The Benefits of Strength Training

First up, it’s time to bust a myth. A lot of women somehow have a misunderstanding of strength training, that is, it’ll make you look too bulky and muscular, which can be generally considered unattractive aesthetically. The truth is that it just doesn’t work that way. You will never get bulky from lifting heavy weights. Instead, you will get the toned look that you want. That’s because the high estrogen levels and low testosterone levels in women can lead to decreased muscle synthesis. Moreover, women usually eat much smaller meals compared to men, which is another factor that holds back muscle growth. In a nutshell, simply training with heavy weights won’t turn you into a “Muscle Barbie”. Proper strength training can make you look more toned and sexually attractive.
Resistance training, also called strength training or weight training, is a type of physical exercise that uses resistance to build muscles and anaerobic endurance. Strength training can provide significant benefits in improving overall health and physiques.

What Are the Benefits of Strength Training?
- Slow the Aging Process.
People who do not work out on a regular basis reach their maximal muscle strength at 20 to 25 years old and lose an average of 10% of muscle mass every 10 years after that point. Such muscle degeneration becomes more rapid over the age of 60. Aging leads not only to a substantial decline in functional capacity, but also to frustration in everyday life, say, when carrying luggage or going up and down stairs. Another result of the declined muscle strength is that the actions become sluggish — one will walk slower in smaller steps. The only way to increase muscle mass and strength is doing strength training. Those who keep on training will be able to stay fit in their 60s.
2. Increase Muscle and Lose Body Fat
Obesity results from an excessive accumulation of body fat. Each gram of fat contains 9 kilocalories, but the fat tissue does not consume energy. Therefore, the primary cause of obesity and overweight is that the calorie intake remains higher than the calorie expenditure all the time.
Reduced metabolism, physical inactivity, and long-term overeating are the other main reasons to blame. Nevertheless, gaining muscle can help boost metabolism and lose fat. Even if you stay sedentary, each kilogram of muscle consumes 75 to 110 kilocalories a day. For each kilogram of muscle added, the amount of calories burnt is equal to 3 to 5 kilograms of fat cut in a year. And the increased muscle strength can take your workout to another level. That is your body will be still burning fat in the next day even after a training session.
3. Reduce Injury and Pain
As the modern lifestyle becomes increasingly sedentary, both students and office workers have to stress their neck and lower back muscles for extra hours. Insufficient and degraded muscle strength can cause muscle strain and bad postures, and more and more people are suffering from cervical and lumbar conditions. Proper strength training can strengthen the critical parts, improve body postures and increase flexibility.
4. Burn More Calories by Gaining Lean Weight
Strength training consumes more calories than cycling or walking. In addition, since it promotes your muscle and bone growth, energy consumption will continue even if you stop doing exercises, so that your body will be able to generate new muscle tissues. So, why not do some strength training to achieve your fat loss goals?
5. Build up Energy
According to Miriam E. Nelson Ph. D, a health expert and author of best-selling book series, after one year of strength training, the subjects in the research were more energetic than before, and they worked out more actively, increasing their training volume by 27%. As a result, they felt that their bodies were much younger. All of these are the effects achieved through just one year of strength training.
6. Decrease Risk of Osteoporosis by Increasing Bone Density
Many middle-aged and elderly people, especially women, suffer from osteoporosis. Strength training is an essential preventive measure. Strength training continually stimulates the bones, which in turn are strengthened to adapt to the intensity of training over a long period of time. As observed by Dr. Joseph Lane from the Osteoporosis and Metabolic Bone Health Center at HSS, New York, a woman in her 80s increased her bone weight by 10% through one year of strength training.
