Strength Training Benefits: Everything You Need To Know
- josephplatt1979
- Jun 15, 2022
- 11 min read
Updated: Jun 15, 2022
What is strength training
Strength training is also known as weight training or resistance training to some people. Strength training involves using your own bodyweight or equipment, like barbells, dumbbells or resistance bands, to build muscle strength, muscle mass, or muscle endurance.
Strength training is a key component of overall health and fitness for everyone and it can be done at home or in a gym.
Strength training is not just about bodybuilders lifting weights in a gym throwing around heavy weights. Regular strength training is excellent for people of all ages or whatever fitness level and strength training benefits include building muscle, losing weight, building strength and improved health.
Types of strength training include
MUSCLE POWER - This training increases your ability to perform a powerful movement in minimal time. This type of training is used to help people improve their athletic performance like jumping or fast sprints. This training will engage your fast-twitch muscle fibres but will fatigue much faster and require more time for recovery.
MUSCLE STRENGTH - Designed to achieve maximum strength and the ability to lift heavy weights. Powerlifters train for muscle strength and the bigger the muscle fibres, the more force they will be able to exert. This type of exercise involves low reps usually around 3– 6 and heavy weights to improve your overall strength.
MUSCLE HYPERTROPHY – This is an increase and growth of muscle cells, Hypertrophy refers to an increase in muscular size achieved through exercise. Hypertrophy helps to achieve a toned look and increase the amount of lean muscle in the body and also reduce body fat.
MUSCULAR ENDURANCE - The ability of a muscle or group of muscles to perform repetitive contractions against a force for an extended period of time. The greater your muscular endurance the higher number of repetitions you could complete. Muscular endurance training engages your slow-twitch muscles fibres, allowing you to keep performing a movement, such as rowing or running for a prolonged period of time. Training to increase muscular endurance usually involves high reps using light weights or bodyweight.
Ways to strength train
Bodybuilding - Bodybuilders need to lift weights to become muscular and, as a result, need to be strong to lift all those weights. Bodybuilding uses compound and isolation exercises at a high volume of sets, reps, and weight to increase muscle size. Body building results in muscular hypertrophy which is an increase in muscular size achieved through exercise.
Powerlifting - a type of strength training, focusing on moving as much weight as possible and developing as much all-out strength as you humanly possible. The three core lifts of powerlifting are the bench press, the squat, and the deadlift. It uses low reps, and very heavy loads. You will gain incredible strength, but likely not incredible muscle size.
Bodyweight training – Is exactly what it sounds like, using your body weight to perform exercise. Includes calisthenics like push ups, pullups, Squats, lunges, sit ups and other exercises that use the resistance of bodyweight to build strength. You can do body-weight exercises anywhere, using no extra equipment, at no extra cost to you.
CrossFit - CrossFit is a constantly varied functional movement performed at high intensity, using both high-weight and high-volume exercises, often done explosively. It uses big-bang exercises such as Olympic lifts in some of the workouts, which can be beneficial to building strength, muscle and weight loss.
Power training – This type of training is to generate the highest amount of force in the shortest period of time. Involves exercises which apply the maximum amount of force as fast as possible. Training includes plyometrics like skipping, jumping and upper-body exercises like throwing medicine balls or sandbags. Power training will improve your sport skills, such as the ability to jump higher or throw further. Explosive plyometric training can increase the ability of muscles to produce force, which can make them stronger.
Regardless of the type of strength training you choose to perform, the goal is to put your muscles under tension to allow neuromuscular adaptations and stimulate muscle growth and get stronger. It’s very important to switch up your workouts regularly to keep your body guessing, keep it progressing and getting the strength training benefits . All too often, people get set in their ways, using the same techniques and routines week after week. By following the same program for too long can lead to plateaus and cause your gains to stop.
Other strength training benefits
Increased bone density - Strength training benefits the muscles and tendons that apply tension to the bones, which stimulates the bones to produce more bone tissue. As a result, bones become stronger and the risk of osteopenia, osteoporosis, and fractures decreases
Lowered risk of injury – Strength training helps strengthen muscle and tendons, enabling them to resist and generate greater forces, while increasing the stability of the ligaments which decreases their risk of becoming injured. Allowing the muscles to better support the joints
Reduce stress - a combination of physiological and psychological changes that take place when strength-training. This exercise releases feel-good endorphins that boost your wellbeing and reduce stress and anxiety.
