Any form of physical activity that increases muscular mass, endurance, and strength using either your body weight or equipment is called strength training. Bodyweight exercises, weightlifting, and circuit training are just a few of the several forms of strength training.
Strength training is becoming an essential component of the majority of fitness regimens because of the rising body of research demonstrating its numerous advantages. If you’ve ever thought about strength training, you might be curious about the advantages it can offer.
Science-backed advantages of strength training: fourteen
Strength training has several advantages that can enhance your health.
1. Strengthens you
Gaining strength is facilitated by strength training.
Getting stronger makes it much easier to do everyday chores like jogging around with your kids or carrying heavy shopping (3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source).
Additionally, it enhances athletic performance in sports requiring strength, power, and speed. Maintaining lean muscle mass, it may even benefit endurance athletes (3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source).
2. Effectively burns calories
Your metabolism is increased by strength training in two ways.
Your metabolic rate rises when you gain muscle. You can burn more calories at rest since muscles have a higher metabolic efficiency than fat mass (5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source).
Second, studies reveal that strength-training exercises can raise your metabolic rate for up to 72 hours. This indicates that even hours or days after your workout, you are continuously burning calories (7Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source).
3. Reduces fat around the abdomen
A higher risk of chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes, and several types of cancer, is linked to the fat that is stored around the belly, particularly visceral fat (9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source, 11Trusted Source, 12Trusted Source).
Strength-training activities are beneficial for lowering body fat overall and in the abdomen, according to research (13Trusted Source, 14Trusted Source, 15Trusted Source).
4. May make you appear more slender
You’ll look thinner as you gain muscle and reduce fat.
This is because muscle occupies less space in your body per pound than fat, since it is more dense than fat. As a result, even if the number on the scale doesn’t change, you can shed inches off your waist.
Additionally, reducing body fat and developing bigger, stronger muscles shows off more muscular definition, giving the image of being leaner and stronger.
5. Strength training lowers your risk of falls, as you’re better able to support your body (16Trusted Source, 17Trusted Source, 18Trusted Source).
One review including 23,407 adults over the age of 60 showed a 34% reduction in falls among those who participated in a well-rounded exercise program that included balance exercises and resistance and functional training (18Trusted Source).
Fortunately, many forms of strength training are effective, such as tai chi, weight training, resistance band and bodyweight exercises
6. Reduces the possibility of harm
Your risk of injury may go down if you incorporate strength training into your exercise regimen.
Your muscles, ligaments, and tendons will get stronger, more mobile, and have a greater range of motion with strength training. To further prevent injury, this can strengthen the area surrounding your knees, hips, and ankles (1Reliable Source).
Strength training can also aid in the correction of muscle imbalances. For instance, when lifting weights, having stronger glutes, hamstrings, and core relieves the strain on your lower back and lowers your chance of lower-back ailments.
Indeed, an analysis including 7,738 athletes discovered that strength-training regimens decreased the chance of injury by 33 per cent. It was discovered to minimize the risk of injury in a dose-dependent way, which means that the risk of injury decreased by 4% for every 10% increase in strength-training volume (30Trusted Source).
7. Promotes cardiac health
Strengthening the heart and blood arteries with regular strength training exercise has been demonstrated in numerous studies to lower blood pressure, LDL (bad) and total cholesterol, and enhance blood circulation (31, 32, 33, 34).
You can control your blood sugar levels and maintain a healthy body weight with the aid of strength training. One of the main risk factors for heart disease is high blood sugar.
8. Aids in blood sugar regulation
Strength training can assist people with diabetes better manage their condition and may even reduce their chance of getting the disease.
The muscle in the skeleton aids in raising insulin sensitivity. By transferring glucose from the blood to muscle cells, it also lowers blood sugar levels. The regulation of blood sugar can therefore be enhanced by increased muscle mass (35Trusted Source, 36Trusted Source, 37Trusted Source, 38Trusted Source).
Additionally, strength exercise may lower your chance of diabetes. Strength training was found to be associated with a 30% lower risk of type 2 diabetes in women throughout 10-year research that followed 35,754 participants (39Trusted Source).
9. Encourages increased flexibility and mobility
It’s a common misconception that strength training makes you more flexible.
Greater mobility and flexibility are made possible by strength training, which enhances joint range of motion (ROM). Furthermore, people with weaker muscles typically have less range of motion and flexibility (40Trusted Source).
Indeed, improving the range of motion was found to be equally effective with stretching and strength training in a recent review (41Trusted Source).
Make sure you’re performing an exercise to its full range of motion (ROM); in other words, make use of all of your possible movements around a joint for optimal benefits. For instance, as low as you can go in a squat without losing form, do so (42Trusted Source, 43Trusted Source).
10. Increases self-worth
You may significantly increase your self-confidence with strength training.
It supports you as you overcome obstacles, pursue objectives, and recognize the strength of your body. It can specifically boost your self-efficacy or the conviction that you can accomplish a task or succeed at it, which can significantly boost your confidence (44Trusted Source, 45Trusted Source, 46Trusted Source, 47Trusted Source).
Indeed, a study of seven research involving young people aged 10 to 16 found a substantial correlation between strength training and physical strength, physical self-worth, and high self-esteem (47Trusted Source).
Strength training is also significantly associated with positive body image, including attractiveness, body satisfaction, and social physique anxiety (the fear of being judged by others), according to a systematic study that examined 754 adults (48Trusted Source).
11. Strengthens your bones
Strength training is essential for the growth of bones.
Weight-bearing activities temporarily stress your bones, which signals bone-forming cells to start repairing and strengthening your bones. Strong bones help lower the incidence of falls, osteoporosis, and fractures, especially as you get older (49, 50, 51, 52, 53).
Thankfully, strength exercise can strengthen bones at any age.
12. Elevates your disposition
Frequent weightlifting might enhance your mental and emotional well-being.
Strength training has been linked to improved mood and decreased anxiety, according to research (53, 54, 55, and 56).
Numerous advantages of strength training for mood management include elevated self-efficacy and self-esteem. Additionally, physical activity encourages the release of endorphins, which have been shown to enhance mood (53Trusted Source, 54Trusted Source, 57Trusted Source).
13. Enhances mental well-being
Strength training may improve brain function and protect against age-related cognitive decline in individuals.
Strength training has been shown to significantly improve older adults’ cognitive function (e.g., processing speed, memory, and executive function) when compared to non-participants (58Trusted Source, 59Trusted Source, 60Trusted Source, 61Trusted Source).
Resistance exercise is believed to have numerous neuroprotective benefits, including enhanced blood flow, decreased inflammation, and elevated expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is connected to learning and memory (62Trusted Source, 63Trusted Source, 64Trusted Source).
14 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 (65Trusted Source, 66Trusted Source).
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 (67Trusted Source).
What’s more, strength training may improve the quality of life in those with arthritis. One review of 32 studies showed strength training significantly improved scores in pain and physical functioning (68Trusted Source).
Credit-Roxy Menzies
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