Strength Your Way: The Bar

“Consistency before intensity. Start small and become the kind of person who shows up every day. Build a new identity. Then increase the intensity.” ~ James Clear

For years, I’ve been a fan of the Movement Logic podcast with Strength Coach Laurel Beversdorf and Physical Therapist Sarah Court. Over the years they have helped me unpack some of the myths, misinformation, and even cultish culture of the fitness industry. They have helped me understand the current science about movement and how it *actually* impacts the body (or not). I learn from them all the time and I’m a better teacher and mover because of it.

But when they suggested that the best way to build bone and fight sarcopenia was lifting heavy with a barbell?

Well, that was a bridge too far.

I fought this idea with every fiber of my post-menopausal being. Sarah and Laurel have clear, cogent arguments about why it’s the best choice for strength training and yet, the very idea of it just seemed like … too much.

It would be expensive. It would take up too much space. It would be, well, HARD.

It took years. Years of building my strength and capacity. Years of understanding what I needed to keep me consistent and motivated. Years of continuing education and research.

Until, I finally said, OK. OK, OK, OK. Let’s do this.

So here are 6 of the things I have discovered:

1. A barbell set is less expensive and space intensive than I thought. For someone who did not want to pay the cost of a gym membership – not the commute, the expense, or the culture – staying home is appealing.

2. We spent less than $400 for all the barbell gear. We got some new (and on big sale) but much used at Play It Again Sports. Everything we use can be stacked in a corner. It takes less than 2 minutes to set it up and break it down.

Here’s the Gear we use:

Barbell ~ We got a 27lb/6’ bar but they come in different weights and lengths (the Olympic bar that you will find at many gyms is 45lbs and 7’ long).

Stands ~ We use two light, strong stands to rack the bar that are stable yet easy to move and store. We got them at Play It Again Sports for $30. You can also get a cage that offers the safety of bars to catch a dropped barbell but is also heavier and harder to assemble and store.

Bench ~ We got a simple, light weight, adjustable bench that is essential for bench press and can be used for several other moves.

Plates ~ We have a set of soft rubber plates in 45 lbs, 25 lbs and 10lbs that we supplement with smaller 5 lb and 2-1/2 lbs plates that we bought at Play It Again Sports. Having the smaller weights allows us to progress gradually and let our bodies adapt to moving heavy weight.

Clamp / Collar ~ It’s essential to have a barbell clamp or collar to secure the plates when they are loaded onto the bar. We love these as they are light, easy-to-use and super strong.

Additional Options:

Medicine Ball ~ We use external weights including the plates and a 14 lb medicine ball mostly for core and balance exercises. I like the ball because there are fun (ish) things you can do with it. Totally optional.

Mat ~ We are using our set up in my studio that has a beautiful hardwood floor that we wanted to protect, so we also bought this puzzle floor mat system that is great: light, soft and strong. If you are not working on a floor you want to protect, this might not be needed for you.

3. Bring a Buddy! Training can absolutely be done alone (I did it for years) but it’s easier and more fun with a buddy or someone to encourage you.

4. Muscles vs connective tissue. As you lift heavier, understand that muscles respond more quickly to training than connective tissue in joints, tendons (connecting muscle to bone) and ligaments (connecting bone to bone). Muscles respond well to high intensity activity while tendons and ligaments respond to gradual and consistent activity.

5. Rest is essential. Make sure you are resting between sets (at least a minute or two) and between working a body part. Notice Squats/Deadlifts on one day then Lunges three days later.

6. It’s better with a buddy or group. The human brain is wired to lean toward what is easy and comfortable. As you progress in strength training, the truth is that sometimes it will be uncomfortable. This is why training with someone helps keep us going when we don’t feel like showing up. A trainer, especially if all of this is new to you. A lifting buddy. A group even online. Have someone there to be accountable to.

To share all of this and more, plus the basic movements I do every week with the barbell, I’ve made you another video in the Strength Your Way series. You can watch the whole thing in under 40 minutes or use the time stamps to jump to particular sections or exercises.

Barbell Strength Moves – The Basics Video

Barbell Strength Moves – The Basics Video Time Stamps

0:00 ~ Intro to external resistance

1:00 ~ My story. Why I chose the barbell. Resource of Movement Logic Podcast. Barbell less daunting than I thought.

4:11 ~ Do it with a buddy.

5:07 ~ Gear: Barbell, Stands, Plates, Bench, Clamp/Collar, Medicine Ball, Mat

11:30 ~ Muscles vs Connective Tissue

13:06 ~ How much to lift?

