Developing Three Muscle Qualities for a Healthy, Active Lifestyle

 

Introduction

Building strength, power, and muscle mass forms the foundation of a healthy, capable body. Whether your goal is to keep up with your kids, perform better in sports, or simply move through daily life with ease, developing these qualities can make a tremendous difference. Strength training isn’t just about lifting heavy weights; it’s about improving your ability to produce and control force in different ways. By understanding how building strength, power, and muscle mass work together, you can train smarter, stay active longer, and enjoy a higher quality of life.

Strength

Being strong helps make it easier to pick up your kids/grandkids, excel at sports and physical activities, carry your groceries, and climb stairs and hills. Plus, if these tasks are easier, you can do them for longer periods.

We typically think of developing strength through lifting heavy weights. But this isn’t the only way to do it. 

Strength is the ability to produce force.

Muscles can produce force in three ways: by shortening, lengthening, or staying the same length all while under tension. We typically experience these actions by lifting, lowering, and holding, respectively. 

It doesn’t matter what tools you use to develop strength. You can use free weights, bands, cables, machines, and even your bodyweight. The key is that your muscles are experiencing enough tension.

How much tension do you need? 

A textbook might tell you to use a resistance that allows you to perform 3-6 sets of 1-6 reps with 3-5 minutes of rest. However, my experience tells me that performing 2-3 sets of 5-8 reps will do a sufficient job while lowering your risk of injury.

Power

While we lose strength as we age, we lose power much faster.

Power is the ability to use our strength quickly. We need power for climbing stairs, fall prevention, and excelling in sports and other physical activities. 

(If you think you’re too young to worry about fall prevention, your risk increases after the age of 35.)

Another great benefit of power exercises is that they prime your body for better performance on strength exercises later in your workout.

If we want to improve power, strength training is part of the equation. Stronger people are generally more powerful and respond to power training faster.

However, our focus should be on faster movements. Athletes enjoy Olympic lifts, plyometrics and other jumps, medicine ball throws, and sprinting (often with resistance).

Our members are better served with simpler jumps, kettlebell swings, medicine ball throws, skips, and shuffles. Keep the repetitions in the 3-10 range to maintain quality.

The goal is to move fast, rather than use more weight. You might not be straining or feeling the burn, but these exercises are effective.

Muscle Mass

Preserving your muscle mass is important for maintaining good health.

Whether your goal is to build muscle, maintain muscle, or tone, the training is the same. Again, it doesn’t matter if you use free weights, machines, bands, cables, or bodyweight.

The most important part of building or maintaining muscle is using enough resistance. 

We used to think that you needed to use enough resistance to do 6-12 reps per set. More recent research shows that we can go lighter as long as our effort is high enough.

There are two additional ways to build muscle: through feeling the burn and making your muscles sore. Contrary to popular belief, though, you don’t have to experience soreness to get results.

Basically, every rep range works. We prefer doing 2-3 sets of 5-10 reps for multijoint exercises like squats and push-ups, and doing 1-2 sets of 12-20 reps or more for isolation exercises like tricep kickbacks and calf raises.

Conclusion

Building strength, power, and muscle mass isn’t reserved for athletes. It’s essential for everyone who wants to stay strong, independent, and active throughout life. 

You don’t need complex equipment or extreme workouts; you need consistent effort, proper resistance, and a focus on quality movement. Whether you’re goal is keeping up with your kids, excelling in an activity, or staying independent, every step toward greater strength supports a healthier, more capable you.

Try These 3 Push-Up Variations

Here are three push-up variations that you can use to bust through a plateau or prevent boredom.

WATCH HERE

Tips for Proper Execution

1. Make a double chin to keep your head in line with the rest of your spine.

2. Keep your elbows tucked 45 degrees to your body. Looking from the top down, you should look like an arrow rather than the letter T.

3. Squeeze your glutes and quads and brace your core to avoid sagging at the hips.

We do 5-12 reps for the close-grip variation and 3-6 reps per side for the push-up to T and single-leg variations. If you can do more reps from the floor, add a weight plate to your low back.

Stay fit,

Jonathan Pratt

Build Your Ankle Strength for Pickleball and Hiking

 A couple of months ago, I listened to an episode of the Jacked Athlete Podcast that changed the way we train calves. These tips will strengthen your ankles for hiking on trails and for sports like pickleball.

Usually, you would perform calf raises on a step to get extra stretch in the calves, but we didn't have a convenient way to do that in our space.

Bodybuilders often perform them by turning the feet in and out to emphasize different areas of the calves, but we focus on function and performance over aesthetics.

What I learned in the podcast episode is that the Achilles tendon has a lot of subdivisions rather than being one uniform tissue. That means to optimally develop it, we need to take the ankle through a greater range of motion and turn the feet in a variety of positions when performing calf raises.

