Due to the growing body of evidence supporting its many benefits, strength training has become a fundamental part of most exercise programmes, but you may be wondering how it can benefit your life.
Head of Education and Principal Coach, Mark Roper, shares the 5 top benefits of strength training.
1. Increased Strength and Muscular Endurance
Increasing your body’s overall strength and endurance levels will have a profound effect on your day-to-day life. For example, the ability to lift and carry your child, pick up something heavy, carry your shopping and general manual tasks will all feel significantly easier once you are stronger. The increased muscular endurance levels will also help fight the feeling of fatigue when performing physical tasks.
2. Improve Flexibility and Decrease Injury Risk
The general consensus with weight training is that it will inhibit or decrease flexibility. However, if performed correctly it will actually do the opposite. The key thing is to make sure you are taking the muscles and joints you are training in that particular exercise through their full range of motion. Having a training programme that includes sufficient exercises promoting full range of motion will help to maintain the health and integrity of your joints long term.
3. Decrease Osteoporosis Risk
Adding strength training into your weekly routine is one of the best ways to increase both the strength and density of your bones to help limit the chances of developing osteoporosis. The specific stimulus of weight training will also strengthen those all-important connective tissues in the body such as the ligaments and tendons as well as the muscles. A well-designed training programme will also help improve postural alignment and common postural issues.
4. Boost Sporting Performance
If you partake in any form of sporting activity then strength training will improve your performance. Whether you cycle, run, swim or play a team sport then becoming stronger will have an impact on all of your activities by increasing power output and muscular endurance. Add that to the decreased risk of injury and improved postural alignment and you should without question see an increase in your sporting performance.
5. Get Leaner and Healthier Quicker
Another huge benefit to strength training is the ability to easily add lean muscle mass to the body. The level of muscle tissue in the body has a direct correlation to our metabolism and how many calories we burn at rest. The more muscle we have the higher our basal metabolic rate, which allows us to be more efficient at using both stored fat and carbohydrates (glycogen) as sources of fuel within the body. This is known as metabolic flexibility and in my opinion the key to generating long-standing fat loss and health results.
Contact us for guidance on how to best incorporate strength training into your programme.
Written by Mark Roper, Head of Education and Principal Coach.