The Power of Resistance
Over the last 10 years, millions of people doing Body-for-LIFE have shown that the body thrives on stress and resistance and weight training is a form of resistance exercise. Champion or Challenger, we have discovered that we all engage in resistance exercise every time we rise from our beds in the morning. When we stand up, when we go vertical, we defy gravity.
The beauty of resistance exercise is that it intensifies the effect of gravity. When we lift a weight, we are challenging our muscles to do more. We are imposing a load or stress that forces the muscle to adapt. It does so, over time, by growing bigger and stronger. When you repeatedly contract a muscle under a heavy load, you break down the muscle tissue. You actually cause microscopic tears. That's why your muscles often feel sore after a rigorous workout. Your body senses the damage and sends in a repair crew. The repair crew not only rebuilds what was there before but also reinforces it with thicker beams and braces. The aim is to make the muscle tough enough to withstand a similar load in the future.
The technical term for this adaptation is "remodeling." After a couple of days, when the muscle is fully healed, it will be a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger. This is the fundamental dynamic behind reshaping your body through weight training.
Notice that we specified a heavy load. A weight you can lift easily more than 20 times won't tax your muscles sufficiently to stimulate growth and produce results. How much weight you lift is determined by your own fitness level and health.
For Inspirational Champion Julie Whitt, who completed four consecutive Challenges while strengthening her body for a grueling heart and lung transplant, at first a roll of quarters was a challenging load for her, but in the be - ginning it was the weight her muscles needed to grow. Every weight training exercise consists of two parts: the lifting phase and the lowering phase.
The lifting phase is also called the positive phase. When you perform a curl, the positive phase occurs when you lift the weight from below your waist to your shoulders. You do so by contracting your biceps muscle and bending your arms at the elbows. The lowering phase is called the negative phase. Both phases are important. Indeed, the lowering phase is even more crucial to muscle growth. When you lower the weight, your biceps muscle gets both stretched and contracted. This causes more tearing and damage. This tearing leads to healing and the healing leads to growing.
That's why it's essential not to let the weight drop quickly. If you do, you'll be wasting at least half the value of the exercise. Instead, you should lower the weight smoothly and slowly. "In the beginning, I did not really understand how important weight training and resistance was for maintaining good health," Champion Vic Carter admits. "I now look at weight training as my ticket to the ‘Fountain of Youth'… it has helped me lose body fat, grow muscle and reshape my body. In short, it helped me maximize my physical potential."
Your body is an immensely adaptable tool, and it will do what it takes to get the job done. It will beef itself up to handle the demands of the task. That's why speed skaters have bulging thighs. That's why a right-handed professional tennis player has a huge right forearm.
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