Strength Training for Women

Women make poor choices in gyms. They are attracted to trends (what they've read in magazines or heard from a neighbor, which is why the menu changes so often), to equipment that displays caloric expenditure or to group classes. Rarely do they choose the thing that will make the greatest improvement in the least amount of time - proper strength training. It's not attractive. Properly performed, it's hard work; and hard work builds muscle. Look at the men.

But we've heard that before. It's a matter of education, something generally ignored by trainers who could and should steer clients in a responsible direction. It's hard to believe that the increase in educational institutes, certification agencies and general knowledge has done nothing to remove myths - only added to the already large pile of nonsense.

The best thing a woman can do in a gym (to reap all the potential benefits of proper exercise) is lift weights. Body weight can provide a start, but not an end. Free weights are better as far as resistance is concerned, but they cannot supply direct nor full-range exercise. Machines can. Properly constructed, machines provide muscles a safe environment and a level of intensity unknown with other equipment. Good Form + High Intensity = Results.

Unfortunately, trainers have put machines on the back-burner if not dismissed them totally. A poor choice. Giving clients what they want instead of what they need has all but destroyed the field of exercise.

If your favorite restaurant fed you what you needed instead of what you'd like, you probably wouldn't return. Restaurants would close. And so with exercise, ladies, if trainers satisfy needs instead of desires, they'd go out of business. The extensive menu has strayed so far from basics that no one knows what basics are. Enough.

Shift your focus away from pointing your toes, ladies, and dig in your heels. Demand proper strength training with the best available equipment. And above all, plug in HARD work. Brief, hard, infrequent. Anything less will waste your time. As Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones put it, "You can swim to Hawaii or take a jet." Quit swimming.

Muscle Stimulation and Recovery Time

A famous CEO recently scheduled several different trainers in our facility to exercise everyday while in town. Halfway through his 7th workout, he ran out of gas by his own admission. It was lecture time.
"A muscle needs two ingredients for growth," I started, "stimulation and recovery ability." He at least had the courtesy to hear me out.
Muscle cannot grow without stimulus and will not grow without opportunity - time between workouts. Every muscle has a threshold of stimulation, that is a level of intensity (not amount of exercise) that must be reached to trigger change. It is probably a high percentage of a full-out effort, if not 100%; and, like a light switch, it's either "on" or "off." Once "on," you don't need more exercise - you need energy to recover from what you accomplished. Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones equated muscle stimulation to starting your car. Once you turn the ignition "on," you don't keep trying the key - you'll ruin the starter. Stimulate change, then go home.
Recovery time? A minimum of 48 hours and more if you are advanced. The body can perform any amount of exercise (as illustrated above), but is not capable of recovering from any amount of exercise. Whenever professional bodybuilders got "stuck" in their workouts, Jones reduced the amount of exercise and the training frequency (sent them home a few days between workouts because systems couldn't recover from their efforts). Worked every time.
You can't start a race until the gun goes off. You can get away with it for a while, but too many trainees are trying far too often to win a race they don't know how to run.

Be the Best - Use the Best

In 1986, Arthur Jones sold Nautilus Sports/Medical Industries* to two brothers in Dallas, Texas - a pair that ran the company into the ground by trying to save pennies along the way. As part of the deal, a number of employees from the company were sent to Dallas to facilitate the transfer. After a year, many returned (by agreement) to Arthur's new company, MedX Corporation in Ocala, Florida. One of those employees, a design engineer who came to Venezuela to set up my MedX facility, told me the following:

"I was required to present three estimates for each and every part purchase in Dallas. When I needed a specialty bolt for a particular project in Ocala, I approached Jones out of habit."

The reply was swift.

"Scott," said Arthur, "just go out and find the best g.. d... bolt you can and put it in."

No discussion, no concern for cost. The best, only the best. MedX hasn't changed, years after Jones' death.

Suggestions:

1.) Recall this incident next time you sit on a tin can being passed off as an exercise machine (tough when neither machines nor quality are in vogue).
2.) Demand the best tools in your training environment.
3.) Don't get overpassionate about latex tubing recommended by certified experts.

* Nautilus was eventually repurchased by a group of 'old' employees who restored machine quality to former standards. Kudos.

Specific/General Response to Exercise

Arthur Jones was the first to identify a muscle's specific or general response to exercise. And he did it with significant tools - machines that totally isolated muscle function, machines checked for accuracy and reliability by research conducted at the University of Florida - so there was no doubt about the results.

Most of the 10,000 subjects tested (80% in the low-back extensors, 72% in the front thigh) demonstrated what Jones called a Specific response to exercise (Type S). That is, they experienced fatigue and/or results only in the range of motion where the muscle worked. Little or no results were produced in the non-work zone. The remainder of the subjects exhibited a General response to exercise (Type G) - full-range fatigue and/or results from partial-range exercise.

So, why all the hype about functional and performance training, and compound movement exercise? By their nature, none provide full-range exercise - exercise that provides an appropriate resistance throughout the entire range of motion. Which produces (in most cases, as above) partial-range results - athletes and housewives alike with great strength at some angles of movement and lousy strength at others. Terrific for performance, terrific for daily activities, terrific for injury prevention. Yeah.

