15th February 2009
The Benefits of Strength Training
Strength training is an important component of fitness and exercise. If you are
trying to lose weight then it is essential that you incorporate some muscle
building activities into your training. Losing weight is about burning calories.
It is about burning fat and one way to do that is to build your muscles.
Basically the more muscle you develop the more energy you burn, resulting in
weight loss success.
Strength training does not have to be a daily grind of lifting weights in the
gym. There are many classes or exercise programs you can follow that will help
with building your muscles. Most gyms have classes like total body fitness or
group power lifting. Typically these types of classes use many types of weight
training equipment including barbells, hand weights and resistance bands. The
typical class lasts for a hour and works every muscle group in the body from the
triceps to the chest down to the legs.
Women seem to enjoy these type of strength training classes more than men. That
is a shame as the exercise benefits of a regimented one-hour full body workout
are considerable. Men typically enjoy working out the muscle groups by adding
bulk. However, they do not consider adding muscle endurance. Strength training
classes help to shape and tone your muscles into lean mass without the bulk. In
addition, since the instructor pushes you along during the class at a very rapid
pace, there is a bit of cardiovascular benefit as well. One final note about
going to an instructor lead strength training class: they can ensure that you
are doing the exercises with the correct form to help you avoid injury.
Even if you do not care for classes there are many exercises that you can do
from home. You do not necessarily have to purchase large racks of weights to get
the desired results. Simple hand weights will do just fine and there are many
strength exercises that require no equipment like the simple pushup. It would be
a good idea to find a DVD to follow along to help you with your exercise. A good
program to follow will help keep you on track, motivated and more likely to do
the exercises correctly without injuring yourself.
Many people go to the gym to lift weights. This is another way to develop
strength in your muscles. Typical regimens include alternating days of upper
body work with lower body work. For instance, on Monday and Thursday you might
work your upper body, while on Tuesday and Friday you might work your lower
body. This gives the muscles time to repair and grow between workouts. Most
weight lifting programs involve lifting in sets. For instance you might do three
sets of ten repetitions of bench press exercises. It really depends on your
goals how many sets and repetitions of each that you attempt to do.
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