Strength Training – The Returns

Strength training has the return to enhance your quality of life and improve your ability to do everyday activities. Do you want to reduce body fat, increase lean muscle mass and burn more calories even as you rest?

Then strength training is here to rescue you.

Strength training is a key component of overall health and fitness for everyone no matter you age.

Here are a few thoughts of mine in regard to strength and conditioning style training and why the health benefits from both a physical and mental health point of view have such a positive impact.

1. Becoming stronger and staying stronger- this is one of the biggest benefits. From the age of about 30 a condition called Sarcopenia an age-related loss of muscle is a major public problem. Once we pass the age of 30, we begin naturally losing muscle mass. As we get older the rate of this loss begins to accelerate. This can be significantly detrimental to our health, less resilience to injury and a weaker immune system. The best way of reversing sarcopenia is regular strength training.
2. Stronger body and mind- resistance training where a progressive overload is placed on the body helps to increase muscle mass, strengthens muscle (this includes the heart), tendons, ligaments, maintains bone density (which also decreases with age due to Osteoporosis and loss of calcium), keeps joints strong as the body products more fluid (synovial) to keep them lubricated.

A recent study by the World Health Organisation found that 50% of women and 40% of men were insufficiently active and leading a sedentary lifestyle that has become so impactive on our health that we are set to get bigger and heavier if nothing is done about this.

Benefits of strength training:

• Better body composition
• Reverses the aging process
• Better insulin sensitivity
• Reduced risk of muscle loss
• Improved hormone function
• Increased self-esteem
• Reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke.
• Improved brain health
• Reduced risk of osteoporosis
• Reduction in stress and anxiety.

Use it or lose it.

Lean muscle mass naturally reduces with age, as your body fat percentage increases over time if you don’t do anything to replace this loss lean mass. Strength training is a key component of maintaining and keep the body strong and resilient.

Do strength training exercises for all major muscle groups at least two times a week. Aim to do a single set of each exercise, using a weight or resistance level heavy enough to tire your muscles after about 12 to 15 repetitions.

As you incorporate strength training exercises into your fitness routine, you may notice improvement in your strength over time. As your muscle mass increases, you’ll likely be able to lift weight more easily and for longer periods of time. If you keep it up, you can continue to increase your strength, even if you’re not in shape when you begin.

What to use-

1. Free weights such as dumbbells
2. Body weight
3. Resistance bands
4. Machines
5. Yoga/Pilates
6. Walking with a weighted rucksack

Research shows that a single set of 12 to 15 repetitions with the proper weight can build muscle efficiently in most people and can be as effective as three sets of the same exercise. As long as you take the muscle you are working to fatigue — meaning you can’t lift another repetition — you are doing the work necessary to make the muscle stronger. And fatiguing at a higher number of repetitions means you likely are using a lighter weight, which will make it easier for you to control and maintain correct form

Health – the benefits of resistance training.

• Health benefits resistance training where a progressive overload is placed on the body
• Helps to increase muscle mass and muscle strengthen – this includes the heart.
• Strengthens tendons, ligaments and maintains bone density.
• Bone density decreases with age due to Osteoporosis.
• Keeps joints strong as the body produces more synovial fluid to keep the joint lubricated.

Brain health – the benefits of resistance training.

• Resistance training increases that natural stress relief
• Exercise is food for the brain
• Positive impact on mental health
• Natural production of endorphins helps lift the body to a positive point.
• Creates new neurological pathways optimising brain function, growth, and health
• A 2015 study found that strength HITT style training helped prevent brain disorders such as dementia.
• Through the growth of new cells in the brain especially in the hippocampus, the part of the brain which is responsible for memory function.

Nutrition – the benefits of resistance training.

• Resistance training maintains and increases lean muscle mass
• Positive impact on metabolic health
• The leaner we are the stronger we are, the better the body uses the food we eat.
• The more muscle we carry the more calories we burn at rest and the more energy we are able to store within our muscle mass.
• More stored energy increase productivity, greater focus, and motivation and less likely to be tired all the time.