Strength training is outrageously good for you. We love it so much, that it is our preferred form of exercise, and believe it to be the most beneficial of all of the forms out there. Exercise, specifically resistance training, is without a doubt the very best weapon in our arsenal when it comes to fending off a deterioration in health and extending lifespan. Here are our top 10 strength training benefits you need to know.
What is Strength Training?
Strength training is also known as resistance training, weight training, and weight lifting. While strength training is known by many names, the bottom line is it uses your body weight or other resistance equipment to perform weight-bearing exercises. This type of exercise will build muscle mass, strength, and endurance.
Why is Muscle Mass Important?
Skeletal muscle and strength are critical for healthy aging. Muscles are the key players in body movement and function, and it provides a long list of physical, mental, and quality-of-life benefits. The reality is, as we age, we naturally lose muscle mass starting at the age of twenty.
There are two ways to increase muscle protein synthesis. Both exercise and dietary protein-based nutrition will help you maintain a strong, healthy muscle mass. Optimal muscle mass in turn leads to improved health, independence, and functionality. As we age, it is incredibly important to practice both approaches, to maintain and build skeletal muscle tissue.
Common Myths About Strength Training
Let’s cut to the chase on some common misconceptions about resistance training. Resistance training isn’t only for bodybuilders and meatheads. Resistance training isn’t only for men. It won’t turn women “bulky”. And it certainly isn’t only for people who are already “in good shape”. Whether you’re brand new or experienced, old or young, obese or underweight, resistance training is for you. If you haven’t tried strength training, now is the time to start.
Physical Benefits of Strength Training
When you think about resistance training and physical benefits, you may automatically jump to a visual of a well-chiseled body. Having a sculpted physique could be a side effect of consistently lifting weights, and having proper nutrition, for several years. But it’s certainly not the main attraction of benefits. And it’s definitely not the reason we promote it. This is not about aesthetics, this is about overall health benefits.
1. Burn Calories
It’s commonly known that a workout routine and physical activity, in general, can be effective to burn calories. Aerobic exercise often gets used as a tool to torch calories, and it is very powerful for doing so. While aerobic activity is an important piece of a well-rounded fitness program, it is not the quickest way to fat loss, but strength training is.
One of the best things you can do to be metabolically healthy is to increase lean muscle mass. The more lean body mass you have, the higher your resting metabolism becomes. In other words, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn throughout the day, even when you doing nothing. You will burn more calories even while you are only sleeping.
2. Fat Loss
We’ve already covered the fact that both aerobic exercise and strength training are effective for burning calories. Balancing your calories in with your calories out, and being in a caloric deficit will result in weight loss. But now we want to get into fat loss.
How is fat loss different from weight loss? Sometimes when we lose weight our body burns muscle rather than burning fat. We’ve already discussed why muscle is important, and we definitely want to protect it by all means. What you eat and how you exercise can play a role in dictating this. Lean muscle is a highly metabolic fat-free tissue, and it produces the highest caloric burn in the body. When you lift weights you build muscle and burn fat.
As you begin strength training, you will see a shift in your body composition as you gain muscle. With a proper diet and regular resistance training, your body fat percentage will go down, and your lean muscle mass will go up. This phenomenon is hard to achieve and is usually only able to happen when you are brand new to resistance exercise.
3. Improve Heart Health
Multiple studies show that regular strength training can strengthen your heart and blood vessels. A strengthened heart can lead to a decrease in blood pressure, lower total and LDL cholesterol, and an improvement in blood circulation.
Strength training also can help you maintain healthy body weight and manage your blood sugar levels. Properly managed blood sugar levels will mitigate your risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
4. Improve Bone Density
Bone loss essentially starts to happen for both men and women in their 40s and 50s. It is much more pronounced for women and tends to kick in heavily around menopause, then slowing back down around age 65. Whereas men actually have a higher rate of bone loss after age 65.
While osteoporosis and other bone fragility disorders can be hereditary (up to 50%), there are several lifestyle factors you can implement during your young/mid-adult years to increase bone strength. Monitoring your weight, and diet, avoiding smoking, limiting alcohol, and engaging in weight-bearing exercises will all help to improve bone mineral density.
Classic strength training tools such as medicine balls, weight machines, free weights (dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells), resistance bands, and even body weight are effective for increasing bone density. However, the more strain the strength training puts on your muscles, the better it is for your bones. So lifting heavier will be more effective than using only your own body weight.
5. Decrease the Risk of Falls
There is a strong link between muscle loss (sarcopenia) and bone loss (osteopenia). With advancing age, sarcopenia and osteopenia present major clinical problems, such as impaired mobility, compromised balance, increased risk of osteoarthritis, and falls/fractures; all of which diminish the quality of life in seniors.
