Why do we have to increase the weights every week?
A client asked me recently, so let’s break it down!
During a strength block, our overarching goal is to increase our maximum strength. So over a 2-3 month period, we gradually add weight over time to each movement. Some weeks, this may be two pounds.
Some weeks, you may only increase weight on one set, or on one movement. You won’t actually be adding weight to every set of every moment each week, but from week 1 to week 12, you’ll see an overall increase in weight used per movement.
The importance of improving your strength and power? It has a lot to do with your future:
- Type II muscle fibers atrophy with age and inactivity, but strength training recruits and improves these fibers.
- Sarcopenia and osteoporosis are not just the result of chronological age, but of inactivity and underloading. So, increasing your overall strength fights off age-related conditions such as these.
- You won’t have to worry about simple tasks becoming difficult in your 80s if you stay strong throughout adulthood.
While our strength block doesn’t focus as heavily on muscle building, it still contributes to a healthy body composition and increases your fat free mass index (this means a healthier ratio of lean body mass to fat mass).
An increase in Fat Free Mass Index has been linked to:
- Improved insulin sensitivity.
- Less likely to have metabolic syndrome
- Higher RMR. This means that having a higher proportion of lean muscle mass contributes to increased energy expenditure, even when at rest.
- Lower levels of triglycerides and higher levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.
While these are all incredibly important benefits, it’s worth mentioning that psychologically, it feels damn good to set a new record and do things you’ve never done before!
