Strength Training vs. “Bulking Up”

Strength Training vs. “Bulking Up”

For me and for a long time, strength training called up images of sweat-drenched, hypertrophied bodies in weight rooms, ‘pumping iron’and counting endless repetitions. It never inspired me.

At best, I took it be an option – something you might doone day if you wanted to look different, more athletic. In short, an aesthetic choice.

Until the day I understood that strength training is not just a fitness option. It is key to our long-term health, providing:

• a vital foundation for bone health
• a stable framework for the joints
• a significantspur to our metabolism
• crucial reassurance of safety in movement

After the age of 40, our hormonal expression changes. Recovery is slower. Muscle mass decreases.

The body tires more quickly because less strength is available for every day actions. Metabolism slows.

What the body needs is muscular stimulation so it can meet the physical forces expected of it – by distributing tension along muscular chains rather than isolating single muscles.

This is where Momentum responded to a challenge:

To incorporate into its programmes a type of strength training that respects human biomechanics. Strength training that is closely aligned to our fundamental, every day actions, such as

walking, running, climbing stairs, lifting, pulling, pushing, carrying…

For a body that can happily generate power without adverse compensations.