14:50 ~ Rest between Sets and Body Parts

16:25 ~ Do it with someone

18:10 ~ Still experimenting

19:00 ~ Legs/Hips & Benefits of Free Weights

20:06 ~ Squats

22:00 ~ Deadlifts

24:23 ~ Chest/Back

25:00 ~ Chest Press

26:13 ~ Bent Over Rows

27:22 ~ Arms

27:35 ~ Bicep Curls

28:25 ~ Triceps Dips or Triceps Extensions – free weights

29:50 ~ Tri Extensions -- Bar

30:49 ~ Legs Balance / Shoulders

31:04 ~ Lunges

33:05 ~ Shoulder Press

34:14 ~ Core / Impact

34:39 ~ Broad Jump / Shuffle Back

36:07 ~ Medicine Ball V twists

37:43 ~ Medicine Ball Roll Ups

39:04 ~ Balancing Medicine Ball Toss with a friend

39:44 ~ Outro

Using the external resistance of the barbell for the biceps!

My strength training and barbell practice are still evolving and I’m still learning and adjusting all the time. This information is in no way meant to be prescriptive or dogmatic but rather inspirational encouragement.

As always, I would love to hear your questions and to help you create a strength training program that is great for your Right Now Today Body and your particular precious self. Leave a comment, send me an email: I’d love to connect with you.

Your strength is one of the most powerful determining factors for your ongoing health and longevity. Let’s get strong and live long!

Strength Your Way: The Bands

Imagine if you will, Susan a couple of years ago: I’ve been strength training with my body weight for many months. I’ve been adding reps (in the case of things like squats and pushups) and time (in the case of wall sits and plank). As the weeks go by, this is all taking longer and longer, until I’m spending over an hour doing the exercises most mornings. Plus, it’s kind of boring to do 50 of, well, anything – even if I’m listening to a podcast.

It was time for me to add some external resistance. I didn’t want to go to a gym: I live 10 miles from town which would mean about 40 minutes of driving round trip. Plus, I worked at a gym for more than 20 years and didn’t really relish going back to the gym bro culture.

So, I bought a set of resistance bands.

Reminder: In this Strength Your Way series, I’m sharing the path and resources that helped me build my own strength training program over the past several years. I’m neither strength coach nor personal trainer. I’m not telling you how to do this but rather giving you a bunch of ideas to explore on your own so you can create something that works for and evolves with you. As always, listen to your body, trust your experience and self-knowledge, rely on the guidance of people who are research-centered, and always check with your health team recommendations that are best for you.

If you do strength training consistently (and your body hopes you do), at some point, your body will adjust to body weight moves and will stop getting stronger. Like me, you will need some kind of external resistance to strengthen muscle, connective tissue, and bone. I found the bands to be a great way for me to progress resistance gradually, cut down my training time, and not break the bank.

Upsides and Downsides of Resistance Bands

Upsides:

• Bands are light, versatile, good for travel, and inexpensive (I bought mine for under $20).

• Bands give resistance in both directions of all movements. That is, because of the elasticity, you are pushing and pulling against them both when you go up and down.

Downsides:

• Bands tend to break down over time (it’s sometimes called “dry rot”) especially if you use them a lot. Keep an eye on them to be sure they don’t snap on you which would be startling at best and dangerous at worst.

• The actual resistance they provide is highly variable depending on how tightly you pull them (for example, someone short doing biceps curls or squats while standing on the band will get less resistance than someone tall). This is not a problem per se but it can make tracking what you’re doing a challenge.

• Some exercises are difficult to do with them (for example, bench press) although they offer an aspect of creativity and experimentation that is kind of fun.

• Once I started using multiple bands, I needed shoes or a platform to stand on to protect my feet. This may be less of an issue for someone who hasn’t broken both of their 5th metatarsal bones or who likes working out in shoes.

To share some ideas for moves you can do with Resistance Bands, I’ve made you a video! You can watch the whole thing in under 30 minutes or use the timestamps to check out a particular move.

Strength Your Way: Resistance Bands Moves video

Ideas for Resistance Bands Strength Moves Time Stamps

Note: my audio is a little off but just turn up the volume and you should be able to hear everything just fine.

