The View from the Classroom

I’m a woman and like it or not, at 40, I am middle-aged.  I don’t FEEL middle-aged, but I am.  AND…there are a lot of us out there.  If you’re one of us and you’re on this site, I hope that you are already familiar with the why’s of weight-training and that you’re have already incorporated a regular weight-training into your fitness program.  However, if you’ve just found this site because you’re looking to lose weight, tone or just plain get healthier OR you’re just not convinced that weight-training is for you, I’m here to persuade you to at least think about adding it to your program and to give you some good information in the process.

The positive effects of weight training are numerous and you may be familiar with some of them.  Below is my list upon which I will expand in a series of blogs over the next few days.

1.  Increased Strength

2.  Increased Muscle Mass/Decreased Body Fat

3.  Increased Bone Density

4.  Improved Immune Function

5.  Reverse the Effects of Aging

6.  Improved Mood/Increased Confidence

Today’s blog focuses on number 1, "Increased Strength".  Now, you may be thinking, "duh", lift weights, increase my muscle size, increase strength…no brainer.  But, increases in strength aren’t necessarily due to increases in muscle size AND most women don’t do what it takes to REALLY increase muscle size anyway.  So now, if you’re like me, you may be wondering where increased strength comes from if not from increased muscle size.  Don’t fret.  I’m here to tell you!

Inside all of us are many, many, many nerves controlling our every function.  Likewise, "motor nerves" control the muscles.  These motor nerves can be broken down into single cells called "motor neurons" each of which controls hundreds of fibers.  The motor neurons and fibers together are collectively referred to as "motor units."  When these motor units are not used, the old saying "use it or lose it" applies.  They don’t disappear, they just lie dormant, not working for you.  It’s kind of like that piece of exercise equipment that you bought, used once and then stuffed under the bed or in a closet.  You’re not doing your part to put it to use, so it’s just gonna lie there, doing you no good at all when if would use it, chances are some good would come from it.

Now, the trick to increasing strength is to get those dormant motor units working and to get the most motor units working at one time.  You see, the nervous system is an eager thing…it wants to perform for you and adapts accordingly.  It steps up to the plate when weight-training is introduced.  By weight-training, motor units previously not used are recruited which in turn leads to muscles being activated fully. Hence, increased strength without an increase in muscle size.  Additionally, by activating the muscles fully, they become more efficient at everyday chores like carrying in the groceries, moving things, taking out the trash, etc.

So…middle-aged woman or not…if you want increased strength without increased muscle size, put those motor units to work by incorporating weight-training into your workouts.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 27th, 2007 at 9:53 am and is filed under The Whys of Weight Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.