STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

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What is Strength & Conditioning?

  • Strength can be simplified as building bigger, stronger muscles.
  • Conditioning can be described as training the heart and lungs to pump blood more efficiently and getting more oxygen to the working muscles.

Together, strength and conditioning is about training to improve performance in a sport or skill.  It encompasses agility, speed, endurance, power, flexibility and core stability.  It’s also about performing movements correctly to reduce injuries. Usually it involves athletes but can also be applied to individuals training in the gym; their focus maybe to build lean muscle or burn fat.

The benefits of strength training are stronger bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons, as well as reducing injuries.  Aerobic conditioning can help you maintain a healthy weight and keep your heart and lungs in good condition.

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So what does this mean for you?

Because strength and conditioning use lots of energy, you can’t improve both at the same time.  You have to prioritise one over the other.  If your focus is improving strength, you should spend the minimum amount of time required to maintain your condition.  If your focus is improving your condition, you should spend the minimum amount of time required to maintain your strength.  Below is a quick overview of how to incorporate strength and conditioning into your workout plan.

For low levels of fitness:

  • you can incorporate conditioning within the strength programme, but at the end.

For moderate levels of fitness:

  • you can incorporate both on the same day, strength first and conditioning 4-6 hours after.  Otherwise on separate days

For high levels of fitness:

  • train strength and conditioning on separate days

An alternative way to incorporate conditioning into your strength training involves using circuit-style training, superset or giant sets, active rest periods or even shorter rest periods.  These will all get your heart rate up.

When you work with us we’ll not only choose the right exercises and type of training that will achieve your goals, we’ll show you the proper technique so that you move correctly and avoid injury.  We’ll get you stronger and we’ll get you in tip-top condition.