January Blog 2024
High Efficiency isn’t only for your washing machine… In today’s day and age where your time is a precious commodity among other life responsibilities, it’s essential for you to be efficient when it comes to exercise. Sure, the day might come again where you have an hour and a half to plug into driving to the gym, getting changed, exercising, showering, and driving home, but right now, that’s just totally not practical given all you have on your plate. Read on and I’ll share some thoughts to consider as to the why behind free weights serving as your high efficiency exercise.  In my professional opinion, any exercise is good exercise (that’s safe and appropriate, of course!). However, the following are the reasons why I prefer free-weight strength training exercises for my busy mamas! More Bang for Your Buck For those of you coming to me with some experience in the gym or with home exercise, I’m a proponent of the use of free weights when it comes to exercise and strength training. When you use free weights, you’re not only challenging the muscle group that the exercise move targets, but your body also has to work to balance and stabilize as you move through the exercise and move the weight. Not only are you using what are called stabilizers, but you’re also recruiting other large muscle groups to help you move through the movement. Picture a simple standing biceps curl where you’re holding the dumbbell in your hand. You raise it, arm bent, to your shoulder and back down to your side, all the while, your elbow stays frozen in place as you raise and lower your forearms and hands. As you perform this exercise, you’re working your core muscles by keeping them engaged throughout the exercise, stabilizing your body so you can perform the exercise without wobbling. Your leg muscles are working to balance you as you move your upper arms, too. Your skeleton is supporting your bodyweight in addition to the weight of the dumbbells. Your stabilizing muscles in your arm are working, too, to keep the exercise slow, controlled, and safe. Bada bing, bada boom, you have high efficiency exercise! This is, without a doubt, in opposition to exercise machines that reduce or eliminate the need for stabilization, balance, and otherwise. To be fair, a trade off is that weight machines afford you heavier weight than what dumbbells can provide. All that to say, there are seemingly endless creative opportunities for progression of free-weight exercises to make the exercises more challenging once you can tolerate your heaviest dumbbell. Functionality When was the last time you needed to sit down and extend your legs to move something off the ground? Chances are, never! I’m talking about the seemingly impractical leg press machine at the gym and how, functionally, there is little in real life that requires you to be lying down and exerting yourself in that manner. There is, without a doubt, benefit to exercise machines; for example, someone who is very detrained can grow accustomed to a specific movement before advancing the exercise to one which requires the use of your stabilizers and is more functionally-based. An example in support of functional training is this: To those of you with young children who still want to be held, functional training can help you improve your strength so you can carry your kids with ease. Through functional training you can perform all the complicated, contortionistic moves required through motherhood with improved strength and stamina. For more information on functional training, click here. Accessibility Unless you get lucky on Facebook Marketplace and find a listing for dumbbells for free, free weights come at a cost, unlike their name. In my recent research, prices range from $20 for a single set of dumbbells to $1200 for a full-blown rack of 5lb to 50lb dumbbells. If you’re thinking, “there’s not way I have space for Planet Fitness to move into my living room, you’re not alone. Industry experts and designers worked hard to develop the varying weight dumbbells. You can add and take away weight with ease. Some are as simple as turning the handle while on the base of the dumbbell to change the weight. Minimum and maximum weight vary, so determine what works best for you. Questions on what weight range to buy? I’m happy to chat to support your decision making regarding the best option for you! While this may seem like quite the investment, the longevity, health, and happiness benefits are well, well worth it! This isn’t to mention the time savings of no traveling to and from the gym multiple times a week! Make the healthy choice easy by bringing the (small, manageable, not overwhelmingly invasive) gym to you! Examples of Free Weights: Fiar Adjustable Weight Dumbbells Healthy You Rubber Hex Dumbbells Complete Package As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. As you consider functional training and free weights, specifically, don’t hesitate to contact me, Amanda Vosburgh, for support developing and staying accountable to your home exercise program. If you’re like other mamas who often sacrifice exercise time, let’s chat! There’s so much we can discuss and explore to support you sticking with, and getting results from, your exercise program! |
In Health, Happiness, and Wellbeing, Mamas,
Amanda, Founder of Vos Wellness
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