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The Alzheimer Wake Up Call That Changed The Trajectory of Her Life
Karen's leisurely life took a turn when she discovered her family's health history, prompting her to take an active and transformative path with The Perfect Workout.
“I vividly recall the moment I saw an ad for The Perfect Workout. Intrigued by the idea of a ‘perfect” workout,’ I decided to give it a try. Little did I know that this decision would lead me to a path of self-improvement and renewed vitality.
Having never really prioritized my own well-being before, I was initially unsure if I could succeed in a fitness program. I felt I lacked athleticism and believed that personal trainers were beyond my abilities. However, my experience at The Perfect Workout shattered these misconceptions.
What I found at The Perfect Workout Sugar Land was a welcoming environment tailored to my needs. The small and intimate setting provided me with the comfort and personal attention I craved. With only one or two other participants during my sessions, I enjoyed the undivided focus of my dedicated trainer, Matthew. The supportive trainers at The Perfect Workout became my cheerleaders, motivating me and making me feel good about every step of my fitness journey.
Initially, some aspects of the program were foreign to me, such as muscle failure. However, as I began to understand the purpose behind it, I realized that reaching muscle failure was an indication of progress and proper technique. With each milestone achieved, whether it was increasing the weights or mastering a challenging exercise, I felt a sense of accomplishment and growth.
The Perfect Workout allowed me to build a foundation for a healthier future, and I'm grateful for the individualized attention and focus the trainers provide. They pay close attention to my form, ensuring I perform each exercise correctly and maximize my results. Their unwavering dedication makes me feel valued and reassures me that I am on the right path.
Cardiovascular fitness is a desired benefit of any proper exercise regimen. People commonly spend hours per week jogging, biking, swimming, or on a machine at the gym in pursuit of heart health, lung health, and improved fitness.
However, it turns out that strength is the best activity to perform for global metabolic conditioning and improve your VO2 Max, a potent predictor of longevity.
The Alzheimer Wake Up Call That Changed The Trajectory of Her Life
Simply stated, VO2 Max is a measurement that represents how much oxygen your body can absorb and use during exercise. It measures your aerobic fitness levels.
It is now well-understood in the scientific literature that VO2 Max levels have a direct causative relationship with longevity.
So how do we increase our VO2 Max and maximize the amount of oxygen we’re able to use? How can we use exercise to improve our fitness and longevity?
It turns out that safe, high-intensity strength training is the answer we’ve been looking for.
What Causes Improved VO2 Max?
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Many people will point to breathing exercises, diaphragmatic breathing, and other methods for increasing the body’s uptake of oxygen. And while it’s important to breathe properly during the day and during exercise, these methods are actually downstream of a far more important priority.
The cardiovascular system’s purpose is to serve your working muscles, and high-intensity strength training places demands on those muscles most efficiently and most safely as compared to all other types of exercise.
A great example of this is a 2012 meta-analysis in the Journal of Exercise Physiology that found that the types of adaptations one would expect from traditional endurance-type aerobic exercise can be acquired just as completely through strength training.
These adaptations include (but are not limited to):
- an up-regulation of mitochondrial enzymes
- increased time-to-exhaustion
- enhanced mitochondrial proliferation
- phenotypic conversion from type IIx towards type IIa muscle fibers
- vascular remodeling (including capillarization)
To understand why strength training can have all the same cardiovascular benefits as traditional “cardio,” it is necessary to understand that the cardiovascular adaptations we’re after are produced by the body in proportion to the intensity with which the muscles are made to contract.
For example, all things being equal, higher intensities of exercise (high-intensity strength training rather than jogging, for instance) are more effective for improving VO2 Max, a primary determinant of cardiovascular fitness.
It was also found that, at a sufficient intensity, six minutes of exercise can be just as effective for cardiovascular fitness and condition as an hour of daily moderate activity.
Time and time again the literature suggests that less-intense, longer-duration exercise carries no benefit when compared to more intense — yet brief — exercise.
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Strength training with machines or free weights will enhance your health, bone density, strength, and muscle size. Your life will benefit from either approach.
If you seek versatility in being able to do the most with the least amount of equipment, if your space is limited, or if you want equipment that’s easier to transport, free weights are the best option.
On the other hand, machines are significantly safer. Free-weight exercises are responsible for the majority of injuries in gyms. Machines eliminate the possibility of injuries as a result of you or others dropping the weight.
Finally, when the workload is the same, machines and free weights produce similar levels of strength and muscle development.
If you would like to learn more about our method of strength training, read about our methodology. If you are new to The Perfect Workout, try a workout with us and start with a FREE Introductory Session.
- Kirsten A. Burgomaster, Scott C. Hughes, George J. F. Heigenhauser, Suzanne N. Bradwell, and Martin J. Gibala (2005), Six sessions of sprint interval training increases muscle oxidative potential and cycle endurance capacity in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology 98:6, 1985-1990
- Saltin, B., Nazar, K., Costill, D.L., Stein, E., Jansson, E., Essén, B. and Gollnick, P.D. (1976), The Nature of the Training Response; Peripheral and Central Adaptations to One-Legged Exercise. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 96: 289-305.
- Steele, James and Fischer, James and Bruce-Low, Steward. (2012). Resistance Training to Momentary Muscular Failure Improves Cardiovascular Fitness in Humans: A Review of Acute Physiological Responses and Chronic Physiological Adaptations. Journal of Exercise Physiology Online, June 2012, 15 (3), pp. 53-80
- https://www.healthline.com/health/vo2-max
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