To get more stretch in the calves, we started doing calf raises on 15 degree foam wedges purchased from BC Strength. This was a low-cost option that was convenient to set up.

We also started doing our calf raises with toes in, toes out, and toes straight. We do each position for 4-8 reps totalling 12-24 reps per set.

Finally, we added some calf raises into our warm-ups with our feet turned in and out like you would experience if you've ever twisted your ankle. We're not sure if we want to try loading this position.

You can check out that video here: Ankle Inversion/Eversion Calf Raise

We recommend doing 5-10 reps per position.

Stay fit,

Jonathan Pratt

Better Posture and Reduced Pain in Only 8 Weeks

 

We've started doing monthly check-ins at Pratt's Pro Fitness, and I wanted to share feedback from one of our newer members. You can read her response below. Here are a few of the exercises we've been using to work on Denise's posture. Face Pull TRX Single Arm Row Dumbbell Bench Row Stay fit, Jonathan Pratt P.S. If you're interested in setting up a call to see if we're the right fit for you, fill out our form here: Sign-Up

FREE Home Workout

        Now that commercial gyms are closed, perhaps you're wondering what workouts you can do from home to maintain your fitness. After all, working out and eating well are great ways to maintain a robust immune system. The great news is that fitness is a lot easier to maintain than it is to build in the first place. I've created a workout that anyone can do in their home.

Doing Something Is Better Than Nothing

        Unless you have a well-stocked home gym your workouts will have to be bodyweight only. For now, that's alright. Vladimir Issurin tells us in his book Block Periodization that different fitness qualities can be maintained for various lengths of time without training them. Flexibility needs to be trained every day, but aerobic endurance and strength can be maintained at a high level even if you miss 30 days! Anaerobic endurance -- the quality trained through high-intensity interval training -- can also be maintained for 18 days. If you're an athlete, you need to be worried about losing your speed as speed needs to be trained every five days.

Training for Speed

        You can easily train speed on the street outside your home 2-3 times per week. After a thorough warm-up that includes skipping, shuffling, and backpedalling, perform a few short runs building from 50% to 90%. Then, sprint at maximum effort for up to 5sec to develop acceleration or 5-8 sec to develop speed. Perform 3-6 sprints with rests of 2-5 min resting longer for longer sprints.

Maintaining Strength

        I've included a warm-up and short workout with several variations for each exercise depending on your fitness background. This workout can be completed 2-3 times per week.

Warm-Up

Perform each movement for 5-10 reps.
        Warm-Up

Workout

Perform these exercises in a circuit for 3-5 rounds.
        Lunge x5-10 reps per side
        Shoulder W x5 reps with 5sec hold
        Hip Thrust x10-15 reps
        Push-Up x5-10
        Side Plank x15-30sec per side

Progressing

       Option 1: Try a more difficult variation of each exercise.

       Option 2: Perform more reps per set. This has diminishing returns.

       Option 3: Increased time under tension. In addition to performing more reps, you can place the           muscles under tension for more time by slowing the movement down or adding pauses.

       Option 4: Be creative. Fill a backpack, gym bag, or suitcase with books. This will add additional         resistance to exercises like squats and lunges and allow you to perform rowing variations.

Maintaining and Building Conditioning

        Conditioning is easy to maintain and even build now that the weather is warming up. Stick with walking and running if that's what you like. If you've been getting in your cardio through low-impact activities such as rowing or cycling, build into running slowly. Start with alternating jogging with walking and build volume by 10% per week.

        Another option is the extensive tempo method. While this method was developed for track sprinters as a recovery day, most people can do it. The goal is to maintain a modest heart rate of 120-150 beats per minute through running at 60-75% effort. In other words, this is neither a jog nor a sprint. After a warm-up, run 8x15sec at 60-75% effort resting for 30sec or until your heart rate drops to 120 beats per minute. Add two reps per week.

        If you have any questions about this workout or fitness in general, please contact me through my website.

Stay fit,

Jonathan Pratt
Pratt's Pro Fitness

The two-week roll-over is a great way to train for runners of all abilities as it lowers the risk of injury, it’s more interesting, and it might be more effective than traditional training.

In the 1960s, Arthur Lydiard became the big name in the running community after Peter Snell won the 800 m at the 1960 Olympics and the 800 m and 1500 m at the 1964 Olympics. What made Lydiard’s training different than many of his contemporaries was the use of periodization. Periodization is a fancy term for changing the training stimulus over time. Whereas Lydiard’s contemporaries were performing daily interval training year-round, Lydiard would start with at least 10 weeks of high-volume marathon training, followed by a concentration on hills, then intervals, and finally coordination of race-specific qualities.

