Resistance exercises should be performed with repetition ranges between 8 and 12. This is the ideal number of repetitions to promote muscular hypertrophy (muscle growth). In addition, when trying to add mass to your frame, compound exercises will activate larger quantities of muscle fibres, encouraging growth. A compound exercise involves movement at many joints, involving many muscle groups. Isolation exercises are typically used to add definition and shape to a developing muscle. An isolation exercise involves movement at just one joint, hence, isolating the target muscle group. In summary, the type of training we do encourage adaptations within our active body tissue. These adaptations enable our body to function in a way that is in keeping with our goals. Although our diet will determine whether we lose or gain weight, our choice of training methods will define the way our body produces and manages energy at rest, as well as during exercise.
Even if someone were to train for 5 hours per week, there would still be 163 hours in the week when they were not training. Therefore it makes more sense to encourage your body to adapt in a way that it will function in keeping with your goals during rest, rather than purely concentrating on the direct effect of your training. Therefore if you have weight loss goals for example, concentrate on promoting mitochondrial development and not burning calories. Taking this in to account will allow your body to use a greater proportion of fat for energy at rest, rather than just looking to burn those few extra calories during exercise. It is less than a week until the London Triathlon and I am still very keen to raise sponsorship money. My start time has now been finalised as 11.45am and the event will be taking place at the Royal Victoria dock on Sunday 6th August. I will be swimming 1500m, cycling 40km and then running 10km, so please give generously as I have trained hard for this event! Sponsorship will be divided between my four chosen charities (Leukaemia Research, The National Autistic Society, British Red Cross and Get Kids Going).
(published with permission in writing from:http://www.healthierlifestyles.co.uk)
