The Greatest Loser: Strength and endurance training

July 02, 2008 04:59 pm

— To keep up with the progress of the Greatest Loser participants, click the following link to visit their blog: The Greatest Loser blog

Dustin Parker, an athletic trainer at St. John’s Regional Medical Center, spoke Tuesday to participants in the Joplin Family Y’s Greatest Loser program.
His topic was the importance of strength and endurance training. A proper regimen will help build muscles (hypertrophy), while not using them can cause muscle tissue to be metabolized (atrophy).
Proper technique and breathing are extremely important when strength training, Parker said.
“If you’re using terrible form and not breathing right, you’re at an increased risk for injury and you’re also not going to reach your goal,” he said.
It’s important to start light and not overdo it, but also to gradually increase the weights you’re working with — known as progressive overload — according to Parker.
“You can’t stay where you’re at,” he said. “You have to increase the weight because your body adapts to it.”
Balance is also something to strive for in your workout.
“You want balance in a strength-training program,” Parker said. “If you’re working out muscles in the front, then you want to do it for the back. If you’re doing a quad exercise, then also do a hamstring exercise.”
When beginning a strength-training program, setting sensible, measurable and attainable goals should be a priority.
“That way you’ll have something to look at,” Parker said. “A few months later, you can go back and ask yourself, ‘Have I accomplished them?”