#116: Factors That Impact Your Strength Training Results (Part 1: Things you can & can't control)

When will I see results? And how can I get there faster?

These are questions everyone asks when starting strength training - and in this episode, we’re diving into the real answers. 

If you’ve been lifting weights and wondering whether it’s working (or why your progress isn’t matching someone else’s), this episode is for you.

In part 1 of this 2-part series, I'm looking at the real factors that influence your results. Some are completely out of your control (like your age and muscle fiber type). But others - like how you train - make a huge difference.

You’ll learn:

1. The role genetics, age, and hormones play in your training outcomes
2. What actually matters inside your workouts if you want to see change
3. 5 key training-related habits that give you the best chance at visible, lasting results

Hit play to learn what you should (and shouldn’t) be focusing on.

Resources mentioned:

1. Episode #114 – Progressive Overload

Transcript

#116: Factors That Impact Your Strength Training Results (Part 1: Things you can & can't control)


[00:00:00] Welcome to today's show. I'm actually starting this a little differently today because I'm thinking about changing the name of the podcast because I've been so focused on weight training because that is, I think, the missing piece for so many women that I think I'm going to change the name of the podcast to.
Something more around strength training in midlife. So, um, yeah, so it may get confusing if I'm calling it 40 plus Fitness for Women and then all of a sudden it's the Strength Training and midlife podcast. But anyway, I'm still Lynn Sederlöf-Airisto and a menopause fitness coach here to help you get stronger and stay fit in midlife.
And today we are gonna talk about something that, of course everybody is interested in when they start weight training, which is how quickly am I gonna see results and how can I make myself get results [00:01:00] faster? And I think this is a really important topic because you see people on social media. Women on social media, and of course you think, oh, I wanna look like that.
And often actually, you are seeing them. And thinking, okay, they're showing this exercise or that exercise, and that must be the kind of exercise that has gotten them to be in that good a shape. And a, that's not always the case. So I please, I wanna remind you of that, that it's not always that the exercise that they're showing has actually gotten them looking the way they do.
In fact, I think it is. Far too common, especially when we're talking about targeting midlife women, where the women have exercises, they show you exercises that are quote unquote full body exercises where they're using medium or smallish [00:02:00] dumbbells. They're sweating. It's kind of cardio at the same time.
And yet these women are toned and firm looking and they're actually strength training on the side. But they know that strength training doesn't sell. You know, women don't wanna start strength training. And so they are selling what people wanna buy, which is these kinds of full body, sweaty, uh, cardio with weights kind of workouts.
And that's really annoying. And then the other part of that is that a lot of these women have amazing genetics, right? You see, for example, some, I don't know, they're like Pilates strength instructors and they're like, oh, just do what I'm doing and you're gonna look like me. And their legs are like. You know the five feet long and they're a former ballerina and all these things, and you think, oh [00:03:00] yes, my legs are gonna look long and lean if I do these Pilates moves with that person.
That is not how it goes. Unfortunately. If it were like that, we would all look like certain body types, those of us who exercise. The fact of the matter is that there is so much that we cannot control. As far as our results, and I wanna start by going through that and then talk about the things that we can control.
And this is a little bit of a longer topic, so I'm gonna split this into two podcasts, so be sure to subscribe. So you also hear the second half next week, which is going to be an important addition because this is not just one thing. So all these. You know, promises of do this one exercise. I did this one exercise and all of a sudden fat disappeared.
My waist got smaller, my [00:04:00] shoulders got amazing. I mean, come on guys. If it were that easy, wouldn't we just all look amazing? Right? Nobody would have a weight problem. Nobody would be under muscle. Osteoporosis would be tossed. Out of the diagnostic books because we would all just be so strong. Right? So this is really getting down to realism.
Okay. Getting off my soapbox now. Right. So let's talk about the things that you cannot affect. And a little bit alluded to it a minute ago, which was we cannot affect our genetics. So if. I chose 15 women or 20 women, and they did exactly the same workouts. I, I treated them like lab rats, right? They had to do exactly the same workouts.
I controlled their eating all the things, and, [00:05:00] and then I did that, let's say for a year. They would still end up looking different from one another. Because we have different genetics. In fact, in the studies that they do on, on exercise and these studies come out all the time, they'll often have. 12 people.
40, 40 people is a lot. I mean, imagine. And the results really, really vary and they try to pull out something that they can say about it,
so our genetics make a difference and oh wow. I have been born with the kind of genetics that really does not put muscle on very easily, and I'm reminded of this so often when I'm in the weight room and I see somebody, a woman. A midlife woman who looks really toned, muscular, like she's got great muscle [00:06:00] definition and everything.
And then I look at the weights that she's using and it's like half the weights that I'm using and my muscles are not popping like hers are. . I remember in college too, there was this one. Woman Heather, who was on my lacrosse team, and she like never went to the weight room. And then she came to the weight room with me one time and she just developed muscles so fast from bicep curling a pencil. It is really unfair. But the thing is that I've talked about type one and type two muscle fibers.