Periodization leads to better results with a lower risk of injury, although the research hasn’t been able to determine which method is best. There are two broad types of periodization: conjugate and concurrent. Conjugate training focusses on developing one or two fitness qualities at a time, whereas concurrent training allows simultaneous development of all qualities.

Pros and Cons of Conjugate Periodization

Pros	Cons
Allows you to maximize a fitness quality	Other fitness qualities may decline substantially
Allows for 1-2 peaks in fitness every year	You may prefer to compete at races from spring through to fall
	Concentrated blocks of volume or intensity may lead to injury
	Less variation in training may be boring

Pros and Cons of Concurrent Periodization

Pros	Cons
Simultaneous development of all fitness qualities	May not be able to maximize any one fitness quality
Allows you to stay in good shape for months at a time	You may not be able to achieve your best result in any one race
Allows you to build volume or intensity more slowly, thereby lowering risk of injury	Development of some qualities can interfere with the development of other qualities
Greater variation in weekly training may be more interesting

I prefer to mesh concurrent and conjugate training together; my runners are usually training all qualities simultaneously but the emphasis changes over the year. I came to this decision based on a lack of success with conjugate training. In high school, I was always worried about losing my speed during the higher volume phases in the winter and summer. Then, as I added speed in the spring and fall, I would have a leap in performance only to lose the benefits of my aerobic base as the championship meets arrived. These are typical complaints of those who follow a conjugate program. Many reach peak performance too early and then start sliding backward. In a concurrent or mixed system, I can train switch my emphasis from endurance to speed to recovery based on recent results from races or workouts.

The Two-Week Roll-Over

I typically train following a two-week roll-over. This cycle can be repeated for months on end and allows you to compete well at events lasting 10-90 min. For simplicity, I’ve cut out the easy runs, but this program works best on 4-6+ runs a week.

	Workout 1	Workout 2	Workout 3
Week 1	Tempo Run or Cruise Intervals	5km Pace Intervals OR Alterations	Long Run
Week 2	Tempo Run or Cruise Intervals	Hills

Sample Workouts (Always precede with a warm-up)

Workout 1

Progression Run: 20-60min progressively faster

Tempo Run: 20-60min comfortably hard

Cruise Intervals: 3x10min comfortably hard (2min rest)

Workout 2

            5km Pace Intervals: 5x1000m at 5km pace with 90sec rest

            Alternations: 12-20min alternating 30sec at 3-5km pace with 30sec floating

            Hills: 6-12 x 30sec hills with a jog back rest

Volume Adjustments Over Four Weeks

I used to build my volume progressively for three weeks and then cut back by 25-33% in the fourth week like everyone else until I read Matt Dixon’s book The Well-Built Triathlete. Dixon says that three weeks is too long to build-up and one week is too long to deload. What happens is that training goes well on week 1 and into week 2, but then the quality of training drops in week 3. I’ve found that I’ve accumulated so much stress in three weeks that I feel flat and unmotivated for the entire deload week. Instead, I reduce volume at the end of every 2^nd week by running the shorter hill workout and cutting the volume of the long run. Over the course of four weeks (two roll-overs), my volume might look like this:

Week 1: High (95%)

Week 2: Medium (90%)

Week 3: Very High (100%)

Week 4: Low (70-85%)

On week 4, the volume is reduced on all easy runs and strength workouts, but I maintain the effort on the moderate to high-intensity sessions.

Quality Workouts Over a Year

I always build quality workouts by extension. This means that you’re going to run at your goal pace for a workout and extend the volume of the session, the volume of individual intervals, or by shortening the rests between intervals. This method has been shown to reduce the risk of injury in sprinters and I think the idea extends to long-distance runners.

Sample Progression for Intervals Run at 5km Pace

            Workout 1: 12x400m (60sec rest)

            Workout 2: 8x600m (75sec rest)

            Workout 3: 6x800m (90sec rest)

            Workout 4: 5x1000m (2min rest)

Sample Progression for a Tempo Run

            Workout 1: 40min at marathon pace

            Workout 2: 50min at marathon pace

            Workout 3: 60min at marathon pace

After a race, drop back down and start building up. In this way, you’re not spending the whole year crushing yourself with long intervals and tempo runs.

In addition, the type of session and duration can be adjusted based on your next race. Over the winter I know I don’t have any races for a while, so I can use the two-week roll-over to focus more on aerobic development. I tend to use alternations more than 5km pace intervals and long tempo runs over shorter cruise intervals.

In summary, the goal of the two-week roll-over is to add variety to your training, minimize the risk of injury and over-training, and maximize results. Build up volume of easy runs and higher intensity workouts slowly and drop back to shorter sessions after a big race.

Stay fit,

Jonathan Pratt
Pratt's Pro Fitness

Is Your Conditioning Sports-Specific?

