Time-Efficient Fitness Insights
Insights and stories about how to reshape your health and body without spending hours in the gym or obsessing over health habits.
Recent Posts
Training for Strength or Hypertrophy
Mission Monday Episode 7 What is Hypertrophy Training? Muscular hypertrophy is the growth of muscle tissue due to an increase in the size of the muscle fibers. Hypertrophy supports many fitness goals such as adding lean muscle tissue, improving metabolism, improving muscle tone and firmness and is commonly achieved through strength training. What are your training goals? Are you looking to get stronger? Are you looking to build muscle? Those two goals are mentioned together so often that they seem like the same goal. But…they are not. They are different goals that require different training approaches. Before we talk about training approaches, let’s define each one… Muscle Strength vs Size Muscle strength is the greatest amount of weight that can be lifted with movement. Strength is a functional quality. Strength is useful to you as having more strength makes the other activities in your life easier. For example, as you
Strength Training as a Sleep Aid
Importance of sleep & how strength training improves the quality of Z’s you get…
Myokines
Myokines Mission Monday Episode 5 We know strength training is healthy for us. In fact, strength training is so beneficial that just a single workout can make you healthier But how does strength training make us healthier? What happens inside our body during and after a workout that leads to better health? Before answering those questions, let’s talk about how the human body operates. The inner workings of the human body are similar to how we operate in the world. Much of what we do is the result of a message sent from a messenger For example, a friend or coworker may send an email, phone call, or text with a request that leads us to work on a project or drive to a friend’s house. In our body, messages are sent that cause cells to act in specific ways. One example of this is the pancreas producing hormones that
From No Accountability to Consistently Exercising
From No Accountability to Consistently Exercising Lori Zalewski, 55, looked to gain strength and maintain her activity levels. Her father-in-law recently passed away and she observed first-hand some of the challenges he went through. “He was overweight and weak and it took many nurses to move him from the bed to a chair. I don’t want that to happen to me.” But Lori faced struggles of her own- staying consistent and accountable. “I have tons of hand weights at home, but I just won’t do it by myself.” Lori’s sister was working with a personal trainer doing slow-motion weight training and recommended Lori give it a try too Since her sister’s trainer was too far away, Lori did her research and found a personal training studio near her in Park Ridge, IL. Now, she exercises with her own personal trainer at The Perfect Workout. After staying consistent with her workouts
You’re Probably Spending Too Much Time Exercising (And Killing Your Results in The Process). Here’s Why
Mission Monday Episode 5 Sets & Repetitions In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Thomas DeLorme and Dr. Arthur Watkins published a series of research papers about the use of strength training to increase muscle size. Originally, they recommended performing 7-10 sets per exercise with 10 repetitions for each set…for a total of 70-100 repetitions. Imagine doing 70-100 repetitions of every exercise! Within three years, DeLorme and Watkins changed their mind. The new recommendation: 2-3 sets with 20-30 total repetitions They realized that fewer repetitions lead to “greater and more rapid” muscle growth. The three-set per exercise has been the consensus since that point. However, DeLorme and Watkins didn’t recommend three sets of maximum effort work. They actually recommended using the first two sets as a build-up to the third one, which was an all-out effort. As you might know, at The Perfect Workout we skip the two build-up sets
How Long Does it Take to Build Muscle?
Why we all want to build muscle and how long it takes to notice muscle growth…
Learning
Reshape Your Health & Body In 20 Minutes, Twice A Week
Private Personal Training with The Perfect Workout® Method is guaranteed to get you results in just Two, 20 Minute Workouts per week.