Muscle Fitness Basics

Muscle Fitness Basics • Muscular endurance • Muscles can work for long periods before becoming fatigued. • This happens because the energy systems of your muscle cells are improved.

Muscle Fitness Basics • Improving muscular endurance • by resistance training. • doing resistance training in a specific way (high reps, low weights).

Muscle Fitness Basics Muscular strength is Muscular strength is the amount of force a muscle can produce (usually assessed using low reps).

Muscle Fitness Basics What is meant by the term hypertrophy? • is an increase in size of the muscle fibers. • happens as a result of resistance training involving heavy weights and low repetitions.

Muscle Fitness Basics Can you explain the terms reps and sets used in designing a lifting program? • Reps – the number of lifts in a set. • Sets – one set is a group of repetitions (e.g., lifting 2 sets of 15 repetitions).

Muscle Fitness Basics • The three types of muscles your body has are. • Smooth • Smooth muscles make up the walls of internal organs, such as the stomach and blood vessels. • Cardiac • Your heart is made of cardiac muscle. • Both smooth and cardiac muscles are classified as involuntary muscles because you cannot consciously control their movements • Skeletal • Attached to bone and responsible for movement

Muscle Fitness Basics There are three types of fibers in skeletal muscle • fast-twitch • slow-twitch • intermediate

Muscle Fitness Basics • Slow-twitch fibers • contract at a slow rate. • generate less force than fast-twitch fibers. • can resist fatigue.

Muscle Fitness Basics • Fast-twitch fibers • contract fast. • generate more force when they contract. • are important for strength activities.

Muscle Fitness Basics • Intermediate fibers have characteristics of both slow- and fast-twitch fibers. • These fibers contract fast and have good endurance

Muscle Fitness Basics The strength of a muscle depends on several factors: • how well trained a person is, • the speed of the movement being performed, • the angle of the joint during a specific lift, • age, • sex, and • heredity (the types of muscle fibers you have).

Determining Your Modified 1RM 1RM One repetition maximum. It represents the maximum amount of weight a group of muscles can lift at one time.

1 Rep Max • General Guidelines • Please us all safety precautions by insuring that you have at least 2 spotters for each test. • Working in groups of three will give you enough rest between lifts so that you are able to complete all testing today. • Record your results below and on you blue log sheet.

Procedure • Warm-up with stretching that we have done at the beginning of class. • Warm-up with 5-10 repetitions at 40% to 60% of the estimated maximum weight you think you can lift. • You should have about a 3-4 minute rest as the others in your group are warming up with their 5-10 reps • Increase the load to 60% to 80% of the estimated maximum weight you think you can lift and attempt to complete 3-5 repetitions.

Procedure Cont. • Your goal is to determine your 1 RM in 3 to 5 trials, so start your initial load weight heavy enough to accomplish this. • Rest again as others in your group complete their lifts. • Add a small increase in weight to the load and then attempt a 1 rep max lift. • If the load can be lifted rest again and add more weight and attempt to lift it. • Repeat until you cannot lift the load you are attempting. The last weight you could lift is your 1 rep max. • You should give ongoing encouragement and communication with the others in your group, as this is crucial to obtain the best performance.

Applying the FITT Principle • Frequency = days per week • Intensity = amount of resistance • Time = number of repetitions and sets • Type = strength training exercises for all major muscle groups

Frequency of Exercise • American College of Sports Medicine recommends 2-3 days per week • Allow 1 full day of rest between workouts

Intensity of Exercise: Amount of Resistance • Choose resistance based on your current fitness level and goals • To build strength • Lift heavy weights (80% of 1 RM) • Perform a low number of repetitions • To build endurance • Lift lighter weights (40-60% of 1 RM) • Perform a high number of repetitions • For a general fitness program • Lift moderate weights (70% of 1 RM) • Moderate number of repetitions

Time of Exercise: Repetitions and Sets • To build strength and endurance, do enough repetitions to fatigue the muscles • The heavier the weight, the fewer the repetitions (1-5) to fatigue = a program to build strength • The lighter the weight, the higher the number of repetitions (15-20) to fatigue = a program to build endurance • To build both strength and endurance, try to do 8-12 repetitions of most exercises

Training for Strength versus Training for Endurance

Time of Exercise: Repetitions and Sets • Set = a group of repetitions followed by a rest period • For general fitness, 1 set of each exercise is sufficient • Doing more than one set will increase strength development • Rest between sets

Test is on Thursday • All this information is posted at • http://www.oremhighschool.com/staff/millerd/

Muscle Fitness Basics