A common mistake I see amongst sports’ coaches is using excessive conditioning or conditioning that is inappropriate based on their athletes’ sport or age. Don’t worry! I was there too. As a runner and running coach, I thought long-distance running was the best conditioning method for everyone. Now that I’ve studied the science and seen highly conditioned athletes who trained differently, I think otherwise.

The field of strength and conditioning is rapidly evolving to the point where most sports’ coaches can’t keep up with the latest training methods. That’s okay though! The job of the sports’ coach is to develop the technical and tactical abilities of their athletes. Leave strength and conditioning to specialists in that area.

Hierarchy of Needs 

Let’s look at the hierarchy of needs for the non-endurance sports (see pyramid below). The top of the pyramid is represented by technical and tactical abilities. Even if the athlete isn’t in the best shape, having a high level of skill and decision-making abilities will help her perform well.

The next level of the pyramid represents the most important physical qualities. These qualities allow the athlete to sprint to the ball faster, get the rebound, or outmaneuver an opponent. They’re best trained on the court, field, or rink through short, intense efforts (less than 5-10 seconds) with long rests (1-5 minutes). For developing athletes, strength training heavily influences these qualities.

Speed work should be less than 5-10sec in length.

The third level of the pyramid represents the ability to maintain speed throughout the entire competition. To train this quality we want to mimic what happens in sport. Team sports are a series of repeated sprints with changes of direction, not continuous efforts like cross-country running. Efforts should be up to 10 seconds with less than a minute rest. Longer workouts can include 150y and 300y shuttles. Workouts like these are tough and should be done no more than twice a week. Over the off-season, athletes should work up to these workouts. In-season, these workouts should be used occasionally for maintenance with competitions and small-sided games taking their place.

The final level of the pyramid is general conditioning. General conditioning allows an athlete to recover faster between hard bouts and after competitions. However, with all the technical, agility, speed, strength, and interval training there isn’t a lot of time or energy left to perform a ton of this work. That’s not a problem though as it’s the least specific ability.

If you perform well in speed and agility tests, what inherent trait do you possess? You’re sure to have a moderate to high percentage of fast twitch muscle fibres. Fast twitch fibres are made for speed and agility, whereas slow twitch fibres are made for endurance activities. Not only will some of your best players score poorly on running tests but they will respond poorly to traditional cardio training. Too much traditional cardio will make these players slower and weaker.

What should you do instead?

Team sport athletes should use a conditioning method used by sprinters called extensive tempo. An extensive tempo is neither a jog nor a sprint but something in between and has enough rest to keep your heart rate elevated without gassing you. An example might be running the length of a basketball court and back at 60-70% maximum speed and resting for 30 seconds done 8-16 times. These can also be done on stationary bikes but running and slide boards provide the option of a change of direction. Extensive tempos can be used to progress to higher intensity workouts or used as recovery sessions.

Another great option is mobility circuits. Check out this article by Eric Cressey for more information. I had an injury prone runner use these once or twice a week in place of a run one winter. She broke an area record.

A good dynamic warm-up is also a form of cardio.

Is traditional cardio really that bad?

Researchers call it the interference effect, because endurance training interferes with speed, strength, and muscle-building. However, I think it depends on the athlete. Athletes who enjoy endurance training will have moderate to high percentages of slow twitch muscle fibres. In fact, I have several cross-country runners who perform well in team sports. For these athletes the interference effect is small. But if you decide to use cross-country as a means of conditioning for a winter sport you can’t replace sprinting and lifting. Don’t force it on athletes either. Athletes who hate cardio are usually the ones who won’t respond to it anyway.

Minimum Effective Dose

All training variables must be carefully dosed to maximize performance while reducing the risk of injury and illness. Conditioning is no different. More isn’t always better. I was working with a hockey player who struggled to lift relatively light training loads after only the first week of hockey season. An hour of stairs will do that to an explosive athlete. Additionally, if your athlete competes in another sport simultaneously, as a coach you must modify your conditioning plans based on what your athlete did yesterday with the other coach. An athlete can’t have two coaches who want to have the best-conditioned team. My friend Ryan did an excellent job of this last summer with one of our club runners who also played soccer. He modified the workouts accordingly and asked if she could run easy for certain soccer practices. She ended up with a medal at the Ontario Summer Games.

Age-Appropriate Conditioning

My final point concerns conditioning for young athletes. If they’re not in high school yet, most of their conditioning should be through games like tag and dodge ball and playing their sport. Keep it fun! Also, when you consider that many young athletes are playing multiple sports simultaneously and joining the cross-country team, do they really need more conditioning?

In summary, sports conditioning needs to be sports-specific, age-appropriate, and provided in proper doses. In this highly-evolving field of strength and conditioning, it’s important to seek the help of a specialist.

If you have any questions about fitness, please contact me through my website here.

Stay fit,

Jonathan Pratt

Pratt's Pro Fitness