Strength training — also known as weight or resistance training — is physical activity designed to improve muscular strength and fitness by exercising a specific muscle or muscle group against external resistance, including free-weights, weight machines, or your own body weight.
And what’s important for everyone to know is that strength training is not just about body builders lifting weights in a gym. Regular strength or resistance training is good for people of all ages and fitness levels to help prevent the natural loss of lean muscle mass that comes with aging (the medical term for this loss is sarcopenia). It can also benefit people with chronic health conditions, like obesity, arthritis, or a heart condition. You can find the right training aids for you through coupons.
Makes you Stronger
Strength training helps you become stronger.
Gaining strength allows you to perform daily tasks much easier, such as carrying heavy groceries or running around with your kids.
Furthermore, it helps improve athletic performance in sports that require speed, power, and strength, and it may even support endurance athletes by preserving lean muscle mass.
Decreases Abdominal Fat
Fat stored around the abdomen, especially visceral fat, is associated with an increased risk of chronic diseases, including heart disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
Multiple studies have shown the benefit of strength-training exercises for reducing abdominal and total body fat.
Improves Heart Health
Multiple studies have shown that regular strength-training exercise can decrease blood pressure, lower total and LDL (bad) cholesterol, and improve blood circulation by strengthening the heart and blood vessels.
Strength training also can help you maintain a healthy body weight and manage your blood sugar levels. High blood sugar levels are a major risk factor for heart disease.
Helps Manage Your Blood Sugar Levels
Strength training may lower your risk of developing diabetes and can help those with the condition manage it better.
Skeletal muscle helps increase insulin sensitivity. It also reduces blood sugar levels by removing glucose from the blood and sending it to muscle cells. As a result, greater muscle mass can help improve blood sugar management.
Strength training may also reduce your risk of developing diabetes. One study following 35,754 women for an average of 10 years showed a 30% reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes among those who engaged in strength training compared with those who did not.
Improves Brain Health
Those who engage in strength training may have better brain health and protection against age-related cognitive decline.
Multiple studies in older adults have pointed to significant improvements in cognitive function (e.g., processing speed, memory, and executive function) after participating in strength training, compared with those who did not participate in it.
It’s thought that resistance training has many neuroprotective effects, such as improved blood flow, reduced inflammation, and an increased expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is linked to memory and learning.
Burns Calories Efficiently
Strength training helps boost your metabolism in two ways.
First, building muscle increases your metabolic rate. Muscles are more metabolically efficient than fat mass, allowing you to burn more calories at rest.
Second, research shows that your metabolic rate is increased up to 72 hours after strength-training exercise. This means that you’re still burning additional calories hours and even days after your workout.
Makes Your Bones Stronger
Strength training is crucial for bone development. These tools can help you get better at your workout, look for them and use coupons.
Weight-bearing exercises put temporary stress on your bones, sending a message to bone-building cells to take action and rebuild bones stronger. Having strong bones reduces your risk of osteoporosis, fractures, and falls, especially as you age.
Fortunately, you can reap the bone-strengthening benefits of strength training at any age.
Promotes a Better Quality of Life
Strength training may increase your quality of life, especially as you age.
Numerous studies have linked strength training to increased health-related quality of life, defined as a person’s perceived physical and mental well-being. You can search for drinks that can help you maintain energy before and after exercise through coupons.
In fact, one review of 16 studies including adults ages 50 years and older showed a significant correlation between resistance training and better mental health, physical functioning, pain management, general health, and vitality.
What’s more, strength training may improve quality of life in those with arthritis. One review of 32 studies showed strength training significantly improved scores in pain and physical functioning.
