If you are a cardio class junkie, don’t let the title of this post scare you away yet! In reality, it doesn’t matter if your goal is to:
- Lose fat
- Tone up
- Maintain muscle in a busy season
- Have a safe, active pregnancy
- Prioritize your fitness postpartum
- Get more confident with weights
- Improve your relationship with your body
- Truly get consistent with a lifting routine
- Improve health measures
- Rebuild your metabolism
- Get stronger in general
- Get stronger in a specific lift
- Improve your running performance
- Improve your confidence
STRATEGIC STRENGTH TRAINING can help you actually get the results you want. It’s necessary for ANY goal set!
But what does strategic strength training actually MEAN? Pro tip: it usually isn’t happening in a Peloton workout or group fitness class (even if that class is called “Pure Sculpt”!).
So how can you tell if you are actually doing strategic strength training? Read on for 10 things that you can use as a little checklist for yourself in your fitness routine right now.
I want you to rank yourself as either RED (yikes, not doing this at all), YELLOW (going okay), or GREEN (nailing it!) in each category.
Strategic strength training is necessary for ANY goal set!
1. You are challenging yourself
Have you been using the same weights forever? Are you choosing a load that will leave you struggling by the last 2 reps, but that you can still finish with quality form? Don’t be afraid to push yourself and get to an RPE 8+!
2. You rest between sets
This is called intra-workout recovery, and it exists for a reason: for you to get your muscles BACK TO BASELINE so then you can either maintain or increase load in your next set. If you aren’t resting long enough between sets, your “lift” is actually a cardio session – yes, EVEN IF you are using weights! Hello, Peloton “strength” workouts!
3. You prioritize rest days
And more than only one rest day a week! You MUST give your body adequate time to rest BETWEEN workouts because that is when the repair + recovery process happens, that is when you actually get stronger. Are you skimping on this time? Do you have too much total weekly workout volume? BE HONEST!
Whew, that was a lot of info! Take a second to count up how many reds, yellows, and greens you got. Where are your gaps when it comes to strength training? Oftentimes, these can be the missing links in your fitness routine that are keeping you from getting the results you want.
I’d love to help you figure out your next best step – book a free connection call with me and we can chat about where you’re seeing those gaps and your next best action step to get to where you want to be!