What is strength training?

At present, mainstream strength training is mainly divided into four categories: free weight training, fixed equipment training, body weight training, and functional strength training. Different types adapt to different training needs and scenarios, and there is no absolute distinction between high and low.

People who often go to the gym must be familiar with barbells and dumbbells. This is the most classic free weight training. The three major categories of squats, deadlifts, and bench presses are all core movements in this category. I trained a young boy who just graduated last year. At the beginning, my 20kg bench press with an empty bar was so rocking that I almost hit my chest. After practicing steadily for three months, I can now press 60kg steadily for sets. Not to mention the circumference of my upper limbs has increased by 3 centimeters. It is not difficult to move a computer host and carry two boxes of water. There is no fixed trajectory limit for free weights. During training, the core must be mobilized to stabilize the body throughout the whole process, so it is very efficient in improving overall strength. However, novices may easily deform their movements and get injured if no one is with them when they first start practicing, so they must pay attention to this.

If you have old injuries to your joints, or if you are just starting out and you really can’t control your movement balance, fixed equipment is actually a safer choice, such as leg presses, high pull-down machines, and seated chest presses. They all have preset movement trajectories. You don’t have to spend too much energy on controlling your body to avoid shaking, and just focus on finding the force of the target muscle group. There was a former student who had an old knee injury. When he first came, it was painful to do bodyweight squats. He started with 10 kilogram leg presses and gradually built up the strength of his quadriceps. After practicing for more than two months, he slowly transitioned to Smith rack squats. Later, he was also able to do free squats with small weights.

Don’t delay your strength training even if you don’t have the conditions to go to the gym. Don’t think that only carrying iron counts. Push-ups, pull-ups, Bulgarian split squats, glute bridges and other actions that can be completed with your own body weight also belong to the category of strength training. Several of my friends who do street fitness have hardly ever been to a gym. They rely on the horizontal and parallel bars in the community and the yoga mat at home. Now they can easily do one-arm pull-ups and human body flags. Their absolute strength is not necessarily worse than those who have practiced in the gym for a year or two, but the muscle dimensions may not be that exaggerated. There has been debate in the industry. Some people think that bodyweight training cannot linearly increase the load, and it is difficult to increase strength after reaching the bottleneck. Others say that as long as you can adjust the movement angle and add a weight-bearing vest and a weight-bearing belt, you can continue to progress. In fact, both sides are reasonable. It just depends on your training goals.

In recent years, there is also a type of functional strength training that has become very popular. Unlike traditional strength training, which pursues absolute strength or muscle dimensions, this type of training pays more attention to the practicality of strength in daily scenes and sports scenes, such as tire flipping, fighting rope swings, medicine balls hitting the ground, and farmers. Walking is all typical movements. What is practiced is not the dead strength of a certain part, but the ability of multiple muscle groups in the whole body to coordinate force. After practicing, you can carry a 20-pound baby for two hours without backache, carry a large express upstairs without difficulty, and it is not easy to sprain your sprained ankle when playing ball, running and jumping. Of course, there are also many friends who practice bodybuilding who think that this type of training is inefficient in building muscle and is not as targeted as isolation training. Again, the choices are naturally different for different needs, so there is no need to look down on each other.

If you really want to start training, you don’t need to worry about which one is best. The one that suits your current conditions and allows you to persist is the best. If you want to build muscle, arrange more free weights and fixed equipment. If you don’t have time to go to the gym, start with bodyweight training. If you want to improve your sports performance, add more functional training. Do whatever is comfortable for you, it’s better than anything else.