5 Reasons to Attend Strength Training Classes

Whether you call them strength training classes, body conditioning class, or weight training classes, bottom line is the older you get, the more you need them!

You want to get in better shape? Return your post-menopause weight to pre-menopause levels? Have you heard the oh-so-true true rumors that strength training is very important especially for women over 50? Maybe you’re ready to get going with a new resistance routine. But dang if that weight training equipment out on the gym floor looks intimidating and perhaps a little confusing.

What to do? What to do? Why, get into strength training classes led by a qualified group fitness instructor.

Don’t Make These Mistakes

But first let’s cover what NOT to do: imitate the moves you see other people doing out on the gym floor. We have seen some seriously crazy stuff and wacky technique performed by exercisers on their own.  Even if the moves you see around you are done safely and make sense for THAT exerciser, they may not be right for YOU.

Strength exercises you see others do may not be right for YOU. How can you choose the right…
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Let’s also take a moment to wave good-bye to the exercises you may be digging up from school PE class memory. Odds are good those exercises need to be left back there. (No Mr. Hammond, duck walks across the playground do not strengthen the lower body. I don’t care how many 5th graders you quack and bark at).

Choose the Best Strength Training Program

Why go it alone when trying to figure out which exercises are best for you to increase your strength? IF you want to embark on a weight training program that will:

• meet your goals
• be right for your body, age, and gender
• minimize injury
• be effective and efficient
• achieve balance and address all pertinent muscles
• offer options and modifications

THEN go with the pros. In strength training classes. Where you reap the benefits of moves led by a professional.

Think of group strength training classes as a place to draft off the instructor’s knowledge and skills. You can then take that information and experience and apply it to your solo workouts outside the class environment.

Use a teacher led strength class to:

1. Build your exercise repertoire

If you have a qualified instructor, you can trust the exercises s/he is demonstrating. You get moves that offer a stamp of approval. Listen for comments from the instructor that tell you the how, why, what, and how much for each exercise. Take mental notes so you have a toolbox to pull from when on your own.

2. Get form and technique cues and corrections

Even the best strength move offers little benefit if it’s not executed well. A class setting with a good teacher offers something no solo workout can — external feedback and correction. Learn what to do in step one; Improve on how with this step.

New to strength training? Get into a class led by a qualified fitness teacher before going solo.
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3. Ask resistance training questions of the teacher

Why did or didn’t you feel an exercise as expected? How can you adapt a move to your particular condition? What’s another option with the same goal? Most group fitness teachers are happy to give a few minutes of their time and expertise after class.

Take advantage of the group to:

4. Develop strength and confidence in a supported, group environment

Especially for beginning weight trainers (like yourself, perhaps?), a class can be a welcoming place with like-minded people. If you’re like many of our past participants, you want to hide when first starting a new program. It’s easier to blend in within a class than to face the intimidation of the machines and rows of free weights outside the classroom doors.

5. Meet future training buddies who can help spot, motivate, and work out with you on the gym floor

Maybe you’ll enjoy your class and new strength so much you’ll decide to train forever and ever in a group setting. But if not, you now have a community to venture onto the gym floor “armed” and ready!

When you come to Santa Barbara, my sister and I invite you to come to our classes! We promise to load you up with weights and  good ideas! If you aren’t sure whether group fitness classes are for you, read this and be prepped for happiness and success: All Sizes Welcome: Fitness Pros Want You!  /Now get out there and resist, resist, resist!

All Sizes Welcome: Fitness Pros Want YOU in their Classes and Clubs

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Kymberly Williams-Evans, MA

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