0:00 ~ Intro

1:27 ~ The Gear

4:57 ~ Upsides & Downsides of Bands

8:30 ~ Start to progress to lower repetitions

9:30 ~ Legs/Hips - using platform

10:42 ~ Squat with Band

11:38 ~ Deadlift with Band

13:18 ~ Slide out Bridge

14:48 ~ Chest/Back

15:15 ~ Variations on push up

16:31 ~ Row with Band

18:15 ~ Arms

18:45 ~ Biceps with Band

19:20 ~ Triceps with Band

20:20 ~ Shoulders/Balance

20:28 ~ Lunge with band

21:50 ~ Overhead press with band

22:30 ~ Deltoid fly with band

23:36 ~ Core/Impact

24:00 ~ Jump “Rope” + Fake Skiing

25:00 ~ Moving Plank – Walking Plank + Side / Regular Side

26:16 ~ Bird Dog variations

28:30 ~ Kneeling (or lunging) Chop with Yoga Block

29:58 ~ Outro

Resistance bands can be a great way to progress your training at minimal risk. And as always, consistency is the big mover here. Keep asking yourself: is this something I can do every week for the foreseeable future? Benefits will not come from strength training once a month or from doing it for a couple weeks and then not doing it again. Rather than taking a big swing with an ambitious plan, I recommend adding just a little at a time — both in terms of resistance and numbers of exercises.

By the time I added the bands, doing strength training had become simply part of my morning routine. Better to go slowly and incrementally — not just for your body (connective tissue takes much longer to get strong than muscles do so it’s important to take your time) but for your habit-building.

I would love to hear questions, concerns, ideas about any aspect of building a consistent, incremental, progressive strength training program. Please drop a comment below, on the video or pop me an email.

Next week: The barbell! Let’s get strong, everybody.

Resources

Strength Your Way post and Strength Your Way: Your Body Weight video

Strength Your Way: The Bands video

There is a ton of research about the impact of resistance training for everybody, particularly folks over 50. Here is one study that I found particularly compelling called the Live Active Successful Aging (LISA) study. There is research and several books from a researcher at Tufts University which is old but still pertinent (h/t Cecilia Mills). (The basics look good to me and only if it is progressive!)

Strength Your Way: Your Body Weight

This is Part 2 in a 4-part series about creating strength training for your Right Now Today Body. In it, I’m sharing a variety of resources that have helped me build my own strength training program. You can read Part 1 in the series here.

I’m not a personal trainer or a strength coach. I am most definitely not your doctor or your PT. I’m not telling you how to do this but rather giving you a basket full of ideas and moves to explore on your own so you can create something that works for and evolves with you.

In this post, I begin the outline of the slow, progressive approach that I’ve used over the past few years that you can jump into from wherever you are. As always, listen to your body, trust your experience and self-knowledge, rely on the guidance of people who are research-centered, and always check with your health team recommendations that are best for you.

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"Use what you already know. People are so busy searching for a shortcut — or hoping an easier path will reveal itself — they let numerous moments slip by when they could get results simply by doing what is right in front of them." ~ James Clear

A couple of years ago, I understood that strength training is an incredibly good thing to do for your physical health, mental health and longevity. I could feel that even though I regularly move in lots of ways, I was losing strength.

So I started super simple: every morning, I did some squats and some push ups (on the edge of my desk, not the floor!).

I felt good. I kept doing it. Just a little. Every day.

After a while, I tracked how many squats and push ups I did and increased that number a little at a time. Then I added a wall sit. And then a plank.

This went on for months and months: adding moves, increasing the difficulty, and when there were too many moves to do in one session, doing them on alternate days. I started thinking about what body parts I was working and how I was working them. I learned a ton both through research and my own experimentation. Even now, though I’ve progressed to using external resistance, I come back to these body weight moves often when I’m traveling or don’t have access to my gear.

Now I offer you a short video to share some ideas and ways to think about using your body weight for strength training. You can watch the whole video in 30 minutes or click on any of the time stamps to jump to those moves.

VIDEO ~ Strength Your Way: Body Weight Moves

Strength Your Way: Body Weight Moves Video Time Stamps

0:00 ~ Introduction

2:00 ~ Plus Sides and Down Sides of Body Weight Moves

3:35 ~ What to Consider When Choosing What Moves to Do

4:20 ~ How Many Reps & Sets

5:52 ~ Legs/Hips

6:39 ~ Chair Squat

7:30 ~ Stool Squat

8:10 ~ Air Squat (Including Ass to Grass)

