We Can Rebuild You. We Have The Technology

“Gentlemen, we can rebuild him.

We have the technology.

We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man.

Better than he was before.

Better… stronger… faster.”

And so began the opening credits to one of my favorite TV shows from the 1970’s – The Six Million Dollar Man.

Yesterday, it was announced that Mark Wahlberg is set to star as Colonel Steve Austin in an inflation-adjusted remake of the show called The Six Billion Dollar Man.

It will tell the story of how, after being severely injured in a plane crash, Austin is “rebuilt” in an operation costing six billion dollars. His right arm, both legs and left eye are replaced with “bionic” implants that enhance his strength, speed and vision.

All of which got me thinking about the subject of “rebuilding” yourself.

Making your body better… stronger… faster than it was before.

You don’t have six billion dollars.

Nor do you know of any renegade scientists with access to nuclear-powered bionic limbs willing to take the job on.

How would you go about doing it?

You’d start with a solid foundation. And that foundation is strength training.

Not resistance training.

Strength training.

The terms “strength training” and “resistance training” are often used interchangeably. But they’re not the same thing.

Resistance training is an umbrella term that covers a wide range of set and rep protocols. Strength training can only really be called strength training if it’s making you strong.

When you become stronger, every other physical task that requires a percentage of that strength becomes easier.

Think of it like this.

When you’re on a bike, each pedal stroke uses a certain percentage of your maximum strength. When your leg muscles get stronger, the percentage of that maximum strength used during each stroke goes down.

To put it another way, strength contributes to your endurance by making you more economical. It means you’re able to do the same amount of work with less effort, or more work with the same amount of effort.

Strength is a training adaptation that tends to last longer than cardiovascular conditioning. It also takes longer to develop. Which is why it’s important to make getting strong a priority.

Once that foundation is in place, the next step is to decide how much conditioning you need.

If conditioning is a priority, or even if you just don’t like lifting weights, cut back on the strength training to twice a week and increase the amount of cardio you do. You can still make progress strength training twice a week, or at the very least maintain the strength that you have right now.

If conditioning is low down on your list of priorities, or you enjoy lifting weights, then you can do more strength training.

I like to combine strength training 3-4 times a week with 60-90 minutes of daily walking. I don’t have a choice where the walking is concerned, as my dog (that’s her in the picture below) won’t stop nagging me in the morning until I’ve taken her out.