Something's in the air: resistance training with air-powered equipment

American Fitness, July-August, 1993 by K.C. Hamblin

Resistance training isn't a new concept. However, new equipment technology has played a role in revolutionizing this trend. In the past decade alone, fitness equipment has offered everything from interactive coaching to slick computerized printouts. In the strength training category, air-powered (or pneumatic equipment) has contributed to the increase in women users. It's become easier to use and less injurious than traditional devices.

If you've had trouble taking off those last few inches or reached a plateau in your weight loss program using aerobic activites, you're not alone. Many people who discover their current exercise program falls short of the goals they set out to accomplish have found training on weight machines, at an intensity necessary to change the shape of their body, works.

How can resistance or strength training help your weight loss/toning program? The simplest explanation was given about 13 years ago by Covert Bailey in Fit or Fat. Bailey simplified weight loss into caloric input versus caloric output. Caloric input refers to controlling the quality and quantity of calories you consume. Caloric output is controlling the number of calories burned. Caloric input has some physiological influences but can be controlled psychologically. Everyone has the ability to control his or her food intake. Controlling the quality of our meals obviously takes effort but can benefit your current program.

Caloric output, on the other hand, has two parts. Total calories burned is the sum of the calories burned from your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), plus the calories you burn exercising and thinking. (Yes, thinking burns an incredible amount of calories. There might be a case for looking into the number of calories burned while watching television--a passive brain activity--versus the number burned while reading a good novel--an active brain activity).

Your BMR is the rate at which your body burns calories when at rest, and it can be changed by increasing your lean body mass or muscle mass. The number of calories you burn while exercising is actually quite low. But through strength training you can increase the amount of lean body mass you have which alters your BMR and the overall number of calories you burn. This translates into a fitter, trimmer physique.

Let's examine the effects of strength training on women. Genetics play a major role in how your body will react to training. As a female, your shape can be optimized as a result of aerobic activities and the muscular changes associated with strength training. The following results can be expected.

* Little or no change in total body weight.

* Significant loss of relative and absolute body fat.

* Significant increase in lean body weight.

* Retardation of osteoporotic process.

* Slight change in muscle size.

* Initial increase in clothing size.

* Eventual reduction in clothing size without weight loss.

Training Techniques

The fitness industry has undergone tremendous change within the last decade, the most prevalent being the move from high-to low-impact aerobics in the '80s. Health specialists throughout the country, including Peter Francis, Ph.D., in If It Hurts Don't Do It, cautioned against high-impact workouts which resulted in more injuries than benefits.

Following the switch, fitness equipment manufacturers quickly responded with a move from high-to low-impact machinery designed to provide the user with a safer workout--sparing the joints and ligaments--while still achieving specific goals. Air-powered equipment, utilizing a system of compressed air, has opened up dimensions in training that were never before possible. These machines provide smooth, consistent resistance which translates into less wear and tear on the body. Here are a few of the programming opportunities this equipment provides.

* The ability to change resistance in increments of single pounds is necessary for rehabilitating from injury or for beginners to advance their workouts gradually.

* Starting resistance of zero on most machines is great for first-time users.

* Unilateral or bilateral training works one or both arms/legs at a time, which is beneficial if one area is weaker than the other.

* Whether exercising fast or slow, the resistance is not governed by gravity so it remains constant and smooth throughout the workout.

* Smooth, safe resistance minimizes shock loading to joints and connective tissue.

* Changing resistance during a repetition enables you to maximize muscle fatigue for an optimum workout in less time.

Free weights and weight stack machines do not allow you to change the resistance during an exercise movement. Pneumatics can be adjusted by merely pushing a button or pressing a foot pedal to increase or decrease resistance at any time during the repetition. These machines also allow you to work in the concentric (positive) and eccentric (negative, which research has proven enhances strength building) modes within the same exercise. Because you have fingertip control of the resistance, no training partners are required to assist you with spotting.