So type one are the muscle fibers that give us the endurance and they're quite small and flat. And then there are the type two muscle fibers, which give us strength and power. And they are the ones that can grow more significantly in size. And in every single one of us, we in every single one of our muscles.
We have both type one and type [00:07:00] two muscle fibers, and it's not like it's the same proportion for every single one of my muscles. It changes my, my bicep muscles might have a different proportion than my thigh muscles or my back muscles, and then my bicep muscles will have a different proportion than your bicep muscles.
And that is of course going to affect to some degree how big, how prominent our muscles are going to be, how much they're gonna show.
And then the other piece that's going to matter is that the muscle belly is attached, using tendons. It's attached to your bones and the length of the tendons. Versus the length of the muscle is going to make a difference too. So if I flex my bicep and I have a different proportion of those two aspects [00:08:00] to what you have, when you flex your muscle, it is going to like pop up more or less.
You'll see people often if they have a very. Poppy muscle. It's a shorter bicep muscle, right? So it'll be like flat and then jump and then flat again. And then other people have these kind of longer muscles. So if you talk about long lean muscles versus poppy muscles or bulkier muscles, muscles that show more, it's probably something to do with that.
Just your. Structure right. And those are two things that you're not really gonna be able to affect. I mean, the structure you're not gonna be able to affect For sure not. There is a little bit of evidence that when you do more strength training work, you, there are certain percentage of those muscle fibers, which can [00:09:00] be.
Converted over to the other type of muscle fiber. So, um, so you could actually have a little bit more of these type two muscle fibers, but that takes some serious concerted effort and uh, I think that's something that bodybuilders worry about more than anybody else. I think for us, we can just think of it as.
We have the genetics that we were born with. So even if we do the exact same training program as somebody else, we're not going to look exactly like them because of our proportion of type one and type two muscle fibers. And because of the structure of our muscles and our tendons and, and how long or short they are.
And then other things that you're not gonna be able to affect are things like your age. So it is actually harder to build muscle when you are older. And so for that reason, we need to have a more [00:10:00] structured kind of strength training program to really push our bodies systematically to build the muscle.
Plus our hormone profile is going to affect this to some degree. I mean, if you think about like a young teenager, like my 17-year-old son, he is just oozing with testosterone so he can go to the gym and build muscle, get stronger more easily than I can at, you know, in midlife at age 54.
And then finally, how much you've trained in the past is going to make a difference as well. And this is something you can't affect anymore, but it is kind of an interesting thing to note. So if you have a history of strength training, so maybe when you were in, in college or in high school, or you know, when you were younger, you did strength training and you had [00:11:00] muscles.
It probably is going to be easier for you to see results a little bit faster than somebody who never has. And if you are somebody who's just got started strength training, you are going to see a change, like a bigger change right there in the beginning.
As you start training, so probably your first year is gonna be your biggest kind of transformation, and then after that it goes along more slowly. And for those of us who have been training longer, well, I mean I'm on year four and I still wouldn't consider that super duper long, but the change over. Like the months is much, much more subtle.
I mean, even the amount that I increase weights is very, very subtle because we all do have kind of a genetic ceiling, right? I mean, if it were that we could just [00:12:00] strength train and keep getting stronger and stronger and stronger at the same rate as what we do, right? In the beginning when we start strength training, we would be lifting cars.
Somebody out there would be lifting houses and apartment buildings. We know that Superman is only in the comic books. So that is good to keep in mind. So just to summarize the things that you cannot really affect, which do affect what kind of results you see are your genetics. So what is your muscle and tendon structure like and what type one and type two muscle fibers you have in your various muscles and through your body.
The second is your age. So it is harder to build muscle when you're older. So the sooner you can start, the better. The third is how much hormone you have.
And the fourth thing is your training [00:13:00] history. And it's good to keep in mind when you are looking at social media and you see these people who look amazing that a. They probably have great genetics. That's why they're there, right? And then they may be using some enhancements, and then unfortunately, there is a lot of use of filters nowadays, even in video.
It's gotten really, really easy to use and becoming more and more common. So please do not. Compare yourself to somebody out there in social media. compare yourself to yourself, right? And think about your own journey and how big a strides you're making in your own fitness journey, and improving your own strength, your own amount of muscle, and your own feeling of wellbeing.
Okay, [00:14:00] so now let's talk about the things that you can affect, okay. And the things that you can affect in the. Training situation. All right. The first thing is that training, following a program is always going to bring you better results than random workouts. So if you're showing up in the weight room and you are just, okay, I'll do a bit of this today and I'll do a little bit of that today, and oh, a little bit of this, that is never going to get you the same kind of results as picking a program. Following it consistently. All right, so get a program. rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. It's not about mixing it up every day. It's not entertainment. Think of it like brushing your teeth. You don't need 16 different ways to brush your teeth.
