Calculated Risk - Strength Training
Last week I wrote a bit about calculated risk, and how pretty much every decision that we make contains a degree of it. This week I'd like to share my approach to muscle mass, and the risks I've chosen to reject and embrace.
I think the evidence is quite strong that resistance training is beneficial for the human body. Among the benefits of resistance training are:
For years I considered my daily Yoga practice as sufficient resistance training. The teachers who taught me Modern Postural Yoga repeatedly claimed that yoga postures both built healthy muscles and aerobic fitness, and I was happy to take them at their word. As a 20-something, these 40+ year old Yoga teachers all seemed to be the picture of health! As I aged, and simultaneously watched many of these senior teachers aging, my thinking shifted. While a handful of yoga-only adherents did age gracefully and in good health, it appeared that many of the yoga-only crowd were aging less gracefully than the gym people that we often looked down upon. My faith was shaken, and I questioned the risks I was undertaking in adhering to my yoga-only approach to strength. At the same time, scientific studies began popping up that seriously questioned the fitness claims of Modern Postural Yoga. At that point, my choice to eschew resistance training in favor of Yoga seemed excessively risky. Once I set aside my faith that Yoga postures would help me maintain and build my muscle mass, I was in the market for a form of resistance training that I enjoyed.
Enjoyed is the key point. Clearly, lifting weights is the time-tested pathway to resistance training. For better or worse, though, I struggled to drag my butt into a weight room. Maybe it's all the hours I lifted in college, or my aversion to mirrors and music accompanying my workout? Regardless the cause, these days I'm pretty averse to lifting in a gym. I focus deeply while I work out, and I like to blur the line between meditating and exercising.
As I've come to learn Pilates more deeply, my appreciation of its mindful approach deepens. While I know that the Pilates equipment and its springs don't necessarily meet the exercise physiologist's definition of resistance training, I consider the added resistance of the springs, at least when compared to Yoga, as sufficient resistance training. To help bolster the odds that my Pilates-based approach to resistance training is sufficient, I added in some body-weight leg exercises and a series of upper-body dumbbell exercises into my weekly routine. While the surest approach to building and maintaining muscle mass is through weight lifting, I'm willing to take the calculated risk that Pilates, augmented with some squats, lunges and dumbbell exercises, are sufficient to check the proverbial resistance-training box.
In terms of building and maintaining muscle mass, I feel that Yoga-only is more risk than I care to shoulder, weight lifting (the surest bet for muscle mass) isn't my cup of tea, and a hybrid-Pilates program is a split-the-difference calculated risk that I'm willing to bear. Time will tell if this approach works, and I continue to monitor the emerging scientific evidence and how I feel.
Next week I'll write about the calculated risks I embrace in my aerobic training.
I think the evidence is quite strong that resistance training is beneficial for the human body. Among the benefits of resistance training are:
- Increased bone density
- Increased muscle mass (great for counteracting the effects of aging)
- Improved balance
- Reduced risk of lower-back pain
- Increased resting metabolism (good for weight control)
- Improved glucose tolerance (reduce risk of developing diabetes, and/or reducing its severity)
For years I considered my daily Yoga practice as sufficient resistance training. The teachers who taught me Modern Postural Yoga repeatedly claimed that yoga postures both built healthy muscles and aerobic fitness, and I was happy to take them at their word. As a 20-something, these 40+ year old Yoga teachers all seemed to be the picture of health! As I aged, and simultaneously watched many of these senior teachers aging, my thinking shifted. While a handful of yoga-only adherents did age gracefully and in good health, it appeared that many of the yoga-only crowd were aging less gracefully than the gym people that we often looked down upon. My faith was shaken, and I questioned the risks I was undertaking in adhering to my yoga-only approach to strength. At the same time, scientific studies began popping up that seriously questioned the fitness claims of Modern Postural Yoga. At that point, my choice to eschew resistance training in favor of Yoga seemed excessively risky. Once I set aside my faith that Yoga postures would help me maintain and build my muscle mass, I was in the market for a form of resistance training that I enjoyed.
Enjoyed is the key point. Clearly, lifting weights is the time-tested pathway to resistance training. For better or worse, though, I struggled to drag my butt into a weight room. Maybe it's all the hours I lifted in college, or my aversion to mirrors and music accompanying my workout? Regardless the cause, these days I'm pretty averse to lifting in a gym. I focus deeply while I work out, and I like to blur the line between meditating and exercising.
 |
| Springs provide resistance on the Pilates equipment |
As I've come to learn Pilates more deeply, my appreciation of its mindful approach deepens. While I know that the Pilates equipment and its springs don't necessarily meet the exercise physiologist's definition of resistance training, I consider the added resistance of the springs, at least when compared to Yoga, as sufficient resistance training. To help bolster the odds that my Pilates-based approach to resistance training is sufficient, I added in some body-weight leg exercises and a series of upper-body dumbbell exercises into my weekly routine. While the surest approach to building and maintaining muscle mass is through weight lifting, I'm willing to take the calculated risk that Pilates, augmented with some squats, lunges and dumbbell exercises, are sufficient to check the proverbial resistance-training box.
In terms of building and maintaining muscle mass, I feel that Yoga-only is more risk than I care to shoulder, weight lifting (the surest bet for muscle mass) isn't my cup of tea, and a hybrid-Pilates program is a split-the-difference calculated risk that I'm willing to bear. Time will tell if this approach works, and I continue to monitor the emerging scientific evidence and how I feel.
Next week I'll write about the calculated risks I embrace in my aerobic training.
Comments