Barbells, dumbbells, bands, machines: how do you know which to use? In this episode, I discuss what equipment to use and when. If you’ve not been getting the results you want in your strength training, this episode is for you. You’ll learn about why one tool might be better for your goals than the other, what each one actually does to your muscles and your bones, and how to safely progress from dumbbells to barbells.

I see too many women avoid the barbell because they are intimidated, scared, or uncertain, think it's only for gym bros, or that they will get bulky. It's just not true! I share the story of my friend Jane, who very slowly journeyed from using limited weights in her living room to the dumbbell section at her gym to using all of the equipment on the main gym floor. The barbell back squat completely transformed her routine! If you are a true student of technique, there comes a point where transitioning to the barbell rack will transform your training unlike dumbbells ever could. Remember, you define what progress means. Barbells are a great option if that is what you want!

The next thing to understand when building muscle is that, regardless of the equipment you're using, improvements in muscular strength and size are the result of mechanical tension and/or metabolic stress when there is sufficient volume. What that means is, the only way a muscle can grow, change, and improve is through tension, stress, and a minimum effective dose each week. You will not build muscle if you're not getting enough stimulus according to these parameters: weight load, intensity, and enough repetitions each week.

It is possible to change your body with just dumbbells and bands, but you have to be a lot more passionate about your programming, your technique, your methodologies, and the complexity of your movements. I believe, however, that it's easier to use a barbell. I share the specific benefits of each type of exercise equipment. Barbells, for instance, are great for reducing the need for stability and provide a greater challenge in general. Again, at some point, if you want to continue to train with greater weight loads and good technique, you will have to transition to barbells.

To improve any muscle, it must be exposed to a force that's intense enough to cause some degree of muscle stress and damage. Because the best results come when there is both mechanical tension, which means a heavy weight load, and metabolic stress, it underscores the value of bigger movements that involve multiple muscles and your entire body as a whole. I think the concept of weight-bearing exercise for good bones is really BS because the truth is, your muscles and your bones are already used to your current body weight. Impact exercises are a great way to improve bones.

Ultimately, anything is better than nothing. If you're strength training, first make sure that you are challenging your muscles beyond their current ability, and if that's with dumbbells and bands, I’m sending you a high five!

I hope you enjoyed this episode!

You can get FREE access to my 4-week Strength Without Stress program right now! This program will help you reduce the systemic inflammation that’s caused by overly intense or lengthy workouts. It’ll help you build and maintain valuable lean muscle without the fatigue from other programs.

To get free access to Strength Without Stress, post a Review wherever you’re listening. Grab a screenshot of your review before you post it and upload at: https://www.hollyperkins.com/review

This is a limited-time offer before it sells for $197–grab it while you can for lifetime access.

Topics covered

• (05:10) Don’t avoid the barbell!
• (10:00) Technique trumps everything!
• (17:15) Benefits

What if everything you've believed about soreness is wrong? How surprised would you be if the best strength training left you feeling energized, not exhausted? In this episode, I shed light on muscle soreness. Most people think a workout is only good if you’re sore afterwards. Not true! You’ll learn why soreness isn't a sign of success but actually a big problem, especially if you have an autoimmune condition, and which exercises contribute more to soreness.

Muscle soreness is one of three things. First, soreness could be from doing a new exercise, not being used to specific movements, or doing too much. Two, too much time under tension in the eccentric loading phase of exercises. You’re either doing too many reps or too many eccentric dominant moves in general. Or third, improper nutrition around workouts.

When looking at impressive workouts on social media, for example, it's important to remember that the impressive workouts aren’t what those people did to get there. They worked toward that goal. Some workouts make you more sore than others. There is a significant link between muscle soreness, systemic inflammation, and the power of exercise selection. Less is more! Your workout doesn’t need to make you incredibly sore to have been a great one.

DOMS, or delayed onset muscle soreness, is actually related to inflammation. Muscle soreness is “damage,” but remember, not all inflammation and damage is bad. It's when there is too much inflammation that it becomes a problem. Women who struggle with autoimmune issues want to avoid workouts that cause excessive soreness, because they're already susceptible to being sore, and they're already managing the inflammation related to their condition.

