Why high intensity strength training (HIT) is so healthy

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Basically, you have to consider every training session both on a macro level, i.e. throughout life, and on a micro level, i.e. immediately during and after the workout activity. The macro level includes long-term effects that affect bone and joint health or aging processes, for example. The micro level considers the immediate effects of the training over days up to days or months. Do I always feel tired? Is something hurting me all the time? Do I have sore muscles all the time? Or in the best case not :)

The macro level:

In order to consider the macro level, one inevitably has to deal with the activity itself. Competitive weightlifters and athletes often have problems with their joints and spine later in life. There is no question that doing sport is not the same as becoming healthier. A football player who has torn the cruciate ligament for the fourth time since adolescence will be happy to confirm this.

If you look at a workout very matter-of-factly, it is only a sequence of exercises that have the purpose of doing work with the muscles. Work can take any form imaginable. So I can sprint up a mountain or do a leg press with us, the work being done is an attraction to the body. The signal is: get stronger and fitter.

The difference, however, is that the leg press is a controlled movement without impact on the joints. When sprinting, we have direct joint wear. We have to be aware of that. It doesn't matter to us directly during training, but seen over the entire lifetime, this can make the difference between athletes or samba into old age.

Brief summary of the macro level:

• Workouts are nothing more than physical work with muscles
• Different activities can simulate the same work
• High intensity strength training (HIT the AURUM way) is easy on the joints
• It's not sprinting

The micro level:

Often when discussing which physical activities are healthy and which are unhealthy, a simple equation in our biology is completely ignored:

Every catabolic state has to be balanced by an anabolic state

Every significant effort creates a catabolic, ie a "degrading" state. Muscles are injured during muscle training and sports in general. These small injuries, also called micro-traumas, are not so bad if you give the body enough time to heal them. It only becomes problematic if you set too many catabolic stimuli in succession.

As I often find it difficult to tell an enthusiastic Crossfit or Bootcamp supporter that he literally burns the candle at both ends, the information about it is still important. Even if the performance often increases during training, health continues to decline. You run the risk of overtraining and the body will eventually take away its recovery. This is often reflected in an injury that forces us to take a break, an inflamed joint or a cold.

If you then force the body to perform at its best with sheer willpower, you run the risk of unbalancing the hormone system, also called the endocrine system. This is of course an extreme case, but it is not difficult to imagine that this has no life-prolonging and quality-enhancing effect. This extreme serves as an illustration that the right amount of stimulation and relaxation is crucial if we want to get fitter AND healthier.

Brief summary of the micro level:

• Training is a dismantling stimulus
• Too often and you get weaker and weaker
• If you don't give your body enough rest, it will get it by force
• If you give him enough rest, you will get fitter and healthier

Conclusion

High intensity strength training on our adaptive resistance machines meets the criteria of healthy training on both the micro and macro levels. It is trained hard to guarantee a build-up stimulus, but there is also enough pause not to stress the body chronically. The activity itself is highly controlled and strengthens bones, tendons and ligaments instead of harming them. That's why we love HIT. Also have a look at our webinar on a detailled view on the matter.