It led Arthur to conclude, "Bullshit is rather easy to establish, and once established, impossible to irradicate."

Unfortunately, not enough trainers are aware of the facts.

Full-Range Exercise

I currently work in an exercise facility equipped with the finest tools available, MedX machines. Why the best? Best guarantee in the industry, lowest friction, smallest increments in weight-stack resistance and, most of all, they provide full-range exercise. By that I mean the machines provide proper resistance at every angle of movement throughout the entire range of motion. Big deal? You bet. Only full-range exercise provides: a strong resistance in full extension to increase flexibility and trigger a pre-stretch; resistance in a position of full contraction (to activate maximum muscle-fiber recruitment); injury prevention regardless of the angle at which force is applied; maximum size/strength benefits (because of its comparative difficulty); and the most efficient contribution to fat loss.

Despite the obvious, there are few instructors in this facility that use the machines at all, having been brainwashed into thinking that playing with rubber balls and bands is somehow superior. Ignorance - among those who should know better. What do you see?

Sport-Specific Exercise & Sports Performance Programs

Research related to skill training points to one thing - specificity. Training to improve skill (and ultimately performance) must be specific, that is, with the same equipment, the same motion performed with no deviation from the ideal path and no resistance other than the weight of the implement(s) used in the movement.

Research related to strength training points to another - maximum overload. Muscles must be challenged with heavy weights (for 8-12 repetitions) to stimulate the degree of change necessary to improve performance.

Skill training - no resistance: Strength training - maximum resistance. Simple enough.

Apparently not.

The flood of sport-specific exercise and performance programs around the country deny the apparent - they combine skill and strength training (train movement patterns in what is called "functional" training). The result? A compromise of both skill and strength - muscle groups that never reach their strength potential and movement patterns that are likely to interfere with the specificity required of skill training.

How should it be done? Separate the two. Strengthen the muscles involved in the movement independent of how they are to be used. Once they are as strong as they can be, plug them into the movement in the only way possible, by practice of the skill itself.

Anything else is insane, commercial or both.

Resistance

Someone had the common sense, if not the audacity to put a handle on things. The invention of the barbell in 1902 made it more practical to apply resistance to working muscles. The inventor of the "miracle tool" recognized that bodyweight exercise (represented by gymnastics and calisthenic-type movements) was clearly not enough.

Fifty years later, another man, frustrated by the new tool, set out to improve it. Arthur Jones didn't like the feel of a biceps curl with a barbell - easy at the top and bottom, tough in the middle. Because of leverage and the effect of gravity, there was no effective resistance on the muscle when it reached a position of full contraction - the only spot where the maximum number of muscle fibers can get involved. To improve the situation, Arthur welded chains to the bar and attached additional weights to the chains at strategic points. When he lifted the bar beyond the sticking point (about halfway up), the new weights were activated in sequence to improve the "feel" in the contracted position. Jones knew that resistance must change according to the needs of the muscle throughout its range of motion. Most body movements were rotary; the pull of gravity, straight-line. Muscle needs were satisfied in few positions during exercise. Jones applied his concept to both rotary and (later) compound movements adding nine other ingredients over 22-years to emerge with what he called a "thinking man's barbell." It was commonly known as a Nautilus machine.

It's effect on the industry was instant, despite the efforts of barbell pushers to challenge and destroy everything Jones introduced. It's effect on muscle stimulation was beyond doubt, and proven with diehard skeptics - bodybuilders and professional athletes. "Proper strength training" soon became the most efficient and effective way to increase strength, flexibility, cardiovascular condition, body composition (muscle/fat ratios) and protection from injury. It was the closest thing to a perfect form of exercise, with one exception: "I didn't say it was easy, said Jones, "I just said it worked." His system was brutally hard, appealed only to those willing to pay the price. Two to three all-out workouts a week using the new resistance and system was too hard for most, despite the claim from hardcore trainees that it was "not enough."

The flame faded.

Fifty years later, Jones' system has been replaced - but not for the better. The field of exercise has reverted to pre-barbell days - gone back 106 years in large and sudden steps. Bodyweight is officially "enough" in the minds of today's self-proclaimed experts (it was never "enough" a century before). Calisthenic-type movements without external resistance are on the rise, with few complaints. After all, according to a growing majority of certified trainers, "It's more functional and more fun than what went before."

When resistance is applied, it is likely in the form of latex tubing, balls and an assortment of toys that have replaced hard muscle work with movement-pattern reinforcement, essentially skill training using resistance. The attempt to make exercise more "functional" has made barbells and machines obsolete. From a resistance perspective, we are left with no full-range exercise, no muscle isolation or direct exercise for major muscle groups, and resistance that never varies with the needs of the muscle. There's nothing rotary about tubing - like gravity, a straight-line pull. Wrong at most angles.

Yet, we've been led to believe that "functional" is better than "non-functional" (traditional strength training), that integrated movement is superior to isolated movement. When do we encounter isolated function in the real world? When do we perform daily or recreational activities from a seated position or in a single plane of motion.

