What You Really Need to Know About Strength Training and Stretching

Straight talk — strength training & stretching

Get strong. Stay flexible.

What you really need to know. Nothing more.

Get strong and stay flexible — well into old age. The good news: This works for almost everyone, with two 20-minute sessions per week. The honest truth: It depends on how you use those 40 minutes.

Today, we’re getting straight to the point. What you really need to know about strength training and stretching — and which myths you can safely forget.

Strength training is the most important investment starting at 35.

From your mid-30s, your body slowly begins to lose muscle — about three to eight percent per decade. After 50, the loss accelerates to about one percent per year. Strength training can help stop this decline — and build muscle back up. It protects your bones, supports your basal metabolic rate through increased muscle mass, improves your posture, and may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and falls (especially in combination with balance training). It also supports your mental fitness into old age. No other training has this wide range of effects.

Two 20-minute sessions per week are sufficient.

You don’t need to go to the studio every day. Two strength sessions per week, each lasting 20 minutes, are optimal for almost everyone — as long as each repetition is performed cleanly, slowly, and in a controlled manner. More important than the duration: over time, lift slightly more weight. This principle is called ‘progressive overload’ and is the key to any progress. 40 minutes a week. That’s all you need.

Warm-up happens in the first repetition.

You don’t need a ten-minute cardio warm-up before your workout. No arm circles, no jumping jacks. When you start a strength exercise cleanly, slowly, and in a controlled manner — with lighter weight and gradual increases — you warm up exactly the muscle you’re about to work. Exercise-specific, efficient, safe. This is the best preparation for a clean repetition — and it happens in the first seconds of your training.

Flexibility comes from strength.

This surprises many: Training through the full range of motion automatically makes you more flexible. On the leg press, this means going to the point where you feel a slight stretch in your calf and glutes. On the chest press: until you feel the stretch in your chest. On the lat pull-down: all the way up, where you feel it in your sides. Research suggests that for everyday flexibility, strength training through the full range of motion is just as effective as pure stretching. Two effects in one exercise.

And stretching? You don’t need it.

Static stretching before training may reduce your strength — and doesn’t prevent injuries on its own. After training, it’s even worse: Your muscle fibers are in repair mode, and if you stretch mechanically at that point, you prolong recovery instead of promoting it. You’ll gain flexibility through strength in the full range of motion anyway. That’s all you need.

That’s it. You don’t need to know more at the core.

If you’re unsure whether you’re training cleanly or hitting the full range of motion: Talk to one of our trainers on-site. That’s what they’re there for.

Stay strong.