You know that exercise is essential to living a healthy life. If you exercise regularly, have you been incorporating strength training into your routine?
If not, this addition could improve your health dramatically. Your physical fitness journey would not be complete without movements that use your body weight or equipment. Some examples of strength training are weight lifting, squats, hip thrusts, carrying groceries, wall push-ups, and using a resistance band.
If you need some convincing to get started, here are the health benefits of strength training:
Helps You Become Stronger and More Flexible
As you age, you lose muscle mass naturally, which is why senior-aged people who don’t exercise tend to feel weaker compared to when they were younger. Strength training will make you stronger. It strengthens your muscles and bones, allowing you to do your daily activities more easily.
Strength training can help improve your flexibility, mobility, and balance. It makes your joints stronger and more flexible and increases your range of motion.
Boosts Your Metabolism and Reduces Weight & Body Fat
Strength training can improve your metabolism, so you burn calories more efficiently. Your body needs more energy when working out, so you burn more calories to meet the demand. What’s more, you continue to burn calories after strength training, even while in a restful state.
As strength training helps you burn calories, it also helps you lose unwanted body fat. Strength training helps you lose abdominal fat and total body fat. As you lose fat mass, your lean muscle mass increases too.
Strengthens Your Heart & Manages Symptoms of Chronic Conditions
Strength training helps regulate your blood pressure, sugar, and cholesterol, which minimizes your risk for cardiovascular diseases. If you already have a heart problem, properly done weight training can help strengthen your heart.
If you have a chronic health condition, strength training can help you manage the signs and symptoms. If you have arthritis, back pain, diabetes, or heart disease, you will find strength training beneficial. However, remember to get clearance from your doctor first to ensure that the routines you do are safe for you.
Improves Your Mood and Energy Levels
Regular weight training can also elevate your energy levels and improve your mood. It can help boost your mental health, reducing your anxiety and stress. That’s because your body releases endorphins critical for a positive mood when you exercise.
Reduces Injury Risks
As mentioned above, strength training develops your muscles, strengthens your bones and joints, and improves your balance and mobility. When all of these are in good shape, you are less likely to get injured. You will be more flexible and agile, helping you to avoid falling or becoming unbalanced.
Increases Your Lifespan
Exercise can increase the quality of your life and make you healthier, so your life expectancy can also increase.
Strength training keeps your body upright and strong, not weak and feeble. If you have a strong healthy body your internal organs have room to function better. Your airways and blood circulation are operating as they should. You gain a better awareness of your physical and mental health needs when you are strong, making you happier and healthier. Plus, a healthy, happy person tends to enjoy life more and live longer.
In Closing
Physical activities are essential for overall health and well-being. In addition to aerobic exercises, it’s also important to incorporate strength training into your routine and enjoy more health benefits.
The more you exercise, the more your body becomes stronger and leaner. As you build muscles and keep the fat away, you develop a better body image, which will boost your self-esteem. You become more comfortable with your body, and you feel brighter and more confident about it.
If you have any health condition, though, always err on the side of safety! Consult your doctor first to ensure that you perform the appropriate strength training suitable for you and your current state of physical health and fitness.