A reminder or four:

1. You cannot strengthen a muscle to its potential by having it perform movements that are shared with other muscles. The quadricep is a perfect example. The front thigh cannot reach its peak strength without isolated leg-extension exercise provided by a machine with a proper cam that supplies an appropriate resistance at every angle of movement through a full range of motion. Impossible. Yet, in today's world, leg extensions are evil. And while I acknowledge that leg extensions are inappropriate for some of the population, they are appropriate for the vast majority. You can rationalize anything; and they do, in the name of "function."

2. For 20 years muscle testing for rehabilitation or strength research was dominated by (if not limited to) dynamic testing. A static or "isometric" test was not as "functional" as a dynamic or "isokinetic" test. When in life or sports are we in a static mode? Jones challenged dynamic muscle testing as early as 1972 and proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that isokinetic tests were neither accurate nor safe - not by a little, by a lot. Despite his efforts, dynamic tests still dominate in rehab centers across the country, insurance companies continue to reimburse the same and doctors continue to make decisions based on false information. All in the name of "function."

3. The focus on "core" exercise among physical trainers is a point of intrigue. The experts seem unaware that the muscles that extend the lumbar spine (one-third of the core) cannot be accessed by traditional means. Research (University of Florida: 1986-96) has clearly shown that the only meaningful way to strengthen these muscles is to prevent pelvic rotation during back-extension movements. And the only tool capable of providing the degree of stabilization necessary to access these muscles is a machine made by MedX Corporation. Nothing else works - look it up, try what you will, and good luck. Imagine that, a machine, an isolated movement providing the only way to strengthen the most important muscles of the core - the lumbar spine. Yet, what do we see? Continued attempts to strengthen these muscles by tools and methods useless for their intended purpose. You can't weigh yourself with a toaster - but apparently you can try.

4. For centuries people thought the world was flat. It proved not to be.

Bodyweight and the latex resistance favored by trainers and trainees may increase fun, but fun at the expense of full-range strength, increased flexibility, body composition, cardiovascular condition and injury prevention, is no fun at all. And not very functional.

The solution? I'll let a medical doctor and friend share his approach: "I walked into the clinic (a highly sucessful exercise-oriented rehab center) one day and spotted some rubber balls and colored tubing with handles (brought in by one of the therapists). So, I got out my pen knife..."

A good start.

In his youth, Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones performed three four-hour workouts a week, four sets of each exercise while moving at a torrid pace between. The only thing that stopped him was lack of progress. When frustrated, he'd quit, often for long periods of time. But his brain never stopped. Upon return, he'd adjust a number of factors to see if he could break through prior size and strength barriers. On one such occasion, Arthur cut his workout in half - from four sets to two, no other change. In one week he vaulted over previous records, gained ten pounds of muscle and didn't understand why. His brain never stopped. Eventually, he identified the inability of his system to recover from the amount of exercise performed (four sets) as the problem and stated, "It took me 20 years to figure out that two sets was better than four, and another 10 (years) to discover that one set was better than two." He believed the field of exercise was focused wrongly on how much exercise the body was capable of performing instead of how much it actually needs. Quality vs. quantity.

He later hooked up with the University of Florida (1990's) and caught the attention of the PhD's in the Center for Exercise Science. Arthur was so insistant on his one-set theory that the Center's Director, Dr. Michael Pollock decided to investigate the phenomenon. Pollock's team first reviewed all of the literature published from 1962 that compared one set of exercise to multiple sets. In some cases, several sets was superior in strength results; in other cases, one set of exercise was superior. In none of the studies, not one, was the difference (either way) statistically significant, which led to the conclusion that 35 years of strength research had been wasted. In addition, Jones felt, and could prove, that the tools used to measure strength during that period were "useless for their intended purpose." Arthur changed things around when he introduced tools for specific, isolated testing of the spine and knee, the latter at a cost of 22 years and $120 million. He was not easily satisfied.

Pollock's group took the next step: they performed their own research with Jone's Knee machine. They first selected a large group of untrained individuals, tested the strength of their isolated front (quadriceps) and rear (hamstrings) thighs, and assigned them to two random groups. One group performed one set of leg extensions and one set of leg curls to momentary muscle failure (they were pushed, and pushed hard), three times a week. The other group performed three sets of leg extensions and three of leg curls (every set pushed to failure, with a brief, timed rest between), three times a week. No other exercise was performed by either group. After six or eight weeks (I can't recall), both groups were retested. There was NO difference between the strength gains between the groups. Zero. The conclusion: A second and third set of exercise is useless if the first set is taken to failure.

Convincing. Perhaps the best study to date. Tight controls. Professional supervision. Tools that could actually measure exactly what they set out to measure. Tools that were nominated for a Nobel Prize in medicine. Tools that led to the pet phrase of the unsatiable Jones, "We now know..."

So, what do we see in gyms - trainees that don't know. Set after set of low-intensity exercise that leads to nowhere. If the first set is hard enough to stimulate change (and it rarely is), subsequent sets are unecessary. As Arthur put it, "If you are capable of doing a second set, you didn't do the first one right." There's only one way to the top (reaching your potential) - outright hard work. And if it is hard, it won't take much. At high levels of intensity, a little goes a long way.