What is Weight Training?
Weight training is the best form of exercise when you want to challenge your muscles and get stronger.
- It is an exercise where you use equipments, like weights or machines.
- Weight training will make your muscles work hard.
- It can help make you stronger, balance better, and even prevent from getting hurt.
- This form of training is a fun way to get stronger and healthier.
Regular exercise improve your physical health that includes weight, body fat and heart health. Strength training such as lifting weights, is equally helpful as endurance training.
Both of them will get you various benefits like healthy weight, lower cholesterol, lower blood sugar, and lower blood pressure.
Let’s know about benefits of weight training.
Techniques of Strength training
There are 3 forms of strength training techniques that helps strengthen muscles and improve fitness. Though they all are good for you but the best for you will depend on your needs and wants.
1. Muscular Strength
This workout is for your muscles to become strong and big. The training includes lifting weights, the heavier you lift, the stronger it will get. With this you will build more muscles.
Benefits of Building Muscular Strength:
- Everyday task becomes easier.
- You will be able to lose weight and keep it off.
- Improves your balance and coordination.
- It reduces your risk of injury.
- Your self-confidence gets boosted.
2. Muscular Power
Muscles have the power to provide fast as well as strong body movements. To gain such power, you shall do exercises with light to medium weights. Move fast and try to lift or throw the weight as quickly as possible.
Think about jumping, running, throwing balls and lifting heavy things when you go shopping – these all need muscle power.
3. Muscular Endurance
Muscular endurance means continuing an activity for a long time without getting tired. Training for muscular endurance is about making your muscles work continuously for some time.
This can be done by lifting lighter weights or using your body weight with almost no rest, 15 to 20 times. Improved muscular endurance helps you excel at activities that require endurance, like long-distance running, swimming, or rowing. It also helps you maintain good posture.
Benefits of Weight Training
1. Weight Lifting helps with Weight Loss
With age, human bodies can lose up to 30% of muscle. The result of this is a slowed metabolism, that can make it more challenging to lose weight.
Apart from aging, our modern lifestyle also involves too much sitting and not enough physical activity. This is another reason that could make it difficult to lose weight.
The good news is that you can regain lost muscle and boost your metabolism by lifting weights.
Different benefits of weight lifting include helping you build muscle, reverse the loss caused by aging and inactivity, and get your body back to burning calories.
2. Strong Muscles
Strength training uses your muscles against resistance to make them grow stronger. It doesn’t take long to see results! A study in the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity showed older adults got stronger after 16 one-hour strength workouts.
2. Shaping Up Your Body With Weights
Lifting weights can help you burn fat and shape your body. So it might be the best thing you can do for your body. Building muscle changes your fat cells and tones your body.
In a big study in December, Harvard researchers reported that strength training, minute per minute, trims belly fat better than running or other cardio exercises, especially as you age. There are a few reasons.
Lifting weights enhances your energy for a short period because your body works harder to cool down and recover. Also, building muscle over time can amplify the number of calories you burn when you’re not exercising.
Apart from this, weight training can help you lose fat by changing your hormones and reducing inflammation.
3. Connect your Mind and Body with Resistance Training
It is said that our thoughts can affect our physical health. When you work out, focus on the muscle you’re using.
For example, when you do a bicep curl, imagine the muscle growing and getting stronger. Think about how it moves when you lift the weight. Studies have shown that this can help you build muscle faster. So focus on your muscles, not just lifting the weight.
4. Stronger Bones and Joints
Strength training is gentle on your body and makes your joints and the muscles around them stronger. This can make you healthier and more durable.
Strong muscles and ligaments can hold your body up better and protect your bone health and joints when you move. This is the same reason why physical therapists often recommend building up the muscles near an injured joint to help it heal.
Also, as mentioned earlier, weightlifting enhances the weight-loss process, which in turn, is good for your joints. Less weight means less pressure on joints like your knees, which reduces the chances of getting osteoarthritis.
5. Brain Boost
Exercise, and not just aerobic exercise, can be really beneficial for your brain’s health. Aerobic exercise increases oxygen content in your brain and thus flexes your brain. This, in turn, may help fight stress and depression.
