The Benefits of Strength Training: Do Yourself a Favor!
The fact is that strength training is one of the smartest and healthiest things that anyone can do for themselves, their families and their friends. As you're probably already aware, the benefits of strength training far outweigh the disadvantages. It's not just an egotistical, bullish activity for the mere purpose of feeling better than everyone else. Leave this motive for the foolish. Here's my top 7 list of the major benefits of strength training… 1. Makes you feel better and more confident! 2. Increases your metabolic rate and controls your weight. 5. Improves your flexibility and balance. 7. Improves your heart health.
Let's dig in to some of the benefits of strength training... 1) Strength Training Makes You Feel Better and More Confident! This is one of the most important benefits of strength training. Why? Because it provides motivation to keep going! Keeping at it is what creates life-long satisfaction. Here's a fact: having a strong, healthy body forces you to stand taller. Having an improved posture makes you look and feel more confident, healthy, friendly and approachable. Heck, just the idea of knowing you have a strong set of legs or powerful shoulders can also do the trick. Although your strength training goals should always be geared towards yourself, other's can't help but notice! Knowing that you look better will also work wonders for your confidence. For example, you'll be able to take your shirt off at the beach or the pool without a thought of what others might think of you. This is a huge confidence-builder if you ask me! How do you get there? Well, working out your body! Let's face it, it's not possible, and it never will be, to selectively burn fat off of your abdominals. It's just not how your body works! There's no single exercise or fat-flushing food or drink that will do this for you. The key is to start a total-body weight training program.
2) Strength Training Increases Your Metabolic Rate Hear me and hear me now. Building muscle is the only, and I repeat, the only way to increase your metabolism. There's no diet pill, thermogenic supplement, herb, energy gel, vitamin, mineral, diet or any other concoction capable of increasing your metabolism. I'm constantly seeing reports of some energy drink loaded with vitamin B12 to help increase metabolism. Reports like this just make me wonder what must be going through people's minds. The fact is we've all been brainwashed! In today's society, the movement has been towards using less effort to gain more results. The myth is simply untrue, especially with your body. No matter what any supplement bottle says, it does not increase your metabolism. Yes, it may unhealthily increase your heart rate thereby burning slightly more calories, but this is not a boost in metabolism. The word metabolism is not something for the short term. It implies an increase in energy expenditure, with less effort, over long periods of time. Sounds great doesn't it? Well, this is where the benefits of strength training come in...
But keep in mind that lifting weights once a week and eating a cheeseburger diet will not improve your metabolism. Strength training is strategic - eating smart and training smart are the key components! Many people try to lose weight by cutting back their calories to nearly nothing. Not only does this cause malnutrition (not good), but also decreases your metabolism. How? Because when you have no food to feed your body, your muscles are broken down for the amino acids they're made of. It doesn't matter where the protein comes from, your heart will salvage any metabolic substrate to survive. Bottom line? Strength training is a fantastic way to improve your metabolic rate and to control your weight over the long term and avoid muscle atrophy. With that said, it's a smarter idea to cut off some calories (not too many!) You still need energy to get through the day) while also following a strength training program. This preserves your muscles and also decreases your fat content. This is one of the most sought after benefits of strength training that people just don't want to bother with. But the fact is that it's the only way to get it done! 3) Strength Training Increases and Maintains Your Strength This is one of the obvious benefits of strength training. What do you think happens to individuals who don't exercise or lift weights? That's right, their muscles atrophy (waste away) due to inactivity. If you don't need it, why carry it around with you? That's your body's point of view.
