“The basic principle is to apply a load and overload the muscle so it needs to adapt and get stronger,” explains Neal Pire, CSCS, an ACSM-certified exercise physiologist and account manager at The Gym at Englewood in Englewood, New Jersey. “For some people, the phrase strength training is intimidating, but it’s enhancing your ability to move safely and effectively in your life,” she says. For example: Your ability to lift something and put it on a shelf, carry your groceries in the door, bend down and pick something up, or get up after you’ve fallen down. “Getting up off the floor requires you to recruit muscles in your upper body, abs, legs, and glutes,” Braganza says. RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About How to Be Physically Fit And you need to rest in between strength training workouts. RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About Rest and Recovery “You don’t get better during workouts; you get better in between,” says Pire. “You should give yourself a day in between strength training to allow your body to recover and rebuild the muscle tissue from the stimulus of lifting or resistance.”
1. Strength Training Makes You Stronger and Fitter
This benefit is the obvious one, but it shouldn’t be overlooked. “Muscle strength is crucial in making it easier to do the things you need to do on a day-to-day basis,” Pire says — especially as we get older and naturally start to lose muscle.
Isometric resistance involves contracting your muscles against a nonmoving object, such as against the floor in a pushup.Isotonic strength training involves contracting your muscles through a range of motion, as in weight lifting.
2. Strength Training Protects Bone Health and Muscle Mass
Likewise, the HHS physical activity guidelines note that, for everyone, muscle strengthening activities help preserve or increase muscle mass, strength, and power, which are essential for bone, joint, and muscle health as we age.
3. Strength Training Helps Your Body Burn Calories Efficiently
All exercise helps boost your metabolism (the rate your resting body burns calories throughout the day). But when you do strength, weight, or resistance training, your body demands more energy based on how much energy you’re exerting (meaning the tougher you’re working, the more energy is demanded). So you can amplify this effect depending on the amount of energy you put into the workout. That means more calories burned during the workout, and more calories burned after the workout, too, while your body is recovering to a resting state.
4. Strength Training Helps Keep the Weight off for Good
Because strength training boosts excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, it can also help exercisers boost weight loss more than if you were to just do aerobic exercise alone, Pire says. “[Resistance or strengthening exercise] keeps your metabolism active after exercising, much longer than after an aerobic workout.” That’s because lean tissue in general is more active tissue. “If you have more muscle mass, you’ll burn more calories — even in your sleep, than if you didn’t have that extra lean body mass,” he adds.
5. Strength Training Helps You Develop Better Body Mechanics
“Balance is dependent on the strength of the muscles that keep you on your feet,” Pire notes. “The stronger those muscles, the better your balance.”
6. Strength Training Can Help With Chronic Disease Management
7. Strength Training Boosts Energy Levels and Improves Your Mood
8. Strength Training Has Cardiovascular Health Benefits
RELATED: Strength Training Found to Lower Heart Disease and Diabetes Risk, Independent of How Much Cardio You Do
Braganza agrees, adding that continuing to challenge yourself by adding free weights or using a weight machine at the gym or altering the tempo you perform the exercises at will help mix things up to create the adaptations your body needs to build strength. RELATED: Bodyweight Exercises for Every Part of Your Body If you have any health issues, ask your doctor what type of strength training is best to meet your needs and abilities. You can also work with a fitness expert to design a strength training program that will be safe and effective for you. Even hiring a trainer for one to three sessions can be essential in helping you learn the correct form for strength exercises and help you create a well-rounded program right for your body, goals, and other health risks, says Braganza. Additional reporting by Jill Waldbieser, Nicol Natale, and Jessica Migala.