Improves posture - Strength training benefits the bones, muscles, and all other supporting tissues of the body, including the low back. This helps to improve your posture and keep you in better alignment throughout the day.
Decreased risk of injury - Strength training keeps your muscles strong and helps build new muscle mass. By improving your muscle strength, power, and endurance, you are preparing your body for strenuous activity and preventing your risk of injury.
Better mood - Strength training releases chemicals that boost your sense of well-being and suppress hormones that cause stress and anxiety. Among the chemicals released are endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine neurotransmitters which are related to pain and depression emotions. These good chemicals will boost your overall mood.
Improves sleep - resistance training results in post-workout fatigue and muscle recovery that can promote better sleep. Consistent strength training workouts help with falling asleep faster, staying asleep longer, and feeling rested and refreshed the next day.
Improves heart health - regular strength-training exercise can help improve blood pressure and blood sugar levels which are a major factor for heart disease. Strength training increases lean muscle mass which gives your cardiovascular system places to send the blood being pumped. This results in less pressure on your arteries, which helps reduce the chances of heart-related problems.
Lowers cholesterol - research shows that people who participate in strength training can lower LDL (bad cholesterol) levels and increase the effectiveness of their HDL level (good cholesterol).
Boosts your confidence - strength training will improve positive body image, including body satisfaction, appearance, and this will help boost confidence. You will also see yourself making progress lifting heavier weights and doing more repetitions. This can boost your confidence because it's a way of proving to yourself how you can achieve your goals and make positive changes in your life.
Helps your blood sugar levels - Strength training may lower your risk of developing diabetes and can help those with the condition manage it better. Building more muscle means more storage space for blood sugar. When muscle takes up the flood of glucose from your blood, you’ll have better blood sugar control. Strength training boosts your insulin sensitivity, which means your body responds better to insulin and better controls your blood sugar
Use it or lose it - Lean muscle mass naturally diminishes with age and your body fat percentage will increase over time if you don't do anything to replace the lean muscle you lose over time. Strength training can help you preserve and enhance your muscle mass at any age. This will also help keep the body fat levels down as we age and help keep a healthy metabolism
Better quality of life - Strength training will enhance your quality of life and improve your ability to do everyday activities. With strength training you will see yourself stronger, fitter, leaner and this will help form a better version of you, mentally and physically.
Strength-Training Tips
You have now seen what are the benefits of strength training for your overall health and well-being. It’s only right that you start to do strength training to start to improve your life and fitness. Even if you start out with a couple days of strength training sessions per week can lead to big changes in your body. Follow these tips when you start out at strength training:
Taking time to properly warm up before you begin lifting any weights as it leads to better results and no injury. Warming up before exercise increases blood flow to your muscles and raises your body temperature. To warm up before you work out, do low-intensity exercise for five to 10 minutes.
Focus on your form and not on the weight, make sure you position your body correctly and move smoothly through each exercise. Poor form can cause injuries and stop you from making gains. Master a movement with just body weight, gradually progress to light/moderate weight and then start adding more reps before you add more weight.
Once you have mastered the form then it’s time to start challenging muscles by slowly increasing weight or resistance. Choose a weight that tires the targeted muscle or muscles by the last two repetitions while still allowing you to maintain good form. When it feels too easy to complete, add weight or add another set of repetitions to your workout. Remember if you are adding weight then you should be able to do all the repetitions with good form and the targeted muscles should feel tired by the last two
Target every muscle group including your chest, back, shoulders, legs, arms, abs, hips, and low back. If you overlook a body part it can lead to muscle imbalances and posture problems so train all muscles evenly. Working all the major muscles of your body two or times a week is ideal.
Don't quit too soon when doing a set, lots of people quit just shy of failure. Keep pushing yourself and try repping out or going to failure. This means lifting until you can't do any more reps with good form. This can be tough at first, but over time it's what will have you building more strength and more muscle.
Don't hold your breath when performing a set and keep breathing as you lift and lower your weight. Try to exhale as you lift the weight and inhale as you lower it.
Mix things up and create new challenges for the muscles, your muscle can get used to the same workouts and can plateau. Change up your intensity -- switch between tough and easy days. And alternate your grip, meaning change from palms down to palms up, or vice versa. Vary the equipment -- try dumbbells, resistance bands, cables, stability balls, or exercises that use your body weight
Take time off to recover as Strength training causes tiny tears in your muscle tissue. These tears aren't harmful, but are important for muscles to grow stronger and bigger. When you rest, your muscles recover from the micro-trauma and they will grow and perform better next time. Give yourself 48 hours between sessions and get plenty of sleep.
