You can want all of it
Things that can change in the same few months of training:
- How your shirts sit across the shoulders.
- How your belt sits.
- How heavy the shopping feels between the car and the kitchen.
- How you feel about what you see in the mirror.
- How you feel on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon.
You do not have to pick one end of that list. The fitness industry likes to sell the top and the bottom of it as separate products: the six-week body on one shelf, the gentle class on the other. Personal training in Poole at Ocean Fitness works on the whole list, and the studies below found the same kind of training changing both.
Personal training in Poole for how you look and how you feel
I choose exercises for what they let you do: lift from the floor, carry, push, pull, press overhead, rotate and move quickly. I raise the loads as you get stronger. I wrote about this last week as transferable strength.
To lift, carry and press more, your muscles have to adapt and grow. That same process changes your shape. You do not need one programme for the mirror and another for the rest of your life.
What strength training does to how you look
In 2012 Wayne Westcott reviewed the research on resistance training in Current Sports Medicine Reports. He reported that ten weeks of resistance training added about 1.4 kg of lean weight, took off about 1.8 kg of fat and raised resting metabolic rate by 7%.
In 2022 Michael Wewege and colleagues pooled 58 studies of healthy adults. Compared with not training, resistance training lowered body fat percentage by about one and a half points and fat mass by about half a kilo. It also reduced visceral fat, the fat stored around your organs.
Those fat figures are modest, and I would rather you heard that from me. Put them next to Westcott's muscle figures and the change in shape comes from both directions: more muscle and a bit less fat.
What strength training does to how you feel
In 2009 Anna Campbell and Heather Hausenblas analysed 57 exercise studies. Exercise improved how people felt about their bodies, and that improvement did not depend on how much fitter they got.
In 2018 Brett Gordon and colleagues pooled 33 randomised trials with 1,877 people. Resistance training reduced symptoms of depression compared with not training. The effect held whatever the participants' health and however much they trained, and it did not depend on how much stronger they got.
So the feel-good part can arrive before the mirror shows anything. That is research on symptoms, not a treatment, and if your mood is a worry your GP is the first call.
How I train for both at Ocean Fitness Poole
We start with a conversation about what you want from training. If the answer is to look better, that is a good reason to train. Then we look at how you move, and I build the programme around lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling and moving well.
Philipp has trained with me for a number of years. In his words: "continuing to build strength and muscle over time has been important to me."
The studio is private, at 1 Victoria Road in Poole, BH12. One trainer, one client. Book a free consultation and tell me what you want from training. All of it.
Personal training in Poole: common questions
Can strength training change how I look?
Yes. In a 2012 review, ten weeks of resistance training added about 1.4 kg of lean weight and took off about 1.8 kg of fat. A 2022 analysis of 58 studies found it reduced body fat in healthy adults, including the fat stored around the organs.
Will I feel better before I see a difference?
You may. A 2009 analysis of 57 studies found that exercise improved how people felt about their bodies, and the improvement did not depend on how much fitter they got.
Do I need to lose weight before I start personal training?
No. We start from where you are. The first sessions are built around how you move and what you want, and the loads go up as you get stronger.
What does personal training in Poole at Ocean Fitness involve?
One-to-one sessions with me, Dom Meacher, in a private studio at 1 Victoria Road, Poole, BH12. Each programme is built around lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling and moving well. It starts with a free consultation.
References
- Campbell A, Hausenblas HA. Effects of exercise interventions on body image: a meta-analysis. Journal of Health Psychology. 2009;14(6):780-793.
- Gordon BR, McDowell CP, Hallgren M, Meyer JD, Lyons M, Herring MP. Association of efficacy of resistance exercise training with depressive symptoms: meta-analysis and meta-regression analysis of randomized clinical trials. JAMA Psychiatry. 2018;75(6):566-576.
- Westcott WL. Resistance training is medicine: effects of strength training on health. Current Sports Medicine Reports. 2012;11(4):209-216.
- Wewege MA, Desai I, Honey C, et al. The effect of resistance training in healthy adults on body fat percentage, fat mass and visceral fat: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine. 2022;52(2):287-300.