Taking all of this into consideration, wanting a program for myself not to over-fatigue my body, I created Strength Without Stress. It's a collection of exercises that are concentric-based, where maximal load is when the muscle is in a shortened position, allowing you to lift more without soreness. Working smarter, and not harder, is the key to striking the right balance in your workouts.

Emphasis is determined by the time spent under tension, and if the targeted muscle is in a lengthened, stretched, or shortened position. Once I started masterminding my workouts so that I didn't do too many eccentric exercises, where the muscle is in a lengthened position at maximal load and force, everything changed.

A concentric contraction is when a muscle shortens as it produces force. It shortens to overcome the weight load to cause movement. A great example of this is a bicep curl. In general, concentric contractions don't cause soreness. An eccentric contraction is the opposite. It's when the muscle is lengthening as it produces force, and these are the special exercises that cause soreness. A great example here is a squat where you're lowering down to the ground and you're resisting the load that you're holding, and then you're returning to a standing position.

So the exercises that are eccentric, dominant, and therefore more taxing to the muscle, and therefore tend to cause soreness, are barbell back squats, lunges of any kind, Bulgarian split squats, Romanian deadlift, good mornings, bench press or a bicep chest press, chest fly, overhead tricep extension, supine hamstring curl, and push ups. My Strength Without Stress program combines all of my favorite concentric exercises with just the bare minimum eccentric exercises.

Remember, soreness isn’t the goal. Finding the perfect collection of exercises where you can actually increase your weight loads consistently over time, so that you experience intense moments during a set is. Strength training should make you feel great the next day, not knock you down!

If you want access to my 4-week Strength Without Stress program for...

Curious about where you are on your journey to becoming more muscle and less fat? Wondering about your bone health? In this episode of Ask Holly, I answer three of your questions that could really unlock the next level of strength and wellness for you. If changing your body composition was easy, then we would all have no problems doing it! That’s why I love hearing your biggest struggles so we can get the variables that really matter into alignment and get you the body, vitality, and health that you crave.

The first question is about how to calculate your body composition. The first thing to understand is that body composition is the totality of your current body weight according to gravity on Mother Earth. Your body composition is the total body weight of your body fat, lean muscle mass, and bone mass.

It's so important to get a professional assessment over an online calculator because they have the highest percentage of error. I focus on muscle mass over body fat percentage for a more accurate picture of health. To calculate it, I take the body fat percentage that's given to you from your DEXA assessment. I take that number and subtract it from 100%. So if your body fat percentage is 30%, then your adjusted lean muscle mass would be 70%.

This however, does not take into account bone mass. These scans are so important for getting the clearest picture. Body composition assessments divide an individual's total body mass, that's your body weight according to a scale, into the relative proportions of fat mass and fat free mass.

The next question is about the best ways to strength train after receiving an osteoporosis diagnosis. Unfortunately, the advice for how to handle this diagnosis is often not handled well. If you search “bone,” I have a lot of very specific episodes on this topic but for now, let me say that walking is a great place to start if you’re out of the exercise habit. From there, you can begin strength training. Start slow, twice a week with moderate weight,s and increase the volume over time.

The last question is about how to strength train if you have an injury. Let me first say that your next workout is only as good as your recovery from your last workout. Assess how well you recover. I’d also recommend concentrating on very gradual progression in your workouts. Each week should really only be a tiny bit more than the previous week. If this all feels a little too calculated, another thing I often tell my clients is to leave every workout wanting more and let the goal be to leave your workout feeling great. Don't push. Don't overdo it.

You may be tempted to think that improving your body composition is an impossible task, but the truth is, it's pretty formulaic and all about finding the right programming that works for your body!

I hope you enjoyed this episode!

You can get FREE access to my 4-week Strength Without Stress program right now! This program will help you reduce the systemic inflammation that’s caused by overly intense or lengthy workouts. It’ll help you build and maintain valuable lean muscle without the fatigue from other programs

To get free access to Strength Without Stress, post a Review wherever you’re listening. Grab a screenshot of your review before you post it and upload at: https://www.hollyperkins.com/review

This is a limited-time offer before it sells for $197–grab it while you can for lifetime access.

Topics covered:

• (05:09) Q: What is the best body composition calculation method?
• (11:50) You control your body composition!
• (15:50) Q: What’s the best way to strength train after an osteoporosis diagnosis?
• (24:21) Impact exercises aren’t the best place to begin if you have osteoporosis
• (26:11)...