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When most people think of strength training they think of bodybuilders and guys or girls trying to ‘pump’ their body to look all big and muscular. They think of ‘don’t skip leg day’ of lifting the heaviest weights possible and showing off muscles in the mirror. In this blog post I want to show you that strength training has more benefits than just giving you a bodybuilder appearance and that it is beneficial for not only men wanting to look like the muscles from Brussels, but also for women, elderly, sedentary people, inactive men and women, …
Muscular training is crucial in your physical activity routine because it has benefits on different aspects of life. It will improve your ability to do daily life activities, it will give you more strength and stamina, it has been proven to have mental and physical health benefits and can lead to a better quality of life1.
Read on to learn more about these different types of benefits, both physical and mental, and get help on how to get started yourself.
Muscle loss can be the start of a series of events leading to different illnesses and injuries. Loss of muscle first leads to a decrease of your metabolic rate. This decrease then makes you more prone to gaining fat and becoming overweight or even obese. And it is obesity that is an important cause of many different cardiovascular and metabolic diseases2.
Muscle loss, when not doing any training, is inevitable as we age. After your 30th birthday you already start losing muscle mass. It will decline with 3-8% every decade (on average approximately 0,2kg of lean muscle you lose in one year!). After the age of 50 the muscle loss is even greater with 5-10% each decade2.
Luckily for us, it is possible to reverse this muscle loss by doing strength training2. Muscular or strength training will increase strength, give more muscle definition and in general increase your physical capacity (like a better movement control or increased walking speed)1,2,3,4. This is very helpful to help in daily life activities, especially for aging people.
Both intramuscular and intermuscular coordination will increase. Intramuscular means the muscle fibers and motor units within your muscle will work better together, intermuscular affects the muscles working together producing more force. This is trained through compound movements like a deadlift, squat-to-shoulder press or a chest press4. The stronger muscles you create will also prevent or reduce low back pain among other musculoskeletal conditions2,5.
Besides increasing your muscle mass, following a (long-term) resistance training program can also reduce your fat mass and can make you lose weight and reduce your BMI (especially when your already overweight or obese)2,3,6. If you don’t already have obesity, it can be prevented by strength training5. Another important factor is that combined with a dietary intervention the weight loss will be greater. To prevent weight regain after all your hard work, it is necessary to stay consistent with the training. Exercise of 250 or more minutes/week might be needed6.
Often overlooked, but also your mental well-being can be positively affected by doing regular strength or resistance training2. This type of training can boost your self-confidence and self-esteem as your training improves1,4,7. Also the daily life activities will go smoother which increases your self-confidence1. Continuing with muscular training you’ll feel overall happier and less stressed. You will learn how to dedicate yourself to something important (which will shine through in other aspects of your life). It will also give you a sense of me-time to clear your mind7. Not to forget, muscular training will improve your quality of sleep and global cognitive function1,7. All these improvements through strength training decrease your risk of depression (especially in older men and women)1,5. Nice bonus right?
It’s well said like this: “a stronger core gives you a stronger balance both physically and emotionally”7.
Beginning is always hard, but take these tips into consideration when you’re ready to give it a try and get the best results:
I hope this blog post gave you some clarity on the many benefits strength or resistance training has on you. Both your physical and mental health and your quality of life will improve. With all these perks it would feel wrong not to start adding muscular training to your weekly routines. Talk to us now and see how you can start benefiting from strength training.
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Note that all this info doesn’t replace professional medical advice or a personal consultation with RSPFIT.
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