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« Week 5: Slow Times, Jan. 27-Feb 2 | Main | Worthy Links for Busy Moms, February 7, 2008 »

What is Strength Training? How do you Benefit?

By Cindy | February 6, 2008

Our great, great grandmothers naturally applied their muscles to their chores and daily necessities which benefited their body. Today, we use our muscles to varying degrees, but most of our lives are sedentary unless we commit to an exercise program.

Strength Training – Balance of the Force

Strength is the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to generate force. Your muscles are the force that moves your body. In order to maintain and increase muscular endurance and strength, we must work them and challenge them; otherwise, the muscles atrophy (decrease). They do nothing (they’re pretty lazy when not needed), yet extremely efficient when called upon. They need YOU to apply the force. Before delving into the benefits of strength training, here’s some interesting facts about your muscles:¹

• Muscles are the body’s largest tissue, accounting for approximately 45% body weight in men and 36% in women.
• The human body has more than 650 muscles
• Muscles are efficient normally using about 35-50% of their potential energy.
• By age of 65, individuals who haven’t engaged in strength/exercise programs on a regular basis may incur a decrease in muscular strength by as much as 80%.
• Muscles are divided into three categories: skeletal, smooth and cardiac.
• Approximately 70-75% skeletal muscle is water, 20-25% is protein (what’s the other 10-0%?)
• Muscle and fat (adipose) are two separate and distinct tissues that do not have the capacity to change from one type to another.

Top 10 Benefits of Strength Training

Our body’s complexity leaves the greatest minds on earth searching for answers, yet research continues to show the importance of balance. By ignoring muscles, an imbalance exists between the fat/lean body composition relationship. These are the top ten benefits in my opinion that are currently known to have a relationship with strength training:

1. Increased muscle strength and endurance

2. Increased joint flexibility improves injury prevention. Your range of motion improves. Your muscles become better shock absorbers and joint stabilizers. Training all of the major muscle groups develops a stronger musculoskeletal system and reduces the risk of muscle imbalance and overuse injuries.

3. Increased muscle mass creates an improved appearance. Because muscles are more dense, they take up less space than fat. This explains why it’s better to focus on the fit of clothing than the scale.

4. Percent body fat decreases. “[A] large-scale study of more than 1,100 men and women between 20 and 80 years of age showed a one-point reduction in percent body fat each month of combined strength and endurance exercise.”²

5. Increased resting metabolism. Muscle burns more energy than fat. It is 15 to 20 times more metabolically active than fat. Secondly, “without strength exercise, resting metabolism decreases approximately 2 to 5 percent per decade.”²

6. Increased physical capacity. Day to day functionality becomes easier. The amount of effort it takes to move around with your children becomes easier and your ability to move with speed and power increases.

7. Increased bone density. “Muscles respond by increasing their fiber size, while bones respond by increasing their protein and mineral content. Significant increases in bone density can occur after just four months of strength exercise.” ³ Hence, the reduced risk of osteoporosis.

8. Decrease in arthritic pain. Strength training helps individuals function better as well as building stronger muscles, bones, and connective tissue. There is evidence that it may ease discomfort for osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

9. Improved resting blood pressure. Studies show that there are “significant reductions in resting blood pressure after just 8 weeks of combined strength and endurance exercise–systolic blood pressure values decreased by 5 (younger adults) and (7) seniors, while diastolic blood pressure values decreased by 3 (younger adults) and 4 (seniors).²

10. Decrease in Depression. Strength training has been “shown to reverse the effects of depression and give people a new outlook on life…Many people, particularly seniors, become depressed when they can no longer do things for themselves. Loss of functionality and independence can lead to feelings of depression and anxiety.”²

The variety of areas in which your body benefits from strength training should not be ignored. You have the ability to create wonderful changes in your body. It’s time to mentally prepare yourself for a new and improved YOU!

Next time, we will discuss why YOU WILL NOT LOOK LIKE A BODY BUILDER (unless you really want to which will require tons of time and a certain body type anyway)!

References:
¹Definition and Facts acquired through my training and course material provided by Cooper Institute.
² Westcott, Wayne. Staff Training Manual: Building Strength and Stamina. 2nd Edition. Human Kinetics: Champaign, IL: 2003. 8-10.
³ Sharkey, Brian, PH.D. Fitness and Health, 4th edition. Human Kinetics: Champaign, IL: 1997. 23-24, 151.

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Topics: Fitness Knowledge |