Strength training is one of the most effective practices when it comes to enhancing physical strength and fitness. However, we have been ignorant of the fact that strength training has a ton of mental and psychological benefits as well.
The biggest misconception of strength training is that it is only beneficial for muscle building and to get your body in shape. This is the most common reason why people embark on a strength-training program.
On every social media platform, the enchanting pictures of fitness models and trainers have fascinated the viewers so much that everybody is focusing on building photo-finish muscles and in getting a toned body. Whereas, the physiological benefits and innumerable advantageous aspects of strength training are often ignored.
By definition- Strength training, is a method of improving muscular strength by gradually increasing the ability to resist force using free weights, machines, or the person’s own body weight? Strength training sessions are designed to impose increasingly greater resistance, which in turn stimulates the development of muscle strength to meet the added demand. This is known as progressive overload.
Skeletal muscle has high-energy requirements. Even when the body is at rest, your muscles can consume up to 25% of your energy. By implementing the principles of strength training, you will increase the lean muscle mass and your RMR, throughout your body. In short, it will boost your metabolic rate even when you are asleep.
To have a healthy body and toned muscles, you should incorporate some compound exercises like squats, rows, and deadlifts, with heavier weights into your training program. You will be amazed at how much your strength will increase.
For all those gym goers who aim to achieve big muscles, broad shoulders and a thin waistline, this blog will unlock some important impacts of strength training on your health and fitness, heightening its significance. Strength training enhances one’s body physically and mentally in the following ways:
Improves the Ability to Work:
Through strength training, you will become strongly balanced both physically and mentally, to meet your daily chores effortlessly without exhausting yourself. Your muscles will formulate energy within your body, enabling you to become more flexible and efficient to participate in your daily activities.
Your movements will be more efficient and will, therefore, cost less energy to perform. Meaning that you can perform more movements throughout the day without feeling tired.
Improves Stability:
Our body has many little muscles called stabilizers, apart from the major groups of muscle, which help stabilize the whole body. During strength training sessions, especially when using movements are performed in multiple planes of movement, these muscles help the body to become more stable and more mobile.
Moreover, the muscles become more resilient and strong, which makes a person balanced. Strength training improves body posture and muscle coordination. It strengthens the connective tissues, tendons, and muscles and helps support joints, improving the motor performance, stability, and decreasing your injury risk.
Prevents the Risk of Osteoporosis:
Osteoporosis is a condition that affects both men and women as they age; it affects bone density and can lead to brittle bones. It is due to osteoporosis that elderly people are much more likely to break a bone when falling over. Osteoporosis can lead to increased frailty and a lack of independence, as you grow older. Luckily, strength training has been shown to increase bone density, particularly when it is combined with a healthy diet.
Better sleep:
It develops better sleep patterns. According to the many fitness specialists, it makes one sleep more deeply. Your body will require better quality sleep, which eventually will refresh and energize your mind. Better sleep can also increase Testosterone and Growth hormone levels, as well as regulating your appetite (through the hormones Ghrelin and Leptin) which will help with weight loss and muscle gain.
Fat-free body mass:
Strength training can help decrease the fat percentage of the body by promoting the increase in more lean muscle mass, which requires more caloric expenditure just to maintain this new tissue.
Makes a body stress free:
As I have mentioned above, strength training releases endorphins, which not only release a body from pain but it positively affects stress and depression too. It increases norepinephrine, boosting the brain’s ability to overcome stress and anxiety. So when feeling stressed, try hitting the gym for some squats!
Reduces Blood Pressure:
It can be beneficial for your heart in many ways. It regulates the flow of blood properly. It reduces the risk of high blood pressure, strengthens cardiovascular muscles and at the same time, it makes the heart beat properly. Remember though that it will lead to a short-term increase in blood pressure while you are performing the exercise itself, which is why anyone with very high blood pressure should consult his or her physician before exercising.
Burns Calories:
The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research stated that strength training burns an average of 100 more calories with 24 hours of their training session. The effect of strength training is magnified as you increase the intensity via more resistance (i.e., the intensity of load) or more work performed in a condensed period of time (i.e., the intensity of effort). Moreover, strength training increases the metabolic rate of a body.
Empowerment:
By building strength, one feels empowered. It not only makes a body toned having lean muscles but also positively influence your attitude. You feel more energized, focused and active. It will boost your self-esteem making you bold and strong. It helps to achieve an improved body image, sense of accomplishment and self-perception. It helps to achieve measurable and drastic results.
Prevents Pain:
Strength training can help fix many internal and external problems in a body. It enhances blood circulation, strengthens the heart, makes muscles strong and can help relieve muscular or body pain. As your muscles gain strength and flexibility, there are uncountable wellness benefits such as decreasing arthritis pain within the body.
Do not just work out to look bigger, but make sure you focus on being stronger and moving better as well. Your health and muscle strength will greatly affect your mood, activities, commitments, and purpose of life.
So, for all those people, women in particular, who rely only on cardio training, yoga, and Pilates for gaining fitness, you should plan on starting strength training to achieve complete fitness.