Strength training incorporates a variety of resistance-based and compound exercises. These types of exercises thoroughly engage your muscles, helping to build muscle mass and increase body strength. In general, exercise is essential to maintaining good health. Strength training additionally provides multiple benefits aside from increasing muscle mass.
Here is a more detailed look at the benefits of strength training for building muscle:
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1. Great for your overall health
In general, exercise is of great benefit to your overall well-being. Regular exercise can help lower your risk of certain diseases and promote good cardiovascular and respiratory health. Strength training is a category of exercise that is also advantageous to your overall health as it helps to build muscle mass and keep the body strong.
Strength training is not only beneficial to your muscles, but your bones as well as it helps to maintain a healthy bone density which can in turn lessen the risk of osteoporosis later in life. Additionally, our body can lose muscle mass as we age, so strength training is great to lessen the acceleration of this and sustain our body strength. Strength training is effective for those who want to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight as well.
2. Boosts energy
Another one of the benefits of strength training and exercise in general, is that it helps to boost your energy. Physical activity gets our blood flowing and triggers the delivery of endorphins, natural hormones in the body that are released in response to activities that require energy. Studies have shown that after exercising, individuals with various medical conditions and illnesses have also felt more energized.
To add to this, since exercise supports good cardiovascular health, this can encourage better stamina and in turn help you feel more energized throughout the day as you complete your daily activities.
3. Improves your mood
When your energy is right, so is your mood. The natural hormones (endorphins) that are released during various strength training exercises produce a feeling of exhilaration upon interaction with receptors of the brain. This factor has also led to studies showing regular exercise has benefited those with depression.
4. Efficiently builds muscle mass
Of the different forms of exercise, strength training is highly efficient in building muscle mass. Strength training focuses on resistance-based exercises that intensively utilize and challenge your muscles to gradually increase growth. Cardio exercise can help to build lean muscle mass as well. However, depending on the intensity of certain cardio exercises, it can cause one to lose muscle mass and weight which can be counteractive for those trying to gain mass.
5. Various targeted strength exercises to choose from
Another benefit of strength training for building muscle is the variety of targeted strength exercises you can do. If you are aiming for bigger arms, there are targeted strength arm exercises such as dumbbell curls, triceps dips, push-ups, etc. that can all help to effectively build muscle mass.
If you want bigger legs, squats and leg raises are just two examples of targeted strength exercises beneficial to increasing muscle mass. The various targeted strength exercises apart of strength training allows one to tone and shape the body for their desired look.
6. Good for those who want to gain weight
If you seek to gain weight, strength training can be very helpful. In addition to consuming a caloric surplus (eating more calories than you burn off) exercise is going to further help increase your overall body weight. Since strength training builds muscle mass, the added mass will increase your overall body weight and allow you to also tone and shape where the gained weight goes.
What is your favorite strength exercise to do?
References:
1“The Top 10 Benefits Of Regular Exercise”. Healthline, 2018, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-benefits-of-exercise. Accessed 20 Dec 2018.
2 2018, https://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness/workouts/boost-your-energy-level-with-exercise.aspx. Accessed 20 Dec 2018.
3 “Exercise and Depression: Endorphins, Reducing Stress, and More.” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/depression/guide/exercise-depression#1.