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Photo by Roger Werth
Ron Gehrman, Jr. works on his triceps at Physical Impact, the Longview gym his family owns. The 20-year-old wants to look good, and also appreciates th strength that weight training gives him.Weight training maintains high metabolism, builds bones, boosts energy
Monday, July 3, 2006 7:17 AM PDT
By Cathy Zimmerman
Printable version
E-mail this articleMost weight lifters hug the Nautilus machines to look better, said Ron Gehrman Jr., the 20-year-old son of Physical Impact owner Ron Gehrman.
But all that straining and sweating has health benefits, too, the younger Gehrman said.
"It makes you a lot stronger; you can do more in any way of life," he said. "You move easier, you feel better, you sleep better. You have more confidence, so people enjoy being around you more, so you have more fun."
Sounds like the whole six pack.
But that's only natural, coming from a kid with barbells in his DNA. Ron Jr.'s grandparents, Jim and Dorothy Gehrman, welcomed their kids' friends to their Columbia Heights home in the 1970s, where they all worked out.
Son Dave Gehrman first opened Physical Impact in 1989, and it's now run by Ron Sr. and his wife, Martha. The gym, located at Commerce and Maple in the old J.C. Penney building, has cardio machines downstairs and more than 50 weight machines and benches upstairs.
Ron Jr. works out at least four days a week for about an hour at a time, he said, "and sometimes I work on my abs on the weekend."
"You have to get a variety, so muscles get used to the exercises," he said. At the same time, "you keep changing it to grow."
Weight training over the last decade has picked up fans among older Americans and added more women to the ranks, local trainers said.
The word is obviously out about its "significant" fitness benefits, said Dan Ruiz, athletic trainer at Mark Morris High School.
Ruiz, a certified trainer who works with the Seattle Seahawks on game days and earned a master's degree in exercise science from Brigham Young University, said lifting weights increases strength so "it makes all activity easier."
Because it helps maintain body metabolism at a high rate, weight training also helps in weight loss, Ruiz said.
"There's a perception that if you lift and you stop, your body turns into fat," he said. "But you don't have to lift a significant amount to get the benefits. An overall body program with light weights ... helps you all your life."
The Gehrmans agreed. "As you get older, it staves off osteoporosis," or bone loss, Ron Gehrman Sr. said. "You can actually reverse osteoporosis, build back bone loss by lifting weights."
As we age, we tend to lose calcium, Ron Sr. said, and "the bones thin out," especially in the hips.
Bone "flexion," or deliberately stressing muscles by working them against resistance, signals the body "to make that bone stronger," he said.
It's the old "use it or lose it" maxim: "You're feeding calcium to the bones. The body reacts to everything you do. It needs a reason to put it in the right place."
Children as young as 10 can do limited weight training, but only to get stronger, the Gehrmans said, not to build muscle mass.
"You have to be very careful with kids that age," said Ruiz. "They're still developing. They shouldn't use any heavy weights, because their growth plates are still pliable. Kids gain strength through activity. Let them play and do what they normally do."
Some people worry when their children are thin, but lots of kids go through a skinny phase, Ruiz said. "They fill out as they mature and grow into their bodies."
Lifting as therapy
Weight training also helps people recover from injuries and joint replacement, said Greg Price of Forever Fit, the fitness facility at Hemlock and 18th that used to be called Powerhouse Gym.
Price currently works with 14 people who are rehabilitating after shoulder injuries, knee replacements or osteoporosis diagnoses, he said.
He and the Gehrmans said they train with an injured person only after guidance from a physician or physical therapist, someone who understands the injury and has seen the X-rays.
"When I started, it was mostly younger people in here," Price said last week. "Now, a huge part of the business is older people." His gym stresses progressive weight training (gradually increasing the poundage) to prevent deterioration of bones, ligaments and tendons and keep the skin healthy, which prevents loss of muscle.
Forever Fit client Sandy Carl is a model for the gym's name.
Carl, 48, was always in good shape, but she amped up her workouts after she fell in her cowboy boots one rainy day four years ago and shattered her kneecap.
"Now I know why gangsters break the knee cap," she quipped. "It was painful."
She wanted to be in charge of her own pain and healing, Carl said, so after consulting her doctor, she designed a regime with Price. "I wanted to get off pain medications as soon as I could. I don't like the fuzzy feeling."
She also healed a shoulder injury through weight training, she said.
In swimsuit season, Carl works out seven days a week, a couple of hours a day. Her arms and legs are hard but smooth, defying the myth that weight lifting leaves women with bulging muscles, she said. On top of the other benefits, it helps control her weight.
"I'm the laziest dieter," Carl said, "but as long as I come here, I don't have to diet."
Start slow
Local trainers said those who take up weight training out of the blue should take it easy.
"My biggest caution, if you start lifting, is gradually work yourself into it," Ruiz said. "Do not lift heavy weights. All you're doing is setting yourself up for injury."
He's seen people develop tendonitis and muscle soreness because they're not properly conditioned. "It's good to work with a trainer."
Ron Gehrman Sr. urges newcomers to take 16 or 24 sessions of training to prepare for a regular program. Problems sometimes arise, his son added, because "the belly of the muscle grows faster than the tendons and ligaments," the cords of tough, fibrous tissue that attach muscle to the bone.
That's why weight lifters sometimes strain a tendon or ligament. If that happens, you ice it down, the trainers said, which "takes the inflammation out."
"I relate it to a racing car," Ron Sr. said. "When you take it to the track and push it to the limit, that's when you find a weak link."
Another mistake some lifters make is to "jerk the weights," Ron Sr. said, which can lead to injuries for both people and machines. Effective weight training is made of movements that are "nice, slow and controlled," he said.
It's good to warm up with stretching before lifting, he said, and drink water throughout the workout.
Lifting and using weight machines helps increase circulation, he said, but weight training should complement cardiovascular and aerobic workouts. One hour of working out, he said, "cranks up your metabolism for four to five hours. ...
"People say, 'I'm too tired to work out. I don't have the energy.' They don't realize that exercise creates energy."
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