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Strength training for men and women

Want to build strength? The good news is strength training is one of the most essential components of keeping fit and healthy.

When you build strength, not only does your appearance improve, but your overall physical and mental health improves too.

Benefits of Strength Training

Incorporating strength training in to your exercise programme will not only burn calories and increase muscle mass. It will also get the blood pumping all around the body, filling it with oxygen and nutrients needed to keep you fit and healthy.

Benefits of building strength include:

  • Stronger and more powerful body

  • Slimmer body

  • Improved muscle tone

  • Lower body fat

  • Improved posture and balance

  • Reduced risk of heart disease

  • Reduced risk of cancer

  • Helps control blood sugar levels

  • Lower cholesterol

  • Lower blood pressure

  • Improved mobility and flexibility

  • Enhanced brain health

  • Prevents osteoporosis

  • Improved mental health

  • Less injury risks

  • Less likelihood of getting a cold or flu

Benefits of strength training for women

Often women can be put off the idea of strength training for one reason: They don’t want to look ‘too bulky.’ However unless you’re dedicating yourself to a full body-building regime with a drastic lifestyle change, science tells us it’s extremely tough to accidently bulk up.

If physical appearance is your motivation to exercise, then strength training is an important element to reach your body goals. Strength training will not only help you lose weight, but will help you become leaner, more toned, and will help give you a more defined shape.

But it really isn’t all about how you look, more importantly it’s how you feel. And strength training is proven to help you feel better physically and mentally.

Strength training will boost your mood, fight against ageing, burn calories, reduce injury risk, improve overall health, improve performance, reduce illness and improve body image, but that’s just to list a few. When you build strength you see a lot of other benefits too.

For busy women

If you’re a woman on the go, then incorporating strength training in to your exercise programme is essential to help you get it done, fast. It is proven that by adding strength training in to your plan, you’ll boost your metabolism and burn more calories, which will keep on burning even once you stop!

Benefits of older population (osteoporosis prevention, better quality of life)

As we get older, we know how important it is to look after our health. But did you know that strength training is a proven technique used to help prevent and improve many health problems?

As our bodies’ age our muscles can weaken and our bones become more fragile, we are also more at risk of developing health problems, so it’s really important that we take care of our bodies as best we can.

Strength training is a variety of exercises using resistance and weights. Some of the many benefits of strength training for older populations include:

  • Help with weight management

  • Osteoporosis prevention

  • Improve quality of life

  • Strengthen muscles

  • Aid balance and posture

  • Lowers cholesterol

  • Helps to lower blood pressure

  • Prevents illness

  • Boosts the immune system

  • Reduces injury

  • Prolongs life

If you’ve been doing some strength training already you may have already noticed some of the benefits, but if you haven’t tried it yet, don’t worry, it’s never too late to start. Strength training is easy to incorporate in to your plan and you can start light and work your way up. Speak to one of our Personal Trainers who can help you get started today!

Benefits of building strength for sport

Strength training is a fundamental part of a sports player’s preparation, training and performance.

One of the biggest benefits of strength training for athletes is it can help to reduce the risk of injury.

Strengthening the muscles, tendons and ligaments will help your body to provide better protection to your joints and bones. This in turn will improve posture, alignment and protect the body of injury whilst moving or under impact.

Strength training is one of the most valuable forms of exercise due to the range of benefits it can provide. As well as the more obvious benefits such as building muscle, weight loss, improving posture and preventing illness and injury…

Did you know that specific sport related strength training can improve performance and technique?

An increase in strength will help you move quicker, jump higher and squat lower. Each sport activity requires different and specific movements in order to perform well.

There are so many forms of strength training, that it can often be used to mimic the actions that are required and performed in sports. For example, box jumps could be used to improve the height on vertical jumps, which would be useful for a Basketball or Volleyball player but not necessarily useful for a Rower. If using specific sport-related strength techniques, you can guarantee to see improvement on your overall performance and skills.

For teens who want to be stronger

As a parent, you may be worried if your teen is too young to be doing strength training.

At our Clontarf Road and Leopardstown West Wood Clubs, we offer ‘Teen Gyms’ for 10-15 year olds which contain specific equipment that is suitable and safe to be used by our Teen members.

