If you want to lose weight, improve your balance, and look and feel great, these are the benefits of lifting weights!
What Are the Benefits of Lifting Weights?
Discover the Benefits of Lifting Weights
Wouldn’t it be life-changing if you knew a particular type of exercise could potentially help your heart, improve your balance, strengthen your muscles and bones, and help you shed off unnecessary weight while making you feel and look better as well?
Wouldn't you want to start that health journey as soon as possible? You are in luck!
Research studies indicate that strength training may provide all of these mentioned benefits plus more.
Strength training, or resistance training, is an activity performed that is specifically designed to improve the body’s physicality and overall musculature by exercising specific muscle groups from external resistance.
These external resistances include weight machines, body weight, and free weights. When performing weight training or resistance training, the muscle is initially overloaded and then has to adapt.
As a result, the muscles strengthen.
Strength training is seemingly more beneficial for the body than other exercises. Not only because it includes all aspects in one, but it sometimes requires less time and prevents the loss of lean muscle mass, especially as we age.
This particular type of training can benefit all ages. It is especially crucial for individuals with health problems, like those who suffer from obesity, heart conditions, or even arthritis.
How Weight Training Improves Your Overall Well-Being
1. Resistance Training Makes You Fitter and Stronger
Muscle strength is important in making it easier to accomplish daily activities, particularly as we age and naturally begin to lose muscle.
Strength training is also known as resistance training as it strengthens and tones your muscles by contracting them from a resisting force.
Typically, there are two kinds of resistance training:
- Isometric resistance, which involves the contracting of muscles from static positions. For example, pushing your body against the floor.
- Isotonic strength training, which involves contracting your muscles through a selection of movements as in strength training.
2. Resistance Training Helps Protect Muscle Mass
As we grow older, the lean muscle mass in our bodies decreases by 3% to 5%. Various studies have proven that simply 30 minutes of high-intensity physical activity a couple of times a week is considered effective training.
It improves overall functional performance, in addition to bone density, structure, and strength in postmenopausal women with low muscle mass.
3. This Type of Training Helps Kick Start and Maintains Weight Loss
Basic cardiovascular exercise is a simple, well-known way to burn calories and get rid of excess weight. Strength training dramatically helps.
4. Strength Training Makes It Possible to Build Better Body Mechanisms
Strength training also improves your overall posture, balance, and coordination. Muscle strength is such an important aspect when it comes to balance.
The stronger the muscles become, the better your overall balance is.
5. Strength Training Helps Improve the Management of Chronic Diseases
Studies have shown the countless benefits of resistance training. Not only has it helped people with chronic diseases manage their own problems, but strength training can also have a positive effect in decreasing the pain.
6. Strength Training Boosts Energy Levels and Improves Your Mood
Strength training increases your level of endorphins. They lift energy levels and enhance your mood along with increasing your quality of sleep.
7. Resistance Training Equals Extra Calories Burned
Aside from the previous benefits, strength training helps improve the human body’s metabolism rate. This type of resistance training not only improves the body’s metabolism but also burns double the number of calories pre- and post-workout.
The harder your body is working during your workout, the more energy your body requires. This means your body is burning extra calories even while resting and recovering.
When you do energy, weight, or resistance training, your body demands more energy predicated on how much energy you're exerting.
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Maximize Lifting Benefits with These Tips
The question many people, who are typically unfamiliar with strength training ask is, “How do I add strength training to my workout routine?” or “How do I start, or what do I do?”
1. Just Start Lifting Weights—You Don’t Need a Gym
When one is seeking to add these types of training into his or her workout regimen, it’s important to simply start. There are many possible options depending on the type of activity you personally enjoy doing.
You don’t need a gym, gym membership, or expensive fancy machines. Utilize the area and objects close to you.
Elevate your body on chairs, end tables, etc. If you don’t have free weights, using body weight for resistance training is equally effective.
2. Prevent Injury by Seeking Your Doctor’s Permission
If you suffer from any health issues, be sure to speak to your doctor and discuss possible strength training options that may be right, safe, and effective for you and your goals while taking your health into careful consideration.
For example, exerting effort during a bench press may not be ideal for people who still have to manage their blood pressure or were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. It may be important to go slow and steady to enjoy the benefits of lifting weights.
Older adults and post-menopausal women are more likely to have weaker muscle power as well. They only increase their risk of injury if they decide to try lifting dumbbells way heavier than they can carry.
We can never deny the long list of benefits of strength training for weight loss, fitness, and health. It helps burn calories and fat and builds different muscle groups.
3. Work with a Personal Trainer
You can also make the most of the benefits of lifting weights by working with a health coach, particularly a personal trainer. You can find one in the gym or hire someone if you prefer to exercise at home.
Granted, a personal trainer may mean additional expense for you, but it has advantages:
- Fitness can vary from one person to another. You need a more personalized resistance training plan.
- Not all types of weightlifting exercises are great for you. It depends on your age, present health, gender, and a whole lot more.
- You need someone who can keep track of your progress as your fitness level improves.
- The resistance exercise you do during your beginner weeks will be different as you progress. You may need an exercise that focuses more on strength and conditioning.
- Weight training benefits may be countless, but the road going there is tough. A personal trainer can be a source of inspiration and motivation as you lift weights.
4. Combine Aerobic Exercise with Weight-Bearing Exercise
Many people tend to ask whether they should focus on lifting heavy weights or doing cardio or aerobic exercise instead. The truth is you can benefit from doing both.
Aerobic exercise such as water running can improve your cardiovascular endurance. It refers to your heart’s capacity to sustain a cardio activity.
Your heart is also one large muscle tissue with connective tissues holding capillaries. Like any other muscle, you need to exercise it.
What are capillaries? They are the smallest blood vessels in the body. They assist in delivering oxygen to different tissues and collecting wastes.
As it strengthens, you are more capable of lasting longer in any workout. You also need your heart to be strong when weightlifting as it requires you to exert a lot of effort.
Meanwhile, one of the strength training benefits is better cardiovascular health. A 2018 study concluded that when you lift weights for less than an hour per week, it can reduce your risk for cardiovascular events by as much as 70%.
Does lifting weights burn calories? The answer is yes, but usually, you tend to burn more when you’re doing cardio.
According to a Harvard University article, a low-impact step cardio or aerobic exercise can expend 260 calories for 30 minutes. Vigorous weightlifting within the same duration burns only 223.
One of the primary benefits of lifting weights, however, is increased muscle mass, which tends to burn calories when you’re at rest.
5. Use Diet in Building Muscle and Reducing Fat
Can strength training help you lose weight? The answer is yes.
To maximize the benefits of lifting weights, you also need to pay attention to your diet.
Consuming unhealthy foods such as refined sugar and processed foods only offsets the benefits of strength training for weight loss.
Now, a lot of people like to consume protein powders when they lift weights. These products come with amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein that build these muscles.
The problem is they tend to use whey protein, which can do more harm than good.
Instead, consider a plant-based protein powder such as Sunwarrior Warrior Blend. Besides enjoying the benefits of lifting weights, you can also take care of your gut.
Whey protein is not ideal for people with lactose intolerance or dairy allergy. There are many forms of whey protein sold that contains loads of sugar and fillers your body doesn’t need in the first place.
Know the health benefits of organic pea & hemp protein with Thomas DeLauer in this video from Sunwarrior:
The benefits of lifting weights to lose weight and more are possible to achieve, but you need to consider improving your lifestyle. Pair this exercise with the right diet and mindset, and you can build stronger muscles and a healthy heart.
Does lifting weights make you stronger? Let us know in the comments section below!
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on May 16, 2019, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
