Yes. It is important your body is fuelled appropriately before any training session. It is possible to experience adverse side effects, such as feeling light headed, when training on an empty stomach. Particularly if you are new to this type of exercise, or if the exercise intensity is high.
It is also important to re-fuel your body after your training session. This can be beneficial in aiding your recovery from exercise and improving the benefits obtained from strength training.

Strength training is extremely important for all of us, and is recommended for all Australians  over the age of five.

Muscle mass declines at a rate of 3-8% per year past the age of 30 . However, at any age you are able to safely improve your muscle mass with strength training.

Strength training has also been shown to have positive effects for numerous chronic conditions including:

• Cancer
• Heart disease
• Diabetes
• Depression/Anxiety
• Arthritis
• Osteoporosis

One to two regular strength training sessions per week, lasting approximately 30-45mins in duration each, is generally appropriate for runners.

One to two sessions per week is enough to reap the many injury prevention and performance benefits of strength training for runners. Importantly, it is also not too much where it detracts from your running training, in regards to keeping fatigue and soreness levels low.

Toning commonly refers to specific aesthetic goals of an individual patient, and strength training is one vehicle to help achieve those goals. It all comes back to how the strength training program is designed, and what other training elements are included, as to how appropriate it is.

At PEAK, we love hearing about your goals. We will base your strength training program entirely around your goals and needs.

Strength training every day is certainly possible for many patients. However, this would typically be reserved for more advanced patients with a significant strength training history behind them.

Novice patients, and patients who are participating in other sports or exercise fields, typically don’t need to do strength training every day. In fact, they would likely achieve greater benefits allowing their body more recovery time between strength training sessions, by limiting their training no more frequently than every second day.

At PEAK, all strength training programs are provided by health practitioners. So Private Health Insurance Rebates are available, provided you have appropriate ‘extras cover’ for Physiotherapy, Chiropractic or Podiatry.

A positive mindset, comfortable clothes, a towel and a water bottle to keep hydrated.

If you have any equipment that can be used for strength training, that is great, and we will advise you if we will utilise any of this equipment in your training program. However, it is possible to design a program that requires no equipment at all, if you do not have any available to you.

This is dependent on your individual goals, your medical and injury history, and your training history. Strength training sessions that last between 30 and 60 minutes are most common, however training sessions that are shorter or longer than this can certainly be appropriate at times.

At PEAK we always discuss your individual goals, take a full history and complete a thorough assessment, to ensure each training session is customised to your individual needs.