What is strength training, and why do we feel so strongly about promoting it? Strength training is the process of improving or increasing the ability to produce muscular force. The benefits of strength training are many, and not only physical but mental and emotional as well. Here are some of the top reasons why everyone should be strength training.
1. Increases Functional Capacity – Nothing helps you lift the groceries, play with the grandchildren, and generally do all the things in life that you want to do, like strength training. If you are new to strength training, and you commit to your program and apply yourself, after 6 months you might easily be twice as strong as when you started. Alex Leif MD, Professor at the Harvard Medical School of Gerontology says, “Regular vigorous exercise is the closest thing we have to an anti-aging pill.”
2. Essential to Weight Management – Muscles are the calorie burning engines of the body. Without strength training, adults can lose 5-7 pounds of muscle per decade after the age of 40. As a result, fat storage will increase, and fat burns virtually no calories. This makes weight management increasingly difficult. The way to turn the situation around is to gain muscle, thereby increasing metabolic rate. Those new to strength training will typically lose a few pounds of fat without dieting while at the same time packing on a couple pounds of muscle.
3. Makes You Look and Feel Better – Strength training makes you feel stronger because you are stronger. It makes you look better because as your muscles strengthen they gain size and shape giving your body the shapeliness, proportion and definition that everyone wants. If you don’t lose weight on the scale, chances are your body proportions, or composition, will change. You will wear a smaller dress size, your clothes will be looser. Within weeks you will feel the difference, and your friends will notice the difference. Only strength training can do this for you.
4. Promotes a Sense of Psychological Well Being – Science tells us that exercise increases the production of endorphins and other chemicals in the brain that make us feel better, but the effect of exercise must be felt to be truly appreciated. Strength training has the added advantage of increasing blood flow to the muscles in a way that makes us feel “pumped” – both physically and emotionally. Symptoms related to anxiety and depression are reduced, and you experience a feeling of well being.
5. Protects Against Osteoporosis – Post menopausal women are especially prone to the loss of bone mineral density. Weight bearing exercise, ideally a balanced strength training workout for the entire body can not only prevent osteoporosis, but increases bone density. Many studies show that bone mineral density increases after only a few months of strength training.
6. Improves Self Confidence- Success in the gym breeds success in other areas of life. As you get stronger and start to look and feel better, you will start to exude a level of confidence that will be apparent to everyone you come in contact with. This will translate into more success in both business and personal relationships.
7. Builds and Maintains Healthy Connective Tissue – As your muscles strengthen, the tendons, ligaments and other connective tissue also benefit. One result of this process is reduced risk of injury while participating in sports or everyday activities. In the geriatric population, strength training can help prevent the likelihood and/or severity of falls and broken bones by improving muscle strength.
8. Helps Control Diabetes – Strength training reduces the risk of developing adult onset diabetes, and helps control diabetes if you already have it. The American Diabetes Association says that resistance training is critical to improving glucose metabolism.
9. Has a Positive Impact on Virtually Any Medical Condition- Properly performed strength training can reduce lower back pain; reduce arthritis pain; increase gastrointestinal transit time, thereby reducing the risk of colon cancer; reduce resting blood pressure; and even show an improvement in lipid profiles.
10. Controls the Effects of Aging – Dr. Evans of Tufts University said, “Strength training can make a 95 year old as strong as a 50 year old person, and a 64 year old as physically fit as a healthy 30 year old.” Dr. Walter Ettinger M.D., co-author of Fitness After 50, says “Exercise is the most powerful thing you can do to ensure an independent, healthy life.” After age 20 or so, the body’s natural secretion of HGH (human growth hormone) declined about 14% each decade. You can get many of the age reversing benefits of HGH by stimulating your own hormonal levels naturally through strength training exercise.
So get committed, get on a sound program, and start reaping the benefits of strength training.
