FAQ

Why Strength Train?

Increased lean body mass
Increase Bone Mineral Density
Lean Physique
Increased Functional Strength
Increased power and sporting Performance
Increased joint strength and Stability
Increased Vitality and Quality of Life
Increased Metabolic rate – even during sleep 
Improved posture
Decrease chance of osteoporosis
Decrease risk of Injury
Decrease the chances of type 2 diabetes

How often should I strength train?

Strength Training once a week provides adequate recovery and over-compensation time for the body. Research shows that muscle can take between 4 – 7 days to recover from a hard weight training workout. It is the stimulus and the recovery that will give the results, therefore it’s vitally important not to train a muscle before it has had time to recover and get stronger. It you train during the recovery period, you will never receive maximum results. Major research shows that a minimum of 3 days recovery time for people who do not train hard, and up to 21 days for elite athletes who push themselves to the limit! If you strength train during the recovery period, you will never achieve maximum results.

Why compound exercises?

By doing compound exercises (exercises that target a number of muscles and joints at once) you can lift heavier loads due to a more stable base. You will therefore get stronger quicker and will reach your goals faster! It also produces a higher hormonal response and is less stressful across the joints. This form of training is far more time efficient when compared with numerous isolation exercises and will reduce the chance of injury caused from overtraining.

Do women who lift weights get Bulky?

Ladies, if you fear getting large bulky muscles from lifting weights, then breathe easy! Women do not have the level of testosterone and human growth Hormone required to increase Lean Muscle Mass dramatically. In fact, Strength training will increase your metabolism, burn fat faster and slow down the ageing process! Plus you will decrease the risk of Arthritis and degeneration of the joints! Strength training also plays a major role in the reduction of pain symptoms in Arthritis.
NOTE: Females you may see in muscle magazines generally take anabolic steroids, whereby testosterone is injected into the body.

How do I speed up my metabolism?

The fastest way to lose our ugly body fat is to speed up our metabolism. At the same time, slowing down our metabolism makes fat loss almost impossible. If you want a super-charged metabolism that churns through fat like a Hummer does through fuel, you have to eat and train in a specific way. 

Here are 3 tips that’ll show you how to speed up your metabolism. 

1. EAT A LOT MORE FOOD 

Our body fat becomes much more stubborn as soon as we drastically cut calories. This is because our body realizes that there is a shortage of food coming in, and that it may need to keep our energy reserves (fat stores) to survive in the future. 

After all, our body can’t predict the future. It can’t see how long this scarcity of food will last. It simply sees there is a lack of food, and it tries to adjust accordingly to survive for as long as possible. 

Since it doesn’t want to use fat, it instead uses our muscle tissue for energy. And since muscle burns calories, losing it results in our metabolism slowing down. 

To prevent this from happening, eat enough food to show our body that keeping our fat stores is useless. Seeing this abundance of energy coming in will make it much more comfortable to burn off our fat stores. 

So if you want to lose fat, try to eat at least 5 -6 meals a day of smaller portions. Remember to still choose the right foods! 

2. STRENGTH TRAINING 

Every extra kilo of muscle we add burns an extra 100 - 200 calories a day. Therefore, the more muscle we have, the faster our metabolism, and the easier it is to lose fat. 

So if you want to speed up your metabolism, strength training is a must. Stick to the basic exercises such as Bench Press, Push Ups, Dips, Chin Ups, Lat Pulldown, Rows, Squats, Lunges, Leg Press and Deadlifts. 

If you don’t want to build massive muscles, don’t worry. If you are trying to lose weight, you will be eating a calorie deficit. You will simply not be eating enough to build more than a few kilos of muscle at most. 

3. INTENSE CARDIO 

When I say, intense, I mean 10 minutes of ball-busting effort that has you gasping for air and struggling to finish your workout. 

Pushing to the limit like this, stimulates your metabolism so much so, that it stays elevated for the next 48-72 hours after the workout. This means that over the next few days after a workout, you will be burning more calories in your daily activities then you usually would. 

What if you did another intense workout while your metabolism is still elevated? 

Quite, simply your body fat wouldn’t stand a chance! 

What I recommend is doing 10 minutes of exercise as hard as you can. This can be as simple as a 10 minute run or breaking it up into periods of intense bursts followed by periods of active recovery.