Strength training should be a top priority if you want to enhance your health. It involves using your muscles to perform tasks like lifting weights or squatting. As more evidence supports its benefits, strength training has become a key part of fitness routines.
If you’re curious about how it can improve your life, here are 14 benefits.
What is Strength Training?
Strength training, also called weight training, resistance training, or muscular training, involves using your body weight or equipment like dumbbells and resistance bands to build muscle mass, strength, and endurance.
The main types of strength training include :
- Muscular hypertrophy: This builds muscle using moderate-to-heavy weights.
- Muscular endurance: It focuses on your muscles’ ability to sustain exercise and often involves high reps with light weights or body weight.
- Circuit training: This full-body conditioning involves cycling through various exercises with minimal rest.
- Maximum muscular strength: It enhances overall strength through low reps and heavy weights, suitable for experienced exercisers.
- Explosive power: This training combines power and speed, ideal for athletes looking to improve explosive movements in their sport.
Most people incorporate muscular endurance, circuit training, and muscular hypertrophy into their strength-training routine. Strength and power training are typically reserved for experienced athletes.
Depending on your strength training goals, you can utilize various types of equipment, or none at all. These include:
- Body weight: Utilizing your own body weight and gravity for exercises like pushups, squats, planks, pullups, and lunges.
- Free weights: Equipment not fixed to the floor or a machine, such as dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, medicine balls, or everyday household items.
- Resistance bands/loop bands: Rubber bands that offer resistance when stretched.
- Weight machines: Machines with adjustable weights or hydraulics that provide resistance for muscle engagement.
- Suspension equipment: Consisting of ropes or straps anchored to a secure point, allowing you to use your body weight and gravity for exercises.
- Regardless of your chosen strength training method, the objective remains the same: applying tension to your muscles to stimulate neuromuscular adaptations and muscle growth. Consistent practice leads to increased muscle strength.
Discover the science-backed benefits of strength training:
Strength Enhancement
Strength training makes you stronger. This newfound strength not only makes everyday tasks easier, like carrying groceries or keeping up with your children, but also enhances athletic performance in sports requiring speed, power, and strength. It can even benefit endurance athletes by preserving lean muscle mass.
Efficient Calorie Burner
Strength training boosts your metabolism in two ways. Firstly, it increases your metabolic rate by building muscle, which burns more calories even at rest. Secondly, research shows that your metabolic rate remains elevated for up to 72 hours after a strength-training session, resulting in continued calorie burning long after your workout.
Reduces Abdominal Fat
Excess abdominal fat, particularly visceral fat, is linked to various chronic diseases. Strength training has been proven effective in reducing both abdominal and overall body fat.
Leaner Appearance
Building muscle and shedding fat gives you a leaner appearance. Muscle is denser than fat, so you’ll lose inches from your waist even if the scale number stays the same. Additionally, lower body fat and more defined muscles create a leaner, more toned look.
Fall Prevention
Strength training reduces the risk of falls by enhancing your body’s stability.A review involving 23,407 adults over 60 demonstrated a 34% fall reduction in those who engaged in a comprehensive exercise regimen, incorporating balance exercises, resistance training, and functional workouts. Various forms of strength training, such as tai chi, weightlifting, and bodyweight exercises, have proven effective in fall prevention.
Injury Prevention
Integrating strength training into your fitness regimen can lower your injury risk. It enhances muscle, ligament, and tendon strength, along with boosting flexibility and range of motion. This added strength around major joints like the knees, hips, and ankles provides extra protection against injuries. Strength training also addresses muscular imbalances, such as a stronger core and lower back to reduce the risk of lower-back injuries.
Athletes, both adult and teenage, who engage in strength training are less likely to get injured. A review of 7,738 athletes even revealed a 33% reduced injury risk with strength training, and this risk reduction increased by 4% for every 10% rise in strength-training volume.
Heart Health
Numerous studies indicate that regular strength training can reduce blood pressure, decrease total and LDL (bad) cholesterol, and enhance blood circulation by fortifying the heart and blood vessels. It also aids in maintaining a healthy body weight and managing blood sugar levels, which is crucial for heart health.
Blood Sugar Management
Strength training may lower your risk of developing diabetes and help those with the condition manage it more effectively. Skeletal muscle boosts insulin sensitivity and reduces blood sugar levels by transporting glucose from the blood to muscle cells, aiding in better blood sugar control. In fact, it can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 30%, as observed in a study following 35,754 women over 10 years.
Enhanced Mobility and Flexibility
Contrary to common belief, strength training can enhance your flexibility by increasing joint range of motion (ROM). This greater mobility and flexibility are especially important as individuals with weaker muscles often exhibit lower ROM and flexibility. Recent research found that strength training is equally effective as stretching in increasing ROM . To maximize results, ensure you perform exercises through their full ROM to utilize your complete movement potential around a joint.
Self-Esteem Boost
Strength training can significantly boost your self-confidence. Overcoming challenges, working towards goals, and appreciating your body’s strength can all enhance self-efficacy, the belief in your ability to succeed at tasks. This heightened self-confidence is particularly beneficial. In fact, studies in youth ages 10–16 found a significant association between strength training and high self-esteem, physical strength, and physical self-worth. A systematic review of 754 adults also revealed a strong connection between strength training and positive body image, including increased body satisfaction and reduced social physique anxiety (the perception of judgment from others)
Enhances Bone Strength
Strength training is essential for building strong bones. Weight-bearing exercises temporarily stress your bones, signaling bone-building cells to fortify them. This process results in denser, stronger bones, reducing the risk of osteoporosis, fractures, and falls, especially as you age. The good news is that you can enjoy these bone-strengthening benefits at any age.
Elevates Mood
Regular weight training can have a positive impact on your mood and mental health. Multiple studies indicate that strength training may reduce anxiety and improve mood. It provides mood-related benefits through increased self-esteem and self-efficacy. Additionally, exercise triggers the release of endorphins, which contribute to a sense of well-being.
Enhances Brain Health
Engaging in strength training may contribute to better brain health and protect against age-related cognitive decline. Numerous studies involving older adults have shown significant improvements in cognitive functions such as processing speed, memory, and executive function after participating in strength training programs. Resistance training is believed to offer neuroprotective effects, including improved blood flow, reduced inflammation, and increased production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is associated with memory and learning.
Enhances Quality of Life
Strength training can significantly improve your quality of life, particularly as you age. Multiple studies have established a link between strength training and higher health-related quality of life, encompassing a person’s perception of physical and mental well-being.
In fact, a review of 16 studies involving adults aged 50 and older revealed a significant connection between resistance training and improved mental health, physical functioning, pain management, overall health, and vitality. Furthermore, strength training can enhance the quality of life for individuals with arthritis. A review of 32 studies demonstrated significant improvements in pain and physical functioning.
In Conclusion
If you haven’t ventured into strength training yet, there’s no better time to begin.
Strength training offers a multitude of health advantages, including reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes, enhanced bone strength, improved brain health and mood, and increased self-confidence.
The good news is that strength training doesn’t mean you have to lift heavy weights at the gym. You can enjoy an effective strength-training workout using your body weight, resistance bands, free weights, or even everyday household items.
Regardless of whether you’re a beginner or have prior experience, strength training is a fitness regimen suitable for all.