Whether you’re brand new to resistance training or it’s been a year or two (or ten!) since you last trained, these basic explanations will help you get the motivation to start up. One of the biggest obstacles for people to start lifting weights is the intimidation of learning something new, so let’s shatter that together!
What is Resistance Training?
Resistance training, strength training, weight training, lifting weights…what’s the difference? I like to think of resistance training as the act of making your body and muscles work against force. It describes an action. Strength training is ultimately the same thing, but more describes the outcome. If you are resistance training properly you will gain strength…well, if you’re doing it right you will! And lifting weights?! Same thing, different name.
The Benefits of Training
Where do we even start with this? The benefits of training are unparalleled when it comes to health maintenance and optimization. It is by far the number one activity you can do to not only enhance your current health but also protect your future health and prevent the disabilities of aging. We can’t stop the clock. But we can take action to age with optimal mobility, independence, and quality of life.
The shortlist of the very long list of benefits includes but is not limited to improved mood, mental health, sleep, energy, body image, confidence, strength, bone health, heart health, posture, flexibility, fat loss, and metabolic health. Additionally, weight training will decrease stress, anxiety, risk of slip and falls, risk of injuries, mobility loss, risk of cognitive decline
America tends to focus on obesity. In reality, we should be looking closer at the fact that Americans are extremely under-muscled. Even if the obesity levels stayed the same, we would be a much healthier population with higher muscle to support mobility and metabolic health. If you need help getting started, consider reaching out to an online coach to help you with programming, such as Irene Iron Fitness.
Equipment Options
Many RVers have to carry their equipment onboard their rig. If you are a part-time or weekend warrior, you want to have a program using equipment that can easily move from your sticks and bricks to your RV life. Knowing your equipment options will be a good step to being set up properly.
The top two options we recommend for training are dumbbells or loop-style resistance bands. With either option, you will want to be sure to have a wide variety of weight/resistance levels. One single set of dumbbells will not do the trick. You want to have lightweight, heavyweight, and everything in between. You have a lot of different-sized muscles on your body and it is not a one-size fits all. Especially once you start to make strength improvements and need to increase resistance to continue to make progress.
How Often Should You Train?
It’s important to stay safe and start at a level that you feel comfortable and enjoy. This might mean one time per week for ten minutes per session. It might mean two times per week for twenty minutes per session. Ultimately, you want to work your way up to three or four times per week, at 30-45 minutes per session.
Start where you are at and make sure that you enjoy it. If you take on too much too soon, you can discourage yourself, burn out, or worse, cause injury. You will know when it is time to ramp it up!
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