8 Surprising Benefits of Strength Training

Why Strength Training Should be Apart of Your Weekly Routine (especially if you're older than 30)

We all know exercise is "good for us", but not all exercise is created EQUAL. Some forms of exercise are great for our mood, endurance, or balance, while other forms are helpful for speed, mobility, or building muscle. 

So which form of exercise will yield the most benefits in the least amount of time?

💪 Strength Training.

While it's true that building lean muscle improves body composition, weight lifting has numerous long-term health benefits not visible at first glance -- benefits you WILL WANT in your life after reading this.

And if you're older than 30, watch out! It's even MORE imperative that you do some sort of resistance training 3x weekly. Why?

Because once you turn 30, your body naturally begins to lose muscle mass and only accelerates as you age.

8 Surprising Benefits of Strength Training

The following resistance training benefits are from research studies reported in How to Make Disease Disappear, by Dr. Rangan Chatterjee. His book focuses on four main pillars of health that can transform your life through simple, practical habits. ✨

1. Reduced inflammation: Every single muscle contraction you make releases a variety of chemical messengers called cytokines, one of which plays a critical role in switching off inflammation in the body. Since long-term inflammation is a key driver of almost every single disease it’s really important to manage it.

2. Better insulin sensitivity: Increased muscle mass means more insulin receptors, which means excess insulin is less likely to be stored as fat because it has room to be stored in your muscles. This is one reason why strong people can get away with eating more carbs or junk food without gaining weight.

3. Boosts metabolic rate: The more muscle you have the more calories your body burns at REST. This is a second reason why people with higher lean muscle mass can eat more food and not seem to "show it".

4. Improved brain health, mental clarity, and memory

5. Improved hormonal profile

6. Reduced risk for osteoporosis because weight-baring exercise increases bone density

7. Reduction in stress and anxiety

8. Reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke

Guidelines to Get the Best Results From Your Workouts

● Incorporate HIIT drills (High-intensity interval training)

● Work large muscle groups (legs, back, buttocks)

● Incorporate weights: Use heavy enough weights so that when you’re doing multiple reps, the last reps are hard. You don't want the reps to be easy, or you won't build muscle.

● Challenge yourself: Go until your muscles are shaking and you feel like you can’t lift one more rep. Jump 2 more times beyond what you think you can, and hold that squat or plank 3 more seconds than you want to.

● Rest in-between lifting days: Your muscles need time to recover after a hard workout. It's actually during the rest phase that your muscles rebuild themselves. Do some yoga, walking, or low-intensity cycling on recovery days.

● Slow is better (and harder): If you lift weights quickly or do crunches as fast as you can, momentum takes over (making it easier) and your form tends to get sloppy (inviting injuries).

Free or Low-Cost Online Workouts

Don't have a gym membership or want to pay for a personal trainer? No problem! Check out these free or low-cost online options that will help increase your lean muscle mass and get you in shape. You just have to make the commitment to show up 3 - 4 times a week!

● Fitness Blender: Choose your free workout video based on duration, fitness level, type of workout, equipment, and what body area you want to target. Perfect for all ages and fitness levels.

● Get Healthy U: They have several short 10 to 20 minutes workouts, with and without weights. They also have workouts for beginners, new moms, and people who travel.

● HASfit (Heart and Soul Fitness): A top 10 YouTube Channel, HASfit offers a variety of free workouts and programs for all fitness levels.

● Heather Robertson: Her YouTube videos focus on strength training and they range in length and intensity depending on your fitness level.

● Beach Body on Demand: For a low annual fee, get access to hundreds of workout programs designed for different levels and styles of training. They have just about every type of fitness program imaginable, including HIIT, strength training, heavy weight lifting, Pilates, yoga, kickboxing, dance, barre, running, and more!

Do you know the BEST types of movement to do after an adjustment to help SOLIDIFY CHANGES being made to your nervous system? Check out this post to learn more and help your body heal faster!

We hope you've learned something new today or been inspired to add weight training to your weekly schedule. With so many free options that require as little as 20 minutes of your time - you CAN do this! 👊🏻

It may not be easy, but it will always be WORTH IT!

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