Strength training is undergoing a bit of a renaissance at the moment. Gone are the days when being fit meant spending hours on the treadmill and only bodybuilders picked up the weight. Now, the benefits of weight training are becoming apparent, with experts now recommending it for weight loss and conditioning. Weight training (or resistance training) has a number of benefits.
What Is Strength Training?
Strength training, also known as resistance, body weight, or weight training, is the use of weight to improve muscle strength and body composition. It can use bodyweights, kettlebells, or traditional lifted weights.
It Improves Overall Fitness
Regular strength training is great for overall fitness and energy levels. A better sense of wellbeing is great for mood and sleep, so don’t overlook this amazing benefit of strength training.
Protects Your Bone Health
Once you reach your 30s, you begin to lose muscle mass and bone density. Strength training is particularly beneficial for slowing or even (in some cases) improving muscle mass and bone density. Regular strength sessions and a bone health supplement are particularly beneficial to women.
Helps You Lose Weight
Many people think that the way to lose weight is through hours of high-intensity cardio. This is not the case when it comes to weight loss. Cardio burns more calories while you are doing it, but strength training can increase your metabolism for hours after you have exercised, increasing your overall calorie burn. Additionally, muscle requires more calories per day to maintain itself.
The more lean muscle you build, the more calories you will burn, without needing to do anything. Studies have shown that people who incorporate strength training into their exercise program, lose more weight than those who only do cardio. Maintaining a healthy weight is vital in reducing your risks for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and many other conditions.
It Has Cardiovascular Benefits Too
Much like aerobic exercise, strength training also has cardiovascular benefits too. Overall, it helps to improve blood pressure. Certain exercise programs, such as kettlebells, also have a cardiovascular element to them too.
Helps To Manage Chronic Conditions
Strength training has been shown to assist (alongside other treatments) the management of conditions such as anxiety and low mood, arthritis, and type 2 diabetes.
It’s Low Impact
Training in this way is perfect for those people who cannot perform high-impact exercises. You can adjust the movements to ensure that you are not stressing any areas of weakness. But you will still get a lot of the cardiovascular benefits of exercise.
Conclusion
Strength training should be an important part of anyone’s exercise program. For a long time, women have been reluctant to incorporate it as they feared ‘bulking up’, but this is a misconception. In fact, this type of training is ideal for women, who are most likely to suffer from conditions such as osteoporosis in later life. If you’re unsure how to get started with strength training, then there are lots of resources online that can show you how to safely start training.
Sophie Okolo, MPH 
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