But did you know lifting weights can also give your brain a boost? Studies show that over time, pumping iron can not only prevent your brain from getting rusty, it can also amp up your memory and reasoning skills. Talk about getting smart!
6. Lifting Weights Can Keep Your Heart Healthy
Exercising allows your body to send oxygen to your muscles & give them energy. Strength training can make your cardiovascular system stronger.
There are 3 ways strength training helps your heart:
- It makes your heart beat faster and stronger.
- It increases the amount of blood and oxygen your blood carries.
- It makes the blood vessels around your muscles wider and work better.
7. Testosterone Boost for Men
Lifting weights can help you feel stronger, have more energy, and perform better in the bedroom. Studies show that strength training can help increase testosterone levels in men.
Higher testosterone levels have a plethora of benefits including:
- Increased muscle strength and mass
- Improved red blood cell production
- Increased sex drive
- Increased sperm production
- Reduced depression and fatigue
- Improved erectile function
8. Controlled Blood Sugar Levels
Strength training can also manage your Type 2 diabetes. It not only builds your muscles but also improvises the way your muscles take in and use glucose or blood sugar.
Transporters (cells in the muscles) pick up glucose from the blood and deliver it to muscle cells.
Resistance training helps the transporters to pick more glucose from the blood and thus transport more into your muscles, which can help lower blood sugar levels.
9. Reduced Cancer Risk
Visceral fat makes you more likely to get heart disease and diabetes. It can also increase your risk of cancer. Researchers found that belly fat cells create a protein linked to cancer. By getting rid of that fat, you can improve your overall health.
10. Lifting Weights Can Help You Stay Young
Did you know that weight lifting slows down ageing? Many studies have shown that weight training reverses ageing. It does this at a ‘genetic’ level.
Different experts also agree that building strength turns back the clock on aging. No matter your age, you can benefit from lifting weights.
11. Strength Training: Your Key to Better Mobility and Flexibility
Generally, people think stretching is the ultimate solution to gaining flexibility, but this is not entirely true. Strength training, too, can help improve your flexibility.
How? Strength training increases the range of motion in your joints, which in turn increases your movement. People with weaker muscles are more likely to have lower range of motion and less flexibility.
Here’s an interesting fact: A recent study compared stretching with strength training. It found that both are equally effective in increasing range of motion.
For the best results, make sure you’re doing the full range of motion when you exercise. Don’t stop halfway through a movement. Push your muscle to its limit, but don’t compromise on your form.
12. Strength Training May Boost Your Self-Esteem
Strength training can boost your confidence. It helps you overcome tough obstacles, reach your fitness goals, and learn to appreciate your own physical strength.
Want to trust yourself more? Strength training helps with that too. It can boost your self-belief and confidence in your ability to succeed.
Research shows that strength training can boost self-esteem, especially in 10 to 16-year-olds. One study found that kids who did strength training had higher self-esteem, felt stronger, and liked their bodies more.
Did you know that strength training can also improve body image? In one study, over 750 adults who strength trained showed improvements in body satisfaction, appearance, and anxiety about other people judging them.
13. Improves Your Mood
Lifting weights can put you in a good mood and make you feel better about yourself. When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins and dopamine, which make you feel happy and relaxed. These chemicals also help you focus and have more energy.
And it’s not just these chemicals that make you feel good. If you haven’t lifted weights before and then start, you’ll get stronger and be able to lift more over time. This can help you feel more competent and confident in your body.
Conclusion
In conclusion, weight training by a professional personal trainer offers numerous benefits and improve your health and fitness.
- Regular strength training improves muscle mass, bone density, and metabolism, leading to a reduced risk of osteoporosis and improved body composition.
- Resistance exercise with free weights, weight machines, and bodyweight exercises can target specific muscle groups, helping to build strength and endurance.
- Weight training can also play a crucial role in preventing and managing various health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis.
- Individuals can experience improved cardiovascular health, balance, and flexibility while reducing the risk of injury.
Overall, the health benefits of weight training are extensive and can greatly contribute to an individual’s overall well-being and quality of life.
Therefore, incorporating weight training into a regular exercise routine can lead to significant improvements in physical and mental health.