degree angle and return to the starting position. You’ll have to work hard to keep your elbow glued to your body.
3. Perform a set of repetitions with each arm. Throughout the exercise keep your spine straight.

WORKING THE BICEPS WITH THE WEIGHTS

1. Standing, with his legs slightly bent, bend his elbow and raise the weight of his right hand gradually turning his hand and weigh in the direction of the biceps. As you lower your right arm, your left arm goes up, and vice versa.
2. With this alternation he repeats the exercise. Focus on keeping your elbows fixed, you can also stick your back to a wall so you don’t move it.

GAIN STRENGTH IN THE UPPER AND MIDDLE BACK

1. Bend the trunk by the hip joint, forming a straight line with trunk and head. Drop your arms with the weights, perpendicular to the ground.
2. Raise your arms in a cross and lower them again. You can also take the weights back or up, but always keep your back straight and make abdominal force in the direction of it.

EXERCISE FOR STRONG THIGHS AND BUTTOCKS

1. Standing, with the weights fastened, the arms slightly bent by the elbow and the feet separated the width of the hips, take a long step forward and when you have your foot on the floor, allow the knee to bend until the thigh is parallel to the ground.
2. Return to the starting position and perform the movement with the other foot. Repeat the process several times.

STRENGTHEN CHEST, SHOULDERS AND ARMS

1. Lie on the floor with your feet apart at a distance greater than your pelvis. Lean on the palms of your hands and the tips of your feet to lift yourself up to stretch your arms.
2. The back must be straight and aligned with the legs and head: the three will move in block when we flex our arms towards the earth, without ever touching it.
3. The bending is done in two seconds and raised in one. If you can’t lift your body, support your tibias.

EXERCISE THE UPPER ABDOMINALS

1. Lie on your back and raise your feet, keeping your legs bent at a 90º angle and crossed at the ankles, with one foot on the other.
2. Place your fingers on your temples, elbows forward. Raise your head and neck toward your chest so that your face faces your thighs, and roll your torso until comfortable.
3. Move your elbows until you try to touch your knees. Rewind your torso without touching the floor.

TO STRENGTHEN LEGS, THIGHS AND WAIST

1. Stand on your side on the floor, with your left leg bent and your trunk raised thanks to the support of your left forearm and hand.
2. Elevate the hip, putting strength on the abdominal muscles and stretch the right leg in the air, raising it and lowering it. The whole body should be aligned with the right leg.
3. Repeat it to the other side.

STRENGTH EXERCISE FOR CALVES AND FEET

1. Standing on a step with your feet parallel and the distance from your hip, rest only your toes and the pad of your feet on the step.
2. In this position, move your foot until you stand on tiptoe, as much as you can and go back down.
3. Stand on tiptoe in one second and go down in two, allowing your heels to drop to the maximum.

BODY MUSCLES AND MUSCLE GROUPS

Of the approximately seven hundred muscles of the body and according to their functionality four classes are distinguished:

SKELETAL OR LONG MUSCLES

They are linked to the bones by tendons located in the extremities and trunk. They collaborate with the bones to give the body strength and power.

They are very visible and allow the displacement or movement of large masses. With them, we play a game of beach soccer, run down the mountain, get off the train, climb the stairs, sweep, swim, dance, jump or walk.

They are, for the most part, volunteers, because we can control their movement.

There are many different shapes and sizes, which allows them to perform different functions.

Some of the largest and most powerful are those we have in the back, which together with the abdominals and those of the legs form a complementary system that allows us the erect position.

To do this, some relax while others contract, sometimes in opposition; If we stand it is because they are tightened in the opposite direction and, although it seems paradoxical, their efficiency is maximum. All these antagonisms, fortunately, are not conflictive, but can be advantageous, if regulated, and in that our body is a specialist.

To walk, we need to activate 54 muscles, all at once.

It is enough that a muscle stop acting or does so with a few tenths of a second of delay so that we arrive stumbling or staggering to the kitchen, where our chamomile infusion cools.

FACIAL MUSCLES

They are those of the head and neck, which allow us to chew, see, smell, speak, blow, whistle, laugh, cry and with which we express feelings and moods: sadness, joy, surprise, love, fear …

They also allow us the relationship with the environment and the organism.

They are not big, but small. A simple smile sets in motion in a very well-coordinated way, 17 small muscles of the face. A kiss on the mouth mobilizes 29, of which 18 are only for the tongue.

Without forgetting those that produce the voice, located in the neck, which are reflexes and are regulated with our physical and mental state and that of the environment (excess cold or heat), as professional singers know.

VISCERAL MUSCLES

They are, for the most part, involuntary and are distributed throughout the interior of the body:

• in the stomach and digestive system so that the food we eat advances, facilitating digestion;
• in the walls of veins and arteries and the entire circulatory system, where they open or close blood capillaries. They include the king of them all: the heart.
• In the urethra where they prevent us from urinating unexpectedly;
• in the womb helping us to be born, etc.

HAND AND FOOT MUSCLES

Prodigy of skill and dexterity that receive the ultimate impulse of the long and skeletal muscles, of the thin ducts of the blood and where we find the nerve terminals that receive the orders of the central nervous system to be able to write, caress, hold the keys or play a musical instrument.

All of them are in action, forming a network of interrelationships that facilitates the functioning of my body as an organism, in which the parts cannot be isolated. When we activate any muscle, all body systems are activated to a greater or lesser degree.

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