9:00 ~ Air Deadlift

10:27 ~ Bridge w toes up; variation on one leg

12:40 ~ Chest/Back

13:30 ~ Press Up on Wall / Table / Counter / Chair / Knees on Floor

15:10 ~ Pull on Railing

15:48 ~ Bent Over Wings

16:45 ~ Arms

17:16 ~ Biceps – Self Resistance

17:53 ~ Triceps – Self Resistance

18:44 ~ Triceps -- on Chair

19:30 ~ Shoulders/Lunges for Balance

19:50 ~ Lunge – body weight

21:00 ~ Lunge -- body weight with switch and optional balance

21:46 ~ Overhead press – Self Resistance

22:28 ~ Deltoid fly - Self Resistance

23:43 ~ Core/Impact

24:00 ~ Heel bumps

25:27 ~ Plank on knees with variations to progress

27:22 ~ V-Sit twist with feet on floor

28:46 ~ Side Plank knees

29:28 ~ Side Plank knees with twist

30:00 ~ Super Person with variations

31:16 ~ Outro

Ultimately, you want to build a habit of strengthening your body. To do that:

1. Start small. Pick a couple of moves that you like and do them for a while, then add on as you get stronger.

2. Make it easy. Have your list of moves on your dresser. Have workout clothes laid out (although I did these in my pajaymas for a long long time.)

3. Stack it. Add your strength training to something you already do (squat while flossing! Do a plank while figuring out Wordle!) or add it to something you love to do (Do your routine while listening to your favorite podcast, music or audio book! Even better if you ONLY listen to those things while strength training.)

Play around for yourself and your Right Now Today Body and see what works for you. If one approach doesn’t work or you stop doing it, it’s OK! Just begin again and notice how to adjust it so it works better.

What makes an impact are the things you do – for better or for worse – consistently. Always ask yourself, can I sustain doing this not just for a week but for the foreseeable future?

James Clear, author of the great book Atomic Habits, asks it this way:

“Bad things are always happening loudly: the injury, the flat tire, the mistake that gets you criticized. Everybody talks about the moments that make things a hassle.

“Good things are always happening quietly: the completed workout, the healthy meal, the ten minutes of writing. Nobody talks about the little moments that add up.

“What good things have you done quietly today?”

Resources

Full Body Home Workout For Beginner or Out-of-Shape - No Equipment - Easy to Do with Bob & Brad (h/t Jill Schneider)

I’m trying out some somatic strength training classes with Peter Appel (h/t Cecilia Mills). I’ll report back!

Strength Your Way: The Basics

For the past few years, I have been researching and experimenting with my version of strength training. The voluminous research (see Resources below) has definitively convinced me that strength training not only fights the impact of muscle loss (it’s called sarcopenia, y’all – it’s real and you can do something about it) but improves bone health, balance, injury prevention, independence and more. So. Much. More.

I’ve been a movement teacher for 25 years; I’m not a strength coach or personal trainer. And the number one thing I notice in the past 25 years of teaching is that participants tend to leave strength training out of their movement diet. That omission starts to limit their capacity not just for movement in class but in life.

Your body needs all kinds of movement. Walking, for example, is great but doesn’t do much to increase your strength or flexibility. Lifting heavy stuff while gardening or grandparenting is also great but will do little to increase your mobility and range of motion. The longer you live in your body, the more important all types of movement and particularly strength is for retaining your everyday abilities and independence.

But strength training doesn’t have to look any particular way. There are lots of ways at it and what matters is finding what works for you.

Squatting. It’s not just an exercise. It’s a living movement! (Photo: Rebecca George Photography)

Over the next few weeks, I will share a bunch of resources that have helped me build my own strength training program (and how it has changed). I’m not telling you how to do this but rather giving you a basket full of seeds to explore on your own so you can create something that works for and evolves with you. I will give you an outline of the slow, progressive approach that I’ve used that you can jump into from wherever you are.

As always, listen to your body, trust your experience and self-knowledge, rely on the guidance of people who are research-centered, and always check with your health team recommendations that are best for you.

So first, before we get into the details…the basics.

You can strengthen your body with your body weight, with resistance bands, with weights, or with a jaunty festive medicine ball! (Photo: Rebecca George Photography)

Strength Training Your Way: The Basics

1. Start Where You Are

It may sound obvious, but you cannot start where you are not. A common mistake people make when starting strength training is doing too much, too soon. This often leads to extreme soreness or even injury which stops us from doing anything at all. Another mistake is not doing enough for your Today Body (think always doing the same Pilates exercises or staying at that one setting on the chest press machine) which leads to your body’s boredom and lack of progress. Either way, it’s no bueno. Start where you are and adjust from there. Little by little is how to do this. Perfection is not the goal: doing soemthing is better than doing nothing.

2. Consistency over Intensity

While I’m an advocate for moving toward higher resistance and lower reps (see #3), choose a program that you will do consistently. I have devised a simple 30-40 minute program for myself that I do 6 days a week in the mornings. That’s what works for me and I do it regularly (almost) without fail.

