#Column #BodyPump for #StrengthTraining #Diet
Ideal Theory:Reasons why your body shape doesn't change with diet and strength training, and countermeasures: Table of Contents
Practical Application:Training record one year after onset
※This is not a recommendation of the exercises described, but merely a personal experience. Please consult a doctor and follow their guidance regarding your own medical condition and physical state before exercising.
11 months after onset I resumed full-scale exercise.
Currently, I have shifted to BodyPump twice a week, and I hardly use machines for strength training anymore.
Therefore, I would like to share the benefits for those who go to gyms but feel no effect from strength training, have joint pain, or are beginners unsure if they should participate.
BodyPump
Overview
BodyPump is a 60-minute training session using barbells and other equipment, where you continue to move according to the trainer's instructions and tempo, following songs over 3 minutes each for warm-up, squats, chest, back, biceps, triceps, lunges, shoulders, and abs.
There are also 30-minute and 45-minute versions with fewer body parts.
General Theory
Because it applies long-duration TUT (Time Under Tension), you continue to move with low weight and high repetitions.
As a result, slow-twitch muscle fibers become exhausted, and fast-twitch muscle fibers are also engaged and trained.
Consequently, slow-twitch fibers, fast-twitch fibers, and cardiovascular function are trained, making it an aerobic exercise as well.
Explanation
Slow-twitch and Fast-twitch Muscle Fibers
Muscles are not a single mass; they are composed of muscle fibers bundled together like a bundle of straw and wrapped in fascia.
These muscle fibers are a mixture of two types: slow-twitch and fast-twitch.
※In reality, mixed muscles (Type IIa, Type IIx) also exist, but I will omit them as it would take too long.
Normal movements are performed almost entirely by slow-twitch fibers, and fast-twitch fibers move when exerting full power (explosive power).
Since fast-twitch fibers tend to grow thicker than slow-twitch fibers, it is said that training fast-twitch fibers is effective for increasing muscle size.
※Regarding the difference in energy consumption, there are various theories about whether slow-twitch or fast-twitch is better, but as I wrote in the general theory, BodyPump trains both, so I will omit it.
Training Fast-twitch Fibers
I wrote that fast-twitch fibers move when exerting full power (explosive power).
Therefore, it is necessary to train by performing movements that exert full power, that is, by applying load with heavy weights.
Handling heavy weights with machines, etc., is an example of this.
However, the biggest problem with this method is the risk of injury.
Heavy weights place the most burden on weak areas, causing pain.
This also happens easily when trying to move with incorrect form using small, non-target muscles.
Also, I see problems caused by moving too fast because they are fast-twitch fibers.
Wanting to train fast-twitch fibers with low weight
Therefore, BodyPump is a way to train fast-twitch fibers without injury (without using heavy weights).
※I will describe slow training (hereinafter referred to as slow-tra) later.
By using muscles with low weight and high repetitions, slow-twitch fibers continue to move aerobically.
Compared to fast-twitch fibers, they have endurance, but naturally, they reach their limit.
If you try to move even more, fast-twitch fibers are forced to work.
It is a mechanism where fast-twitch fibers are loaded and trained at that timing.
Also, slow-tra is a mechanism that is similar but different; by moving slowly, it reduces the muscle pump effect (the effect where blood flow increases by compressing and expanding blood vessels as muscles contract and relax), and the reduced blood flow causes the inside of the muscle to become hypoxic, increasing lactic acid concentration, etc., causing the muscle to mistakenly think it is fatigued, and the fast-twitch fibers move.
However, because it compresses blood vessels, it is actually tough and painful when you do it, compared to how it sounds on paper.
※Maintaining muscle mass for the elderly is a different level.
However, this is also adopted in BodyPump, and at the very end, instructions such as super slow (tempo) or holding squats at the position of maximum load and moving in small increments are given, which supports moving the fast-twitch fibers.
To achieve results
To move fast-twitch fibers, you must exhaust the slow-twitch fibers.
What is necessary for that is TUT.
In the case of squats, if you just let the weight pull you down, rest on your skeletal structure, lift in an instant, and rest on your joints, there is almost no Time Under Tension (TUT) for the muscles.
Even if you increase the weight, if you rest, it is natural that your fast-twitch muscle fibers will not be easily engaged.
You need to resist the weight (negative movement: the action of resisting weight while lengthening the muscle), lower your hips, start lifting without stopping, and start lowering without stopping.
Therefore, in a 2-2 count, the lowering and lifting speeds are the same, and there is no timing to stop.
(Strictly speaking, you stop for just an instant at the top to feel the contraction and at the bottom to feel the stretch.)
If you narrow your range of motion, it becomes easier for time to stop and rest to occur, and the tempo will not go as instructed.
Also, unless you stretch the muscle and contract it to the maximum, the efficiency for muscle fatigue will be poor.
In other words, (as can be said for all strength training), if you have "room to spare" after one song (body part) is finished, the effect is thin.
Benefits
Slow-twitch fibers, fast-twitch fibers, and cardiovascular function can be trained.
Even in the shortest 30-minute version, you can train your whole body (squats, chest, back, abs).
Since it is aerobic exercise, calorie consumption is high.
Since it is strength training, the afterburn effect (a state where consumption is increased for recovery after exercise) occurs.
Since it is low weight (even body weight is fine), the risk of injury is low.
The trainer shows a model in front (doing the same training), so you just have to imitate them.
During training, general precautions (such as not letting your knees go forward in squats) are instructed.
When it gets tough, the trainer will hype you up.
Without fear of prejudice, men do not last long and it is difficult for them to see results.
This is because they handle heavy weights and the TUT is short.
Also, they stubbornly stick to the free-weight form they saw in videos where the target (which muscle to hit) is different, and they do not correct their form.
If it is your first time, the trainer will tell you the weight (if you ask), or you can use your own body weight like in lunges.
If you have room to spare, you should increase the weight next time, and if you can no longer move halfway through, just lighten it.
There is absolutely no need to do it with heavy weights while wearing knee supporters.
The biggest difference from machines is that you are shown the correct model.
And there are participants with various forms around you, and since the results appear in their bodies if they are correct, your eyes will be trained.
Moreover, (in a good way) once it starts, you cannot go home until it is over.
If you have any questions about form, you can consult the trainer (if there is time before the next session), and it might lead to (paid) personal training.
Also, the causes of not seeing results in strength training are often the following, so there is a high possibility that they can be resolved.
Form is not correct (using muscles other than the target).
Weight is too heavy (form collapses).
Not pushing hard enough (muscles other than the target get tired).
If I were asked what kind of training I would do when I get older, I would answer BodyPump.
This is because it is an aerobic exercise that can train muscles (even with body weight), and there is no need to move during training, so you will not collide with other participants.
(In dance-based styles, this is scary when movements become sluggish.)
I highly recommend you try participating in BodyPump.
If the fatigue on the day or the muscle soreness in the days that follow makes you think you'll never do it again, that is proof that it is working.