WIDLIMS ep #11 – Powerlifting, building muscle and body image
New podcast episode with Kris from PlantPowerPrep
In this week’s episode of the podcast “WIDLIMS – What I Didn’t Learn in Medical School”, we meet the powerful Kris (she/her) who is a super strong super cool vegan powerlifter currently based in Scotland, and an absolute delight to chat to. We spoke about…
- what resistance training is
- what powerlifting is and how to get into it
- dealing with body image and weight gain as well as prejudice a female gym goer may be met with
- …and a couple of other interesting bits I know you’ll love!
Mentioned in the episode
- German strength building programme – more here.
- BMI is not that great as a health marker – here.
- Kris’ socials – linked below!
Connect with Kris!
Recipes and vegan meal prep service in Edinburgh via: www.plantpowerprep.co.uk and on Facebook
Instagram: PlantPowerPrepUK and PlantPowered_Kris for lots of great recipes and powerlifting inspo among other things!
Background: Physical Activity Guidelines and Evidence-Base
In the UK, the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines for physical activity in adults currently recommends a weekly 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity. Ideally, the activity should be spread over the days of the week; however, physical activity in any quantity and spread is beneficial compared to none (1). Infographics neatly summarising guidelines for under-5s, adults, older adults, disabled persons and pregnant women may all be found here.
Physical activity in general exhibits a dose-response relationship: the more you exercise, the greater the health benefit. This is most apparent when increasing activity levels from being pretty much sedentary (not moving very much at all throughout the day), but even more active folks can improve their health outcomes by exercising more (2). Benefits to physical activity include (but are not limited to) reducing your risk of diabetes, heart disease and dementia, as well as improving your sleep and mental wellbeing (1,3,4). See infographic here.
It is also recommended to include muscle strengthening training on at least 2 days per week (1,5). This is also known as resistance training, and should involve using “major muscle groups, with each exercise performed with the maximum weight that can be lifted 8-12 times without losing good
technique or to the point of involuntary fatigue” (5). Essentially, this means engaging in physical activity which challenges all major muscle groups in your body (legs, core, arms) in a structured way, to the point of fatigue or failure – you want to be tired out. However, it is also known that any amount of resistance training is better than none!
Resistance training may involve lifting weights, but it could also involve body weight exercises (e.g. yoga, pilates, HIIT circuits) or using resistance bands or fixed weight machines.
Why is muscle strengthening included as a separate recommendation, and not just assumed to be included? Well, resistance training is critical in maintaining muscle mass as we get older (which naturally declines otherwise), for example as it improves balance – thus preventing falls and associated issues such as fractures in old age (6). It also helps with regulating our metabolism, and is useful in managing obesity (7). I personally prefer resistance training in the form of weight lifting, pilates or HIIT training to endless minutes of cardio on an exercise bike or treadmill – those are simply not for me! I also find that performing resistance training gets the heart pumping a lot, acting like a form of high intensity cardiovascular exercise as well as muscle strengthening exercise.
In the episode, Kris and I also discuss body image and exercise. It has been shown to help both men and women with feeling better about the way they look (8, 9). Some more articles on this topic and further reading are linked below!
REFERENCES:
(2) James Woodcock, Oscar H Franco, Nicola Orsini, Ian Roberts, Non-vigorous physical activity and all-cause mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies, International Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 40, Issue 1, February 2011, Pages 121- 138. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyq104
(3) Cooney GM, Dwan K, Greig CA, et al. Exercise for depression. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013(9):CD004366. https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004366.pub6/abstract
(4) Singh NA, Clements KM, Fiatarone MA. A randomized controlled trial of the effect of exercise on sleep. Sleep. 1997;20(2):95-101. https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/20/2/95/2731654
(5) Public Health England. Muscle and bone strengthening and balance activities for general health benefits in adults and older adults: Summary of a rapid evidence review for the UK Chief Medical Officers’ update of physical activity guidelines. London; 2018. Available to download from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/everybody-active-every-day-a-framework-to-embed-physical-activity-into-daily-life
(6) Skelton DA, Mavroeidi A (2018) How do muscle and bone strengthening and balance activities (MBSBA) vary across the life course and are there particular ages where MBSBA are important? Journal of Frailty, Sarcopenia and Falls 3(2): 74-84 http://www.jfsf.eu/Article.php?AID=v03i02_074
(7) Strasser B, Schobersberger W. Evidence for resistance training as a treatment therapy in obesity. J Obes. 2011;2011:482564. doi:10.1155/2011/482564 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2931407/
(8) Heather A. Hausenblas & Elizabeth A. Fallon (2006) Exercise and body image: A meta-analysis, Psychology & Health, 21:1, 33-47, DOI: 10.1080/14768320500105270. https://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080%2F14768320500105270
(9) Smith, David. Resistance Training and Body Image: The Critical Link. Absolute Health and Performance. https://absolutehealthperformance.com.au/resistance-training-and-body-image-the-critical-link/
Further reading
The NHS Exercise tips pages with guides and FAQs: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/free-fitness-ideas/
Activity Alliance supporting people with disabilities to be more physically active as far as possible: http://www.activityalliance.org.uk/
Body Image benefit in women vs men after strength training intervention, article available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144505000732?via%3Dihub
Article abstract “Muscular Fitness, Body Composition and Physical Self-Perception in Adolescents” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21111677/