Some people are afraid of falling, so they refrain from activity altogether. Inactivity can actually contribute to the risk of falling, rather than preventing it. Instead, use strength training to train all major muscle groups and build muscle strength, improve bone health, and decrease your risk of falls. Make sure to incorporate balance exercises, and have a good mix of both lower-body and upper-body exercises.
6. Decrease the Risk of Injuries
Skeletal muscle is your body armor. It helps you stand up straight, move, and function. It protects your bones and joints when moving and also when under an impact such as a fall. Strength training helps improve the strength, range of motion, and mobility of your muscles, ligaments, and tendons. This reinforced strength around major joints like your hips, ankles, and knees will provide additional protection against injury.
Falling is the number one cause of accidental death for people over 65 years old. The risk of death from a fall is enormous by the time you reach 75 years old. Don’t wait until you’re in your high-risk years to start thinking about this. Start your strength training early on so that you can minimize your risks and be proactive!
7. Improve Quality of Life
When we think about growing old and aging, we often think about lifespan. Lifespan relates to the number of years lived. Let’s start to think more in terms of healthspan. Healthspan refers more to the quality of life during your senior years. Healthspan and longevity are our absolute favorite reasons to incorporate strength training.
Good health and mobility equal independence for older adults. Strength training, building muscle, and maintaining physical activity throughout your senior years will keep you healthy and independent.
Of course, we have the obvious textbook benefits that we have already discussed. Sure, increasing bone health, reducing body fat, and minimizing falls and injuries are obviously important.
Do you want to know what’s exceptionally important that doesn’t get talked about as much? Having independence as a senior to do your own laundry, carry your own groceries, push or pull yourself out of a swimming pool, or lift up your 40-pound grandchild. These are your real reasons why muscle-strengthening activities are important.
Mental Health Benefits of Strength Training
When you think about resistance training and mental benefits, you may initially draw a blank altogether. The mental benefits of resistance training are often overlooked, while physical benefits steal the spotlight. Here at Healthy RV Living, we believe the mind, body, and soul all need to be nourished. Luckily, strength training helps the mind too.
8. Improve Self Confidence
Believe it or not, strength training adds a major boost to your self-confidence. Initially, the thought of weight training may make you intimidated. The fears of not using proper technique, designing your own programs, and judgment of peers, can all be paralyzing.
Once you overcome those fears and work towards a goal, you feel an immediate wave of accomplishment. With time, you will see a clear improvement in your strength and physical function. You will have measurable improvements, and you will feel better. Your body image will improve, and you will walk a little taller. It’s a magical thing.
9. Improve Cognitive Function
Your heart, lungs, and muscles aren’t the only things stimulated by exercise. Strength training also benefits the brain. Just like a muscle, your brain has a response to internal and external influences, a miracle known as neuroplasticity.
Strength training exercises have the ability to improve memory and prevent cognitive decline. Those who engage in strength training may have better brain health and protection against age-related cognitive decline.
10. Decrease Stress, Anxiety, and Depression
There is strong evidence that participating in strength training exercises can make you feel happier. Depression lessens, stress melts away, and anxiety lowers. Strength training exercise makes you feel good.
Cortisol is your body’s main stress hormone and acts like a built-in alarm system. It is closely tied to depression and anxiety. Do you want to know what helps lower and balance your cortisone level? Yep, you guessed it… weightlifting.
Lifting weights is also known to release endorphins, the “feel good” hormone. Strength training can help our bodies maintain hormonal health, and our hormones affect every part of our body, especially our emotions and our mental state of being.
Now is the Time to Start Strength Training
Strength training provides numerous health benefits, such as a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes, stronger bones, better brain health and mood, and improved self-esteem. We’ve gone over several good reasons why you should incorporate it into your overall fitness program.
As a nation, we are under-muscled. We tend to fixate on obesity and fad diets. What if we start to focus more on lifting weights and protecting our longevity? We know that skeletal muscle deterioration in old age has severe health consequences. So why put off resistance training when it is such a powerful investment in your future?
Keep exercising throughout life. Start now and use what you have, whether it’s your own body weight, weight machines, free weights, suspension equipment, or resistance bands.
Need Help With Resistance Training?
There are plenty of things to worry about as you start out your strength training journey, such as:
- which resistance exercises should you be doing?
- which order should you do them in?
- how should you group the exercises together to form an effective routine?
- are you using the proper form?
- how often or how long should you train?
Consider signing up for online fitness coaching with Irene Iron Fitness, and let a pro help you and keep you accountable. Chris is a NASM certified Personal Trainer, Senior Fitness Specialist, and a Precision Nutrition certified nutrition coach.
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