With a lifetime of inactivity, many elderly individuals can hardly hold themselves up anymore - their muscles have completely wasted away. Studies have shown that nearly 45% of muscle mass is lost by the age of 70 if an individual doesn't lift weights. And no, this is not the normal aging process. Yes, it's aging, but that just means it's been a longer time since you've lifted a dumbell. It's that much longer your muscles have been sitting there like a bump on a log. The other benefits of strength training such as being able to carry a backpack or a couple bags of groceries goes without saying. You need your muscles for everyday functionality and efficiency. Use them! Work them! And please, keep them! 4) Strength Training Helps Prevent Injuries This one is fairly obvious - if you have stronger muscles, you're less likely to tear one of them in half because you decided to show off by trying to lift the back end of your truck (I didn't say you should try this!). There's a huge amount of individuals over 50 that have to be taken to the hospital after a fall or significant muscle tear. This is because of general lack of strong, stabilizing muscles that would have either prevented the fall or injury in the first place. 5) Strength Training Improves Your Flexibility and Balance
Having smaller, weaker muscles means this job will be tough and you're more likely to fall, even in the simplest of situations. Assuming you're stretching after your workouts (yes, you should be doing this!), it goes without saying that your flexibility will be improved. It's true that you'll become stiff if you lift weights, but this is only if you don't stretch them out after you're done with them! This is how you prevent that sprained ankle. 6) Strength Training Maintains Bone Health
Osteoporosis isn't a sudden occurrence. It's the result of lifelong neglect of your muscles and, therefore, your bones. Strength training doesn't stop bone loss, but it can increase bone density and strength, significantly reducing the risk of debilitating osteoporosis, a condition in which your bones degenerate around the hips, wrists and back. Do you ever hear of elderly individuals breaking their hip and never being able to walk again? Osteoporosis. How can you avoid it? Strength training! Even if you've already lost quite a bit of bone, strength training will help build back some bone and/or slow bone loss. If you're worried, vitamin D and calcium supplements are often used (especially in menopausal and post-menopausal women). Cardiovascular workouts like aerobics and jogging can help because it forces your bones to realign its stress lines (because you're using them! Just like your muscles, if you don't use them, you lose them). Lower impact workouts don't work as well for strengthening your bones because you're not putting any sort of stress on them. 7) Strength Training Improves Your Heart Health By forcing your heart to work a little harder in your workouts, you're also building heart muscle. This means you're heart will be able to pump more blood, less often. In other words, it won't have to work as hard to do the same amount of work! This is one of the most rewarding benefits of strength training - if your heart doesn't work, you don't work! For example, athletes tend to have low heart rates with normal blood pressures because they're able to increase their stroke volume (the amount of blood leaving the heart after the ventricles contract). This is because they have strong hearts! Strength training is a fantastic way to dramatically reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. It's disappointing to know that most people don't really understand many of the benefits of strength training - this is the direction we're headed. But lucky for you, you read this page! You're well on your way to success and life full of excitement and satisfaction. Always remember… Strength training is about you! What do you want to accomplish? What are your goals? Not everyone is destined to be a bodybuilder or Olympic athlete. For example, some people may want to be marathon runners, others may just want to jog a mile without needing a break. It all starts with your goal! The benefits of strength training revolve around you and your needs! Maybe you want to climb that mountain, join that softball team or take up golfing. Beginning a strength training program is beneficial in many more ways than I’ve listed here. Don’t just do it for kicks – or guilt. Have a goal in mind! Be good to yourself and your body! Reap the benefits of strength training to significantly improve your overall health, well-being and longevity. Return from the Benefits of Strength Training to Basic Weight Training Return from the Benefits of Strength Training to the Smart Strength Training Homepage
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The benefits of strength training are becoming more and more a part of our society as we move into a health-awareness era. The one thing that holds people back is the image of being "strong". What I mean is, many people believe strength training and lifting weights is correlated to a low IQ. I'm not sure if it's politically correct to state my opinions on this matter, but the 
This list doesn’t include the huge number of medical benefits, such as a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, etc. The list is endless!
Yes, you can shape the muscles the way that you want by doing certain training exercises, but simply doing crunches won't burn fat off of your abs. What I mean is, when fat is used for energy, it comes from all parts of your body rather than a single section. In simple terms, just because you're doing crunches doesn't mean you're burning fat off of your abs.
Build more muscle! Muscle requires a huge amount of energy to maintain because it's constantly repairing, rebuilding and reorganizing. Fat just sits there. How much energy do you think that needs? None! That's right, the more muscle you have, the more energy you use while you're sitting on the couch watching the news.
It's kind of like wearing a heavy winter coat in a country near the equator. If you don't need it, take it off! Your body does the same thing with your muscles.
Having a strong body means you'll also be more balanced. Let's think about what it takes to be balanced for a second. Your muscles actually have to work pretty hard to keep them in a static position. For example, standing on a thin balance-beam requires muscles throughout your body to maintain a completely upright position without leaning to either side. This means your muscles have to compensate for one another when you actually do start leaning. In short, they have to work hard for you!
This is one of the most forgotten benefits of strength training. The maintenance of your bones is extremely important.
Many people have a flawed image of what strength training is all about. Spending hours upon hours in the gym, on the treadmill, doing pushups and crunches is not how humans were made to function. This is a good way to burn yourself out and give up your goals as quickly as you started! The best method I can suggest is to 