There are lots of reasons as to why teenagers should incorporate strength training in to their exercise routine. Strength training, particularly in younger people, can have huge benefits including improving overall fitness levels, increase body mass, supporting sports performance, preventing chronic illness and injury and helping bones get stronger. However as well as a heathy body, strength training can play a fundamental part in promoting a healthy mind and supporting mental health and well-being. It can help to improve confidence, boost self-esteem, release positive endorphins and reduce stress levels.

It’s important to remember that strength training isn’t about lifting the heaviest weight possible, the focus should be on performing the movements with precise technique and control in order to benefit the most.

How to build strength (weight training etc)

So now that you know what strength training is and why you should do it, let us teach you how to do it.

If strength training is something you’ve never tried before, you might find the thought of it a little bit daunting. It can sometimes be easy to get in to a habit of doing what we know, but it is important to mix it up with your training programme to ensure you’re getting the best results.

Understanding the basics can help you feel more confident and ready to take on more challenges which overall will improve your quality of training and progression.

Introducing FITT

Successful strength training is put together with a combination of factors known as ‘FITT’

  • Frequency of training

  • Intensity of training

  • Time spent training

  • Type of training exercise

Frequency of strength training – The frequency depends on your age, goals, experience, fitness and health. Training around 2-3 days per week would be the ideal amount for noticeable progression, but it is important to remember its’ about what suits you, your lifestyle and your goals.

Intensity of strength training – If you’re new to strength training, it’s important to start simple and work your way up. The best way to learn how to perform the movement, is to practice without any weights. Once you’ve mastered the technique, you can gradually add the weight.

Time spent on strength training – The time you spend training, also depends on factors such as age, goals, experience, fitness and health. If you’re a beginner, 20-30 mins a couple times a week will give you noticeable results then as your strength improves, you can extend your time to continue progressing.

Type of strength training – The type of strength training exercises can depend on if you’re trying to improve overall strength, improve a specific target area, or improve strength for a specific reason such as to improve a sports performance etc. The type of exercises are dependent on you and what you want to achieve so it’s important to have a programme or plan to work from to keep you in the right direction.

How we help you build strength

Our Personal Trainers at West Wood Club are on hand to help you get the best results from your training sessions.

Included in your membership we offer a 6 FREE personal training sessions where our experienced trainers will take you through step-by-step to help design a programme that suits you and your fitness goals.

With a range of facilities including the gym, swimming pool, climbing wall, tennis courts and fitness classes, here at West Wood Club we can help you build strength and incorporate strength training through many different techniques and activities.

West Wood Club strength building programmes

West Wood Club has something for everyone. No matter your age, experience, fitness levels or goals, we offer a range of programmes designed to give you the best results.

Don’t forget, strength training does not only have to be done in the gym lifting heavy weights! It can be incorporated in to many different activities that are on offer here at West Wood Club.

Some of the strength training programmes on offer at West Wood Club include:

  • 6 day Personal Training Programme

  • 6 Week Class Challenge

  • Variety of Les Mills fitness classes

  • Gravity Strength & Pilates classes

  • Aqua Aerobics

  • Use of the Climbing Wall

  • Tennis Classes

  • Private Personal Training … And so much more!

Strength Building Zones

Each of the gyms have been fitted with the most up-to-date equipment designed to give you maximum results from your training.

Our strength training zones include free weights areas, power racks, benches, squat racks, resistance weight machines, and lifting bars.

Here’s just some of what you’ll find in our gyms…

  • 32,000 kilos of weights.

  • 30,000 kilos of strength training equipment.

  • 128 lifting benches.

  • 70 Olympic weight lifting bars.

  • 24 professional lifting platforms.

  • 350 strength building machines.

  • 26 Squat racks.

  • Deadlift bars.

  • And lot’s lots more.

We also offer state of the art fitness studios, climbing walls, swimming pool, tennis courts, squash courts and a range of alternative activates that can be used as a part of your strength training.

Our strength building trainers & coaches

Across all 6 clubs we have specialist Personal Trainers on hand to get YOU the best results. They’ll offer free advice, continuous coaching, help you build a plan suited to your goals, regular instruction/ technique demonstration and motivation to keep you going!

Book in today for a FREE consultation with an instructor of your choice to get you started on your strength training!