JOURNEY TRAINING BLOG
Dangers and Risks of Resistance Training
Every movement in the gym can be dangerous. Professional athletes, who are doing everything correct with supervision from top health and fitness experts, they become injured. The question is not, "Is there risk in training?" - the question should be, "Is the risk worth the reward?"
Dave: So the leg press, is that where the weight comes back and you push your legs up? Is that dangerous?
Tanner: It could be, I guess. Every movement in the gym can be dangerous. There's always a risk, right? People can get hurt. I've been hurt. It's one of the risks versus rewards that we all sign up for.
Most athletes that are participating in any sport, they get hurt at some point in their career. It's inevitable that you're going to roll your ankle, or hurt your knee, or slam on the wood floor playing basketball. You see all of these professional athletes, at some point in their career, have injuries. They’re dealing with aches and pains on a regular basis. Baseball players have arm issues. Their elbows, their shoulder hurts at some point - or constantly.
Every sport has its risks, right?
Just as much as resistance training has it's risk, there is a huge upside. Is the risk worth the reward?
Done correctly, the majority of the time people can get away in a healthy environment, making good progress, with occasional aches and pains and set backs, but that's life, right? You need to weigh those out as you make your decision.
How Anyone, Even You, Can Set Goals Like A Pro
You've set goals for yourself in the past. How did you do? If you didn't get as close to achieving those goals as you wanted, you're not alone.
A bit about how you should think about goal setting and how it should impact the way you train.
Dave: How do you set goals like a pro when you're talking about nutrition, exercise, fitness, health - things like that?
Tanner: I like setting goals at the beginning of the year, each year. Setting a vision for what you want to accomplish is a good way to start the year. Obviously at the beginning of the year people have New Year's Resolutions - which I'm not a big fan of.
I do think there is a difference between setting specific goals or commitments that you would like to follow through with that are important to you - and that you value. Versus a pipe dream or a wishful thinking along the lines of, "I'd like this this year," but you're not willing to work for it.
A lot of the clients that I work with are committed to some degree or another because they're paying a lot better money to see and work with me than their going to pay at a commercial gym to not have a coach. They're making the commitment saying, "I want the help, I want the instruction, I want the guidance."
Bridging the gap from hey, I'm here I'm paying monthly and actually following through with the goals that are most important to them - that's the challenge. Each person is bringing their own baggage, their own life responsibilities, their own stressors - life in general - and it's tough to manage that.
One thing that I seek to do as a coach is to find those little 'tickers' that really set people off and ultimately finding their why. Everyone wants to look good. Everyone wants to feel good in a bathing suit or have a lean stomach and strong looking body, but so many people don't see that through. A lot of people want it and they think it, a yet, bridging the gap from the desire to action is difficult.
I try to find those little things, again, those 'tickers' that get them to realize their own why. I want them to think, "Okay, I want this, but why do I want this so bad?" For me, I've been skinny my whole life and now I want to have a strong body that people can look at and think, "dang, he must work out!" That's a motivator for me. My genetics and life history motivate me to want to be a little bit bigger and have more muscle mass.
My life experiences are motivators for me.
So finding people's life experiences and drawing them out and harnessing them into positive action.
Ultimately being accountable through multiple conversations and reminding - we need reminders, we get distracted very easily - and not having accountability of someone constantly seeking you out, that's something that I need to do better as a coach. I am working hard to remind people and constantly ask them about their goals. They've committed to it and said, since January, "these are the things I want to accomplish and these are the goals that I'm committed to." We need to revisit those constantly - go back and ask why are these important.
Goal setting and realization is very difficult. Business owners will have great ideas in their mind but a lot of it gets lost in the mind. Sitting down and saying, "I'm going to do this one thing really really good." It's hard but when done correctly, that's where the results are at!
Getting Started with Your Training Program and Early Expecations
Most people begin their training journey with hopping on a treadmill and running. Is that the best way to go about improving your health and transforming your body? No.
Learn a bit more about what getting started with a fitness, exercise, and nutrition program should look like.
Dave: I think most people just go to the gym, hope on the treadmill and go. I don't think that is necessarily where you would have people start, from my experience. How do people get started with training, what should they be doing, what should they be staying away from, and what are the common myths that people often wonder about.
Tanner: In my experience, with how I train my clients, I think the starting point is an initial brief consultation. Everyone that comes and trains with me is going to sign consent forms, liability forms, and do a health questionnaire. Beyond that I generally ask them what their exercise history is, what have they been doing lately, what's their routine look like? Have they been sitting on the couch not doing anything for two years or do they go to the gym three times a week?
Let's say that person says, "Yes, I work out three times a week," my next question will be, "Okay, so what do you do? Do you do strength training? Resistance training? Is it strictly cardio?"
A lot of people will gravitate towards going to the gym, hopping on an elliptical, treadmill, or stair-master and do some sort of cardio for 20-30 minutes. They will then wander around the gym maybe looking to do some arms, a leg press, or maybe a machine that may not seem too confusing and then try and do a muscle group.
There's really not structure to that approach, and there is no set plan for that program. It's just kinda doing what you feel, in the moment based upon your current knowledge of exercise and machines and resistance training.
Where I come in as a coach, where this is my job to direct and guide people, is to get feedback on what their goals are. If that person comes to me and says, "My number one goal is fat loss. My secondary goal is strength." The movements i'm going to program will go hand in hand because what I do for people who want to lose fat is also very similar to what I will program for people who want to gain strength. The movements are necessarily different, the way that they eat will be different.
If you want to get stronger you should squat, bench, deadlift, press, and do a lot of movements that are going to be big compound movements in nature. Those same movements - squat bench, deadlift, and other accessory movements - are also going to cause weight loss as well. They are great movements that will burn calories and stimulate a lot of muscles.
Because of their similarities in the results they can produce, naturally I'm going to select those movements on a regular basis for people who come and train with me. They're going to be prescribed these versitle movements but how they eat outside the gym and the nutrition program their on will be different based upon their number one goal.
Have Questions About Getting Started, Expectations?
If you have any questions you'd like Tanner to answer in a future video, please leave your question in the comments section below!