SUSTAINING STRENGTH

Serving Philadelphia And The World
484-919-2700

Serving Philadelphia And The World

Sustain Your Strength

Learn to Be Strong Before You Learn the Cosmetic Exercises

Howard Aaron Fitness Coach & Health Motivator will help you put aside the cosmetic aspects that, unfortunately, over-influence a lot of people when it comes to the kinds of exercise they are willing to spend their time on in the gym.

The truth is that not everything people do in the gym is for strength. A lot of exercises are for show and a lot are for sweating. While these approaches can be good, the fitness element that allows you to more easily perform your daily tasks - especially as the body ages - is strength.

Sitting up, standing up, reaching, leaning, bending - all these functions are more comfortable and more dependable when the entire body works as a strong unit!

Concentrate on Core Strength Over Your Extremities

Howard likes to compare the body to a tree. We need to strengthen the whole tree - roots, trunk, and all - before we worry about the individual branches.

Think of your arms and legs as the branches. True strength training involves more core work than regular resistance training, which focuses on those extremities.

Whether it's due to slipping on ice, not seeing a step, or misjudging the distance in a rise or a drop, we all fall. Howard's goal is to reduce your risk of breaking or fracturing something when that inevitable fall occurs. The stronger your body is, the easier it can absorb the impact!

Learn the Basics of Howard's Top 10 Strength Exercises

Your appearance, your shape, your tightness, and your definition all grow out of proper strength training, which should be everybody's goal.

Let him help you get there with focused programs and sound advice, including guidance on my 10 favorite strength training exercises.

Sled push
Weighted plank hold
Kettlebell pick up put down
Weighted push-ups
Marine crawl
Pull-ups
Chin-up hold
Weighted burpees
Crawl out crawl back
Medicine ball slam

1. Sled Push

Howard puts the sled push at number one because it works the entire body and challenges your strength and muscle endurance while working your core. As your ability to push the sled becomes less challenging, you can add weight for greater resistance.

You may notice that he never use the term "easy" or "easier." Nothing should ever be easy except your warm-up movements. Everything else should be challenging.

That said, however, challenging has different levels and - depending on the weight you load onto the sled - you can run it, jog it, or long step it.

2. Weighted Plank Hold

Go beyond the basic plank, which quickly loses its challenge, by placing weighted plates of between 10 pounds and 45 pounds on your back. Your core will become SUPERMAN strong!

Start with light weight and hold the plank from 45 to 90 seconds. Once your body accepts the challenge, you can slowly start to add more weight, but make sure you have a spotter working with you.

You'll need a spotter to add and remove weights and to watch your form. Your back must remain straight at all times. Failure to keep your back straight means you need to reduce the weight.

If you don't have a spotter but have access to a weighted vest, you can use that instead.

3. Kettlebell Pick Up Put Down

When you perform this total body exercise, your goal should be to move at a constant rate of speed. Whether the kettlebells are in your hand or not, your movement from a squatting position back to a standing position doesn't change.

Obviously, it's easier to stand and squat holding nothing instead of a 45-pound kettlebell. However, once your body gets comfortable with the weights, your focus will move to keeping your movement the same. Kettlebells come in weights ranging from 10 pounds to 90 pounds, so you'll be able to get stronger as you progress through them.

Howard likes to do 10 kettlebell pick up put downs and then either resting when he doing straight sets or going on to the next exercise when I'm doing a circuit.

4. Weighted Push-Ups

Lots of people like to show how many push-ups they can do - 50 or 70 or more. Just because you can do that doesn't mean you're strong. When you place a 25-pound plate on your back and try to do the same number of push-ups, you'll quickly learn your real strength level!

Howard would encourage you to start with 10 or 15 pounds of weight and do as many push-ups as you were doing before without waiting to get your body comfortable. Then you can slowly start increasing the weight until you can hold a 45-pound plate on your back and still perform.

If you have access to a weighted vest, you can use that in place of the plates, which is especially helpful if you can't find someone to load and unload your back.

5. Marine Crawl

Although this exercise looks easy, it's actually quite taxing to your whole body because every muscle is being used. As your body gets stronger, you'll be able to sustain the strength needed to go from 20-foot crawls to 60-foot crawls.

When the Marine crawl becomes less challenging, you'll want to add a weighted vest so you can continue to improve your strength.

6. Pull-Ups

This exercise is probably everybody's biggest heartache because the whole body is involved. For your body to feel the benefits, you also need to maintain a proper range of motion. It's hard to identify all the muscles involved in doing a good pull-up!

Look at the illustrations to see the difference between a good and bad pull-up.

If you can do five properly, great! Make your goal 10. If you get to 10, aim for 20. The stronger your body becomes, the more pull-ups you'll be able to do. Eventually, you may choose to wear a weighted vest so you can continue the strength-building process.

7. Chin-Up Hold

Howard likes the chin-up hold because every muscle in your body is doing something. While you're holding your chin above the bar, your core is as tight as it can get and so are most of the other muscles in your body.

Begin with a 15- to 20-second hold as you try to maintain your body's altitude. If you find yourself sinking, then you've exceeded your body's ability. Your goal should be to hold the chin-up for 20 seconds while your body doesn't move.

Once a 20-second hold becomes easy, increase your holding time in 10-second increments until you can hold the pose for 46 to 60 seconds. After that point, you can start wearing a weighted vest or start doing actual chin-ups and interspersing an occasional hold throughout.

8. Weighted Burpees

Howard goes right for weighted burpees because you already should be able to do a regular burpee in sets of 10 to 25 straight through. If you can't, then there's your first goal!

With weighted burpees, you hold dumbbells in your hands so that every time you stand, you're adding to your body weight. You can start with the dumbbells as light as 10 pounds and work your way up to 30 or 40 pounds.

Rather than doing straight sets, he likes to use weighted burpees as part of a circuit.

9. Crawl Out Crawl Back

This is Howard's favorite exercise because, again, the entire body is involved.

Sit straight up on a bench and then lean forward until your hands are on the floor. Crawl your hands out until you're in push-up mode and then crawl back, allow your legs to bend back, and eventually end up back on the bench in the sitting position.

One of your goals will be to do the crawl out and crawl back at a constant speed. Initially, however, you're going to find it easier to crawl out and will have to concentrate on matching speeds back and forth

Once you're able to do 10 to 15 crawls with little challenge, add a weighted vest or hold dumbbells in your hands as you perform.

10. Medicine Ball Slam

From a squatting position and with the ball held over your head, slam the ball to the floor in front of you. Your initial challenge is to do a set of 10 to 20 throws.

Medicine balls come in various weights, and you will get stronger by increasing the weight used or by doing more slams. This exercise can be done by itself with a rest between sets or can be incorporated into a circuit.

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