Would you be interested in learning more about how a particular exercise can benefit your heart, balance, strong bones, and muscles, and help you lose weight? Studies show that strength training has all of these benefits.
According to the American Heart Association, strength training, also called weight or resistance training, is a physical activity that aims to increase muscular strength and fitness. It involves exercising a particular muscle or group against external resistance such as free weights, weight machines, or your own weight.
“The principle behind it is to overload the muscle with a load so that it adapts and gets stronger,” explains Neal Pire CSCS.
It is important to remember that strength training does not only involve lifting weights in the gym. Regular resistance or strength training is beneficial for all ages and fitness levels. It helps to prevent natural loss of muscle mass due to aging (the medical name for this is sarcopenia). It is also beneficial for people who have chronic conditions such as obesity, arthritis, and heart disease.
Tips for Strength Training
Ramona Braganza is a celebrity personal trainer. Here’s what she suggests
She says that although the term strength training may seem intimidating to some, it can help you move more safely and effectively in your daily life. You can lift and place something on the shelf, move your groceries to the door, bend down to pick up something, or get up from a fall. Braganza states that to get up from the floor, you need to use your upper body, abs and legs as well as your glutes.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, children and teens aged 6-17 should include strength training in their 60 minutes of exercise three days per week. Adults should do intense or moderate muscle-strengthening exercises that target all muscle groups twice a week.
Between strength training sessions, you should rest.
“You don’t get better during workouts; you get better in between,” says Pire. You should allow yourself time to rest between lifting and resistance exercises to allow your body to rebuild muscle tissue.
How strength training can boost your health
1. Strength training makes you stronger and more fitter
Although this benefit is obvious, it should not be ignored. Pire states that muscle strength is essential in making it easier to do what you need to do every day, especially as we age and lose muscle.
Resistance training, also known as strength training, refers to the process of strengthening and toning muscles against a resisting force. According to the Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine there are two types of resistance training.
- Isometric resistance – involves contracting your muscles against an immovable object such as the floor or a pushup.
- Isotonic Strength Training – involves contracting your muscles through a range, like weight lifting.
2. Strength Training Protects Bone Health & Muscle Mass
Harvard Health Publishing notes that around 30 years old, we begin to lose 3 to 5 percent of our lean muscle mass each decade due to aging.
A study published in October 2017 by the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research It was found that high-intensity resistance and impact training, for just 30 minutes per week, can improve functional performance and bone structure in women who have low bone mass. There were no adverse effects.
The HHS’s physical activity guidelines also note that muscle strengthening activities are beneficial for all ages. They help to preserve or increase muscle strength, power, and mass. These are vital for bone, joint and muscle health.
3. Strength training helps your body burn calories efficiently
Every exercise can increase your metabolism, which is the rate at which your body burns calories during the day.
Your body will continue to burn calories through strength training and aerobic activity, while returning to a more restful state in terms of energy expended. According to the American Council on Exercise, this is called “excessive post-exercise oxygen intake”.
However, strength, weight or resistance training will require more energy. This is because your body needs more energy depending on how hard you work. This can be amplified depending on how much energy you use during the workout. This means that you will burn more calories during your workout and also more calories after the workout, as your body recovers from a resting state.
4. Strength training helps you to lose weight for good
Pire states that strength training can boost post-exercise oxygen consumption and help with weight loss. Resistance, or strengthening exercise keeps your metabolism active after exercising, more than after a cardio workout.
Because lean tissue is generally more active than other tissue, this is why. He says that if you have more muscle mass you will burn more calories even while you sleep than if your body doesn’t.
Published in the journal Obesity In November 2017, it was found that dieters who did strength training four times per week for 18 months lost more fat than those who did not exercise or who only did aerobic exercise.
It is possible to reduce body fat even further by combining strength training with diet. A small study published in January 2018 in The Journal of Strength Training and Diet found that people who combined full-body resistance training with diet over four months had a lower body fat mass and a greater increase in lean muscle mass than dieting or resistance training. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism.
5. Strength training helps you develop better body mechanics
According to research, strength training can also improve balance, coordination, posture, and overall boost your health.
One review, published in Aging in Experimental and Clinical Research In November 2017, it was found that a minimum of one session of resistance training per week, whether performed in isolation or as part of a program with multiple types of workouts, could result in a 37 percent rise in muscle strength and a 7.5% increase in muscle mass. It also produced a 58 percent increase in functional ability (linked to the risk of falling) in elderly frail people.
Pire says that balance is dependent upon the strength of your muscles to keep you on your feet. Balance is a function of the strength and stability of your muscles.
6. Chronic Disease Management can be helped by strength training
Research has shown that strength training can help with symptoms for people suffering from many chronic conditions, such as neuromuscular disorders. HIV , Chronic obstructive lung disease , some cancers, and others.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, strength training and other lifestyle changes can improve glucose control for the over 30 million Americans living with type 2, according to a June 2017 study. Diabetes Therapy .
Research published in 2019 Frontiers in Psychology Regular resistance training may also be beneficial in preventing chronic mobility problems, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
7. Strength training will boost your health energy level and improve mood
Strength training is a valid treatment option or add-on treatment to combat stress. Depression symptoms According to a meta-analysis of 33 clinical trials published in, JAMA Psychiatry in June 2018.
“All exercise improves mood because it raises your energy.” endorphins ,” Pire says. He adds that strength training has additional evidence of a positive brain effect through research that examines neurochemical and neuromuscular reactions to the workout.
According to a study published by the January-February 2019 issue, strength training may also help with sleep, as evidenced in a study. Brazilian Journal of Psychology .
8. Strength Training Has Cardiovascular Health Benefits
Muscle-strengthening activities, in addition to aerobic exercise, can help lower blood pressure and decrease the risk of developing heart disease. hypertension According to HHS, heart disease and stroke are the most common causes.
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