Keep A Log of your workouts as this can be a valuable tool in assessing progress and knowing how far you’ve come in your fitness journey. Simply track your exercises, reps and sets as well as the weight used for each. Fitness logs can help you determine what area you might need to work more on or improve. You can also jot down brief notes on each workout that can help you know when you’re at your best or worst. keep track of your progression helps to keep track if your goal is building muscle or weight loss
When to expect results
You don't need to spend hours a day lifting weights to benefit from strength training. You can see significant improvement in your strength with just two or three 30-minute strength training sessions a week. As you improve and get stronger and better than you can add more training days and longer training days. It can take about three to four weeks to see a visible change. You'll see some real results after 12 weeks.
As you become more of an experienced strength trainer, you may notice that your results have slowed down. This is normal since your body has become accustomed to the tearing down and rebuilding of muscles that you have subjected it to. Fortunately, your body will respond to new challenges and your muscles will continue to grow and develop the more you increase your resistance. If you are serious about strength training then you will be in this for the long haul and be lifting for years and years.
Nutrition for strength training
Your body requires essential macronutrients to be able to build muscle and lose weight and those macronutrients are carbohydrate, protein, and fat. These are necessary to provide energy, build muscle, and keep your cells healthy.
Any strength training program will not be worth it if you don’t have the right nutrition as your body will not perform to its best potential.
PROTEIN is one of the most important building blocks of your body, including your muscles. The protein you eat is digested and turned into amino acids, which are combined to make different proteins.
You need to eat a sufficient amount of protein to build muscles because strength training causes micro damage to your muscles. If you eat enough protein then your body will build more protein than it breaks down, giving you a net gain in protein. It is recommended that you consume 1.2 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day.
Food sources of protein should be lean animal sources like chicken, fish, turkey, eggs and milk. Vegetarians can consume nuts, legumes and whole grains for protein.
You can also get your protein sources from supplements as not everyone can consume enough protein from just eating food, some people just don’t have the appetite.
CARBOHYDRATES are your body's main source of energy and even your brain primarily runs on carbohydrates. Your body breaks the carbs you eat down into glucose, which is a simple sugar that it can send to different areas of the body to provide fuel.
When your body sends sugar to the muscle it's converted to muscle glycogen, which is stored inside the muscle for future use. This is one of the main energy sources your body uses when you lift weights.
carbohydrates are essential to any type of athletic performance and you should also aim to consume around 5 to 8 grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight per day.
Whole grains, vegetables and fruit are the best forms of carbohydrate, Whole grains contain vitamins, minerals and fiber that are all essential for your health. Fruits and vegetables contain carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins and minerals, making them an essential part of your diet. Starchy carbohydrates like potatoes and pasta are also healthy to consume, particularly if they help you meet your carbohydrate goals for the day.
Try to stay away from or limit your nutrition of sweets, chocolate, crisps and processed foods
FAT is the final macronutrient and it also provides energy and nutrients in the form of fat-soluble vitamins. You only need about 0.5 to 1.0 grams per kilogram of body weight of fat per day if you're on a strength training diet. That's about 25 to 35 percent of your total calorie intake.
There are many sources of fats, and some are healthier than others. Trans fats are the worst type of fat and most directly linked to heart disease and you should avoid this type of fat entirely.
Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are generally considered to be the healthiest fats. They're found in foods like vegetable oil, nuts and avocados and these unsaturated fats can actually help your heart by reducing inflammation of the arteries.
Apart from the macronutrients you will need to keep hydrated and try to drink enough fluids to recover what you have lost. Aim to drink around 2 litres per day and that figure will be even more on days you train. Dehydration will cause your body to not function properly, dehydration upsets the balance of minerals (salts and sugar) in your body, which affects the way it functions. Keep hydrated throughout the day.
Bottom line
As you incorporate strength training exercises into your fitness routine, you will notice improvement in your strength over time. As your muscle mass increases, you will then begin to see other benefits that strength training has to offer including weight loss and improvements in your overall health.
Anybody can benefit from whatever type of strength training they decide to do. Whether you are a want to be bodybuilder, an aspiring athlete, a middle-aged gentleman or an older lady wanting to stay active, Strength training benefits anyone of all ages.
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