But you know you. You know your tendencies and your schedule. It is better to do 5 minutes every day than do 60 minutes one day and then not do it again for a week or two. Remember: doing something is better than doing nothing. What can you commit to doing on the regular? Start there and add as you need and want.

3. Progression, progression, progression (and recession when needed)

Your body is great at a lot of cool stuff and one of the things it’s best at is adaptation. Once you’ve done something for a bit, your body gets used to it and is no longer stimulated to grow and change. Muscles, bones and connective tissue need to be “on their toes.” It’s important to increase the load that you are working under (little by little by little) and/or change the movement you are doing to work any particular area.

This brings us to the question of repetitions (the number of times you do an exercise) and sets (the number of times you do those reps). Here’s an example of how I progressed squats over the course of many months:

When working with your body weight, the way to progress is to change your range of motion. For squats, for example, I started with chair sits (kissing my butt to a chair and coming up), then to a lower stool, then full range of motion. For pushups, I started on a countertop, then progressed to a table, then to a chair, then to the floor. The change in angle kept my body challenged without any change in external resistance.

Once you start adding external resistance like bands or weights, you can slowly add a little weight at a time (and I mean a little!) to keep your body challenged and able to do the reps.

Keep progressing and challenging yourself but remember that your body is not a machine. Progress will not be linear. There will be times when you need to back off and regress in order to move forward. Keep paying attention to how you feel before, during and after the movements. Play with the paradox of progressing without overdoing, adding challenge without straining or contorting.

NOTE: Movement Logic has some helpful resources in determining your best working weight and reps in their mini barbell course, even if you aren’t using a barbell.

4. Rest Between Sessions and Between Sets (But KEEP GOING – See #2)

When you do strength training, what you are literally doing is breaking your muscles down a little bit so they can build back stronger. This is your body adapting to the load you are putting on it. It’s important, then, to give your body time to recover before working that part again. Some folks have a whole routine that they do 2-3 times a week. I have shorter routines that I do 6 days a week but I shift from working lower body, to upper body, to core.

As you progressively increase your load and get to higher weights and lower reps, you will find that you need a longer break between sets to get your breath back (for me it’s 1-3 minutes). As always, listen to your body and do the next set when you feel ready, no rush.

5. Sore Muscles…or not

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is the achy feeling after working muscles in a new way. It’s important to distinguish between PAIN and SORENESS. Pain is sharp and localized, soreness is achy and tender in the general area of where your muscles were challenged.

It’s normal to experience DOMS especially when you are starting out. If you get SO sore that you struggle to move, you’ve probably overdone it but probably have not caused any damage (see Pain vs Soreness above). If you progressively load your body very gradually, you may not experience soreness at all (this is true for me) and that does not mean you haven’t had a good workout! Bottom line: it’s ok if you have DOMS and it’s ok if you don’t. For more on recovery, check out this episode of the Movement Logic Podcast.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I’m not going to lie. There are many days that I do not want to do my strength training. Almost always, once I get started I’m good. Sometimes, I’m not loving it while I’m doing it but am so glad that I have when I’ve finished. And occasionally (I haven’t slept well, I’m healing something, our democracy goes sideways), I just don’t have the juice to do it.

Just as it’s important to distinguish between pain and soreness, it’s important to distinguish between “Waaaah don't want to” and “I don't have it in me today.” Pay close attention to that difference and regress when you need to (see #3). Do your best not to skip more than 3 days in a row (this will mess with your habit-building) but if you do, no problem, just begin again.

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Those are the basics.

As we move through this series, you can keep returning to these foundational principles, especially when you are making choices about doing making a change (either at the beginning or after your body has adapted).

Next week, I’ll show you some of my favorite simple strength moves that you can do with no equipment and just your body weight! In the meantime, take a look at the resources are below.

Questions? Just pop them in the comments!

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RESOURCES

The Web is full of all kinds of resources. Lean into them but check your sources: there are plenty of hucksters and well-meaning clueless people out there telling you what to do. Make sure that you are following folks who use well-founded research-based approaches, check with your health team about your plan, and above all, listen to your body.

Sarcopenia, y’all. It’s the real deal.

https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/how-can-strength-training-build-healthier-bodies-we-age

Go heavy

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/heavy-resistance-training-benefits-older-adults#Other-forms-of-strength-training-also-beneficial

For bone health, LiftMor Study is one of the best

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28975661/

and

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-38-got-bones-yoga-asana-isnt-enough/id1614469934?i=1000610717217

Comprehensive booklet on strength training from the CDC

https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/downloads/growing_stronger.pdf