What Can Strength Training Do For You
The advantages when training with weights or lifting weights on a regular basis is well-proven. If we exclude the benefits to your heart, lungs, sense of balance, increased longevity and strength to your bones, plus many other benefits from weight training, it will make you look better at the very least.
Training for increased strength is not only about bodybuilders pumping iron in the gym. Strength training has been scientifically studied for years. It can and does benefit people of all ages for a wide range of problems. In essence weight training is required to achieve optimal health. Short or long term, the benefits of training is well-proven in a recent study done on women training three times a week with weights. The study clearly showed all the women in the study burned more calories a week generally, including the calories burned during training, compared to cardio equivalents training for the same time. As soon as we get past puberty we lose 1% of bone and muscle strength every year until we die. If we never did any resistance at all we probably would not live very long. The point is that longevity is built on the foundation of resistance training. You gotta pump iron if you wanna be healthy. Strength training can be separated into two distinct categories: Isometric resistance which is contracting the muscles against something that does not move like the floor or the wall, and Isotonic strength training that is contracting the muscles going through some range of motion like weight lifting. When we train with a weight we enlarge and/or break the muscle tissue which needs time and good nutrition to prepare itself for the next onslaught, that it anticipates will be bigger, which is why the muscle size increases. Improved balance, coordination plus improved flexibility and posture have shown to improve the chances of avoiding injury in the aged by 40%. Many different studies have been done on post-menopausal women reducing bone fractures, plus with the USA having well over 14 million diabetics weight training has proved itself to effectively improve blood sugar control. Speaking of the many different aspects of weight training that have been studied there is now proof that weight training increases well-ness and general health. They now tell us that weight training can prevent diseases like arthritis and boost energy levels in the elderly as well as improving general mood. It does this by elevating the level of endorphins that are completely natural opiates manufactured in a healthy brain, acting as an anti-depressant. The result is improved sleep patterns, feeling great and losing unnecessary fat at the same time. Weight training will speed up your metabolism by 15% even if you eat exactly the same way you always eat before you started weight training. The advantages are obvious and everyone should consider doing weight training.
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