08/09/2024
https://myhealthandharmony.uk/developing-muscle-strength-do-you-feel-like-your-exercises-are-not-working/
DEVELOPING MUSCLE STRENGTH
Muscle strength is so important to maintain stability of our joints during every day movements and sporting activity. It is even more important to consider as we age, particularly as we develop injuries and pain in our joints. Often, we stop exercising when we get these injuries and pain, but this can compound the issues in our body, and we can end up in a spiral of decline and fear of exercise.
If our muscles have low strength, for example we have had an injury, are fatigued/tired, or suffering from muscle damage, it increases the possibility of an injury, as the muscle strength tank is running on empty, and as such the neural drive to our muscles can be inhibited. It is common to think that we suffer a muscle strain or ligament/bone injury because our muscle spindles just cannot react quick enough to the action we are undertaking.
But do you know the difference in requirements to develop muscle strength, as against muscle power and endurance? Prescribing 3 sets of 10 of an exercise just won’t cut it!
If we want to develop muscle strength when rehabilitating/conditioning from injury, pain or fatigue, in simple terms you should think about the following:
- Your RM (repetition maximum) is the maximum number of repetitions you can do before you cannot do any more (i.e. to failure).
- 3-5 repetitions at your RM is the ideal range to develop muscle strength.
So, if you can lift a weight or undertake an exercise at more than 5 reps quite easily, you are not really developing strength, as you are not stimulating the muscle and creating adaptations*.
Even if you are not a gym goer, next time you lift that heavy bag of shopping, it might be doing you more good than you realise!
*All exercises should be undertaken safely and with correct technique.
