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"Most of our obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them, we should make up our minds to walk boldly through them."
Strength Training
Benefits
Before
you become confused, strength training is also referred to as “bodybuilding,”
“resistance training,” or “weightlifting.”
You can do it at home, in a gym, with or without barbells and dumbbells,
with or without machines or just with your own body weight. It’s basically
“muscle medicine” but not in liquid form or in pills or capsules. It’s also different than most medicines in
that there are so few negative side effects.
Another axiom is that strength training is as close to obtaining the
“fountain of youth” as one can find!
Let’s list some of the benefits of strength training:
1. It increases your
resistance to many chronic diseases and even the effects of aging. The benefits
you’ll get will include heart health, lower blood pressure, and help in reduces
your chance of getting cancer.
2. It aids to improve
the quality of sleep so that your body rests more completely than if you didn’t
exercise.
3. It is an aid in relieving
stress as you are doing something very constructive for yourself.
4. You improve your
digestion and elimination processes. At
the same time it offers a better control over excess weight gain.
5. It helps to increase
your energy, endurance, strength, flexibility and power. When you become “addicted” to training,
you’ll automatically be concerned about your diet.
6. Weight control;
muscle tissue burns more calories than fat as it has a higher rate of
metabolism generated within the muscle tissues.
7. There is an increased
production of endorphins which help to reduce pain.
8. Increased strength,
muscle tone and size, and help in increasing ligament, and tendon strength.
9. Increases bone
density as the load upon the bones rises to form more fracture resistance from
falling.
10. Increase production
of some important hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone. The higher the intensity of the exercising
the greater the increased amount of these two hormones and also other hormones.
11. There is increased
cardiovascular and pulmonary circulation from strenuous training.
12. Body fat decreases
while saving muscle tissue at the same time.
When people diet without exercising, about 25% of the weight loss is
muscle tissue, and that is not what we want!
13. Exercising increases
the percentage of lean muscle tissues.
14. There is a decrease
of serum cholesterol.
15. Besides increasing
flexibility there is also an increased range of motion.
16. Training for strength
reduces sarcopenia.
17. It helps you to feel young, vibrant, strong,
trim, and healthy.
18. It can help in reducing heart rate as your
fitness improves.
19. It helps to prevent injury. When the muscles are strengthened along with
their attachments to their joints, if you endure an injury, it will help heal
it faster and speed up the recovery time.
20. It you participate in
other sports, strength training will help you to improve the activity at a
higher level. A more fit body can boost
the extra power and energy needed to excel in any endeavor.
21. Improve your
appearance and satisfaction as a result of strength training.
As
your body composition improves (less fat, more muscle = improved metabolism)
your energy and focus on your body will increase. Consider a man weighing 185 lbs. before
starting bodybuilding. With a BMI (body
mass index) of 30, he is classified as being obese. He has 55.5 lbs of fat and
a lean body weight of 129.5 lbs. (consisting of bones, organs, water, muscle,
skin, etc.). If he starts an effective
strength training program and replaces 5 lbs. of fat with 5 lbs. of muscle, his
weight is still 185 lbs. But by losing 5
lbs. of fat his lean body weight increases to 134.5 lbs. The net result is an
increase in strength, muscle tone, and metabolism improvement, giving him a fit
appearance. It also increases his
motivation to continue on with his training and his outlook for goal
achievements in strength training.