There is one good way to brush your teeth and you repeat that every day, twice a day, and your teeth stay clean. And it's kind of the same [00:15:00] thing with weight training. It's just this consistent way of working, but. Unlike brushing teeth, you do need to progressively overload. And I talked about that in, I think it was last week's episode anyway, very, very recently.
So if you haven't watched that episode, go back and listen to that one 'cause that is key. In order to get results, you can't just be doing the same exercises with the same weights over and over again for weeks and months on end. That is not encouraging your body to put on more muscle and get stronger. So progressive overload is really, really key. 
Intensity also matters. So this has to do with pushing your body. Now you don't, the, the evidence is that you don't need to train [00:16:00] to failure in order to see muscle growth, but you should be training close to failure. So within one or two, or maybe even three reps of failure.
Now the way I coach women to learn how to lift is to practice going to failure on some of the lifts, the ones that are safe. For example, shoulder presses or bicep curls, tricep extensions, things like that where you really are not gonna hurt yourself even when you go to failure. and the reason you wanna do that is so that you learn where that line is.
And so you learn to recognize that, Hey, I'm almost at failure. I need to stop now. I can tell I don't have another one in me. Or I could do maybe one more, but not two more. The other way that you can tell. If you're getting [00:17:00] close to failure is you see the involuntary slowdown of your rep. So if you're able to start with like 1, 2, 3, 4, you know, bicep curls, and then all of a sudden it's like, ugh, ugh.
You know, you've got this involuntary slowdown, then you know that you're training hard enough. You can video yourself doing a set and then watch how quick your first rep is and your last rep, and there should be a difference. And by the way, if you are having a chat with your friend that you're at the gym with.
Or on the phone while you're training, then you are definitely not lifting with enough intensity. You should have to focus on what you're doing during your sets. Okay, maybe not in your first week or your second week. Well then you should be focusing very much on your form. But in any case like [00:18:00] it, it's not like something you do while you're doing something else and expect to get results. Sorry.
And then you need consistency, so. Training two to four times a week is plenty, so you don't need to be living in the gym. In fact, next week's episode, you'll hear about why that is not a good idea to just live at the gym. But you do need the consistency because actually the way that this works is that I.
The weight training session is a stimulus for your muscle growth to start happening, but there's this kind of relationship, and this happens actually with all kinds of training that after you train your body, like starts to um, improve, like your muscle growth starts to go up, and then after some time you start to lose muscle again.
Okay. And I think the, what have I read? Like the latest ones have [00:19:00] been something like even training once a week is enough to maintain your muscle. Of course this varies by person, right? 
So you have to take these with a little bit of a grain of salt. But the studies have been that if you train once a week. That's enough to maintain your muscle. And what that implies is that if you're training less than once a week, you are actually losing muscle. Now, that's not to say you should give up because you had to take two weeks off because you were sick.
My point is just that. It is important to make this a habit and to choose a frequency that makes sense for you and that you can maintain over the long term. And two times a week is gorgeous. Wonderful. So do that.
And then the last thing I'll say is that focus on good form. You wanna do the exercises correctly so [00:20:00] that you're actually targeting the muscles that you want to work to make sure that you're strengthening everything. I see a lot of not so great form going on at the gym, and I wish people would pay more attention to that.
Some people get very caught up in, oh, I gotta keep increasing my weights. I gotta keep increasing my weights, but not at the, price of sacrificing form. Make sure you're getting the form down correctly. Plus, if you're not training with good form. For example, if you're doing heavy rows and the reason you're able to complete the reps is because let's say you're turning your wrists in instead of actually pulling with your back, then you may end up with issues like wrist issues or something else. So good form is important too. 
So to recap, the things you can do or should do in the weight [00:21:00] room to get the most results out of your weight training is follow a consistent program. Apply progressive overload, so you're challenging your body as you get stronger by increasing the reps and increasing the weights over time. Train with intensity. You don't need to go all the way to failure, but getting close to failure is important.
Train consistently. So it can't just be one week you train, next week, you don't. Third week you train. Get a rhythm to your training that you can maintain for weeks and months and years on end. Even if that's twice a week, that's plenty. And finally focus on good form so that you are actually hitting the muscles and working the muscles that we wanna be working in that program. And so you're not sacrificing good form and potentially going to injure [00:22:00] yourself. 
All right, so I hope what you take away from this episode is that. Your results are going to look different from everybody else's results, except maybe if you have a twin sister. I did actually have one client who had a twin sister, and she was like, oh my God. Yeah. So if you and your twin sister are both star training with my program, you should see fairly similar results.
And then it's the same old kind of boring stuff that I've been talking about for so long. Pick a program, do it consistently. Apply progressive overload, you know, train with intensity and pay attention to your form, and that is how you are gonna get the best results. Next week we'll talk about the things you can do outside of the weight room to ensure you get the most out of your training session. Until next time, I wish you happy [00:23:00] training.