This could also be called “Gaining Strength with the Option of Gaining Weight with Paleo Workouts,” because for those of you who want to add some muscle mass, your ability to do so increases in direct proportion to your absolute strength. To say it another way, the stronger you are, the more potential you have to add muscle mass.
The reverse is also true to a large extent; that is, the stronger you are, the more potential you have for total body leanness. Either way, it pays to be strong.
The key to gaining strength isn’t found in gaining muscle, although the key to gaining muscle is found in gaining strength. Really, the key to gaining strength is found in gaining movement efficiency, or to put it more succinctly, fine-tuning your nervous system.
Your nervous system is your operations manager; it dictates how hard your muscles are allowed to tense. And tension is strength, loosely speaking. So the harder you can tense a muscle, the more strength you can display.
Tensing (and relaxing) muscles to develop strength
There are really only two ways to go about generating more tension. The first is to lift more weight. The second is to lift the same weight faster. Both of these options are viable for gaining strength. But there’s more to it than that.
Líkaminn mun leyfa aðeins svo mikilli spennu að myndast á hverjum tíma. Þetta er öryggisbúnaður, að vísu, hannaður aðallega til að vernda liðamótin þín. En, því miður, byrjar þessi vélbúnaður venjulega allt of fljótt - löngu áður en þú ert í raunverulegri hættu á að skaða sjálfan þig af því að spenna of mikið. Þannig að þú þarft að kenna taugakerfinu að það sé í lagi að mynda meiri spennu, ýta spennuþröskuldinum til baka. Það er styrkur.
Flexibility is achieved in much the same way, but instead of teaching the nervous system that it’s okay to tense up, you must teach the nervous system that it’s okay to relax. And it’s between these two spectrums (tension and relaxation) that all human movement lies. It’s important to practice both because too much of either one (tension or relaxation) isn’t a desirable thing. Ideally, you want to be tense only when you have to be.
While tension is strength, relaxation is speed. Most athletic movements, such as a punch or a jump, are a blend of tension and relaxation.
Combining heavy weight and low reps
Leyndarmálið við að byggja upp styrk er þung þyngd og lítil endurtekning. Ef þú getur unnið háar endurtekningar, þá er þyngdin sem þú notar ekki nógu þung. Svo einfalt. Þú velur lyftu - hvaða lyftu sem þú vilt - finnur síðan lóð sem þú getur lyft í ekki meira en fimm endurtekningar í einu, og svo vinnur þú mörg sett og hvílir eins mikið og þú þarft á milli hvers setts.
Svo hér er styrkleikajöfnan sem þú ættir að nota til að einbeita þér að æfingum þínum:
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Styrkur=Þung þyngd + Lágar endurtekningar + Mörg sett
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Þung þyngd er miðað við þig, en þú ættir ekki að geta lyft því í meira en fimm endurtekningar.
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Lágt endurtekningarsvið gefur til kynna sett af fimm endurtekningum eða færri.
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Mörg sett geta verið allt frá 2 til 12 sett, allt eftir uppbyggingu forritsins.
This formula is at the heart of primal fitness programs, and with a solid understanding of this equation, you can design your own strength program.
Deciding on your training frequency
Training frequency answers the question, “How often should I train?” The answer is, if you want to get stronger, train pretty often.
Strength is acquired through practice, so wouldn’t it make sense to practice as often as possible? Well, sort of, but not entirely. The human body needs rest. It needs time to recover and to adapt. Rest is done outside of the gym, so more isn’t always better in this regard.
Furthermore, you must keep in mind the Paleo fitness principle of doing the absolute least amount to reach your goals. So what’s the least amount of practice you need to hit your strength goals? The answer varies for each individual, but you’ll likely need somewhere between three and five days a week of strength-training practice.
If you’re new to weight lifting, gains will come quickly, and you may be able to get away with a little more. If you’re a veteran, then you’ll likely need more recovery time to get to the next level and would probably do better with less. Either way, the goal should be to practice as much as you have to but as little as you need to.
Working the best strength-building exercises
Are some exercises better suited for building total body strength than others? Most likely, yes. Typically, the bigger the movement, the higher the strength return.
For example, the squat is often hailed as the king of all strength-building exercises, with the dead lift trailing close behind. Both of these movements allow for a tremendous amount of stress (weight) to be put on the system.
A classic starter strength-building program may typically be comprised of the following lifts:
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Dead lift
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Squat
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Bench press
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Pull-up
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Loaded carry
This list is fairly simple but somewhat lacking. Humans are meant to move in all ways, so don’t think you should restrict your strength training to just these five exercises.
En að búa til gott æfingaprógram er svipað og að búa til dýrindis uppskrift. Innihaldsefnin (æfingarnar) eru aðeins hluti af því sem gerir það að verkum. Árangur uppskriftar fer að miklu leyti eftir pöntun, pörun og undirbúningi hráefnisins. Svo fer árangur æfingaprógramms líka eftir því hvernig þú blandar saman, pörum saman og framreiðir æfingarnar. Það er viðkvæm list.
En þú þarft ekki að hafa áhyggjur af neinu af því, í raun. Allt sem þú þarft að gera er að fylgja þeim og ganga úr skugga um að þú náir tökum á forminu.