The dummies' guide to strength training

Sculpted arms and a streamlined body are achievable with the right amount of resistance training. Photo / Hawkes Bay Today

There comes a time in every woman's life when she realises a couple of light runs a week aren't enough to shift her tummy bulge or bingo wings.

For me, that time came a few days after Easter when the ghosts of Cadbury Creme Eggs, hot cross buns and chocolate buttons arrived to haunt my stomach, hips and upper arms.

My mistake, says Michelle (Mish) McCormack, was in neglecting to do any resistance, or strength, training.

"From around the age of 30, most adults start to lose muscle mass at the rate of about 10 per cent a decade. When your muscle mass decreases, fewer calories are burned and it's harder to maintain a healthy body weight," says McCormack. "So while doing cardio exercises like running or cycling are great for keeping fit, you ideally need to supplement that with at least two to three strength-training sessions a week."

McCormack should know: the Wellington fitness guru was crowned Ms Fitness World in 1999 and has been named New Zealand's top personal trainer three years in a row. "A strength-training programme, combined with cardio, stretching and good nutrition, is the key to keeping the weight off, streamlining one's shape and improving overall toning and conditioning," she says.

Research also shows that, among other things, weight training increases bone strength and reduces the risk of osteoporosis.

But if, like me, you've laboured under the misapprehension that strength training involves lifting ridiculously heavy weights and cultivating bulging muscles Arnold Schwarzenegger would be proud of, think again.

"It all depends on what you want to achieve," says McCormack. "Do you want to beef up, tone up or simply get great sculptured arms like Madonna? The quickest way to build large muscles is to use progressive weight training, where you lift heavier weights for a lower number of repetitions. For toning muscles, the repetitions should be higher - around 10 to 15 per set - and the weights correspondingly lighter."

By far the most effective form of strength training is what's known as compound exercises, such as squats, lunges and press-ups, which work more than one muscle group at a time.

But before we begin, let me tell you, it takes incredibly high self-esteem to be able to stand in front of an unflattering gym mirror and not feel intimidated by the super-fit McCormack, her washboard abs and impossibly toned arms.

She does, however, have a good line in convincing me that I don't need to consume a mountain of protein or do hundreds of sit-ups each day to achieve the same.

"It's all about going at your own pace and finding something you like doing."

Nor do I need an expensive gym membership or complicated equipment to be able to tone up because it can be done easily and cheaply at home.

"A couple of cans of food or water bottles filled with sand can be just as effective as dumbbells. If you do this at least two or three times a week for around 30 minutes, you'll be well on your way."

We start off with a light warm-up - McCormack suggests a brisk walk around the block - before doing inner thigh squats which, as the name suggests, work the inner thighs.

They also hurt like hell and I have trouble preventing my knees from advancing over my toes.

McCormack suggests doing two sets of 15 repetitions but, as I'm having trouble lowering my torso and writing notes at the same time, it seems far easier to move on to the next exercise.

This turns out to be the static lunge, a move that looks effortless when McCormack does it but not so easy when I try. The problem is trying to keep my hips straight and my core engaged. I'm what McCormack calls a "pelvic thruster" and she has to keep reminding me of the ideal technique.

McCormack also counsels me to sort out my breathing, suggesting it's more beneficial to breathe out on the effort and in on the relaxing part of the exercise.

I'm introduced to the lying hamstring push, which involves lying on the floor and thrusting my hips skyward. Given my pelvis' natural tendency to do so, this one comes easily and I'm secretly pleased when McCormack tells me my hamstrings are in good shape. It seems those two runs a week must have had some impact, after all.

We then move on to press-ups. Sadly, I'm forced to stop after six when my arms give in.

Meanwhile, McCormack says that if she was stuck on a desert island, the one piece of fitness equipment she'd take (as you do) would be a Resist-a-Band, the exercise bands that come in various resistance levels.

"They're cheap, at around $12, and you can easily take them with you wherever you go. They're fantastic for a total body workout including doing side lateral raises and skier triceps kickbacks, both of which tone the shoulders and those troublesome upper arms."

You can also replicate these exercises with weights, which the former body-sculpting champion gets me to do.

By now, I feel as though I've gone one too many rounds with Mike Tyson.

My body will make me pay sorely for this punishment tomorrow but as we gently stretch to finish the workout, my core feels a bit tighter, I've lost some of my shoulder slump and, dare I say it, even my hips are starting to behave.