Strength exercises are very important for building your muscles. Strength training goes a long way in terms of supporting bone health, making aerobic exercise more productive, preventing injuries, and healthy ageing. Strength training (or weight/resistance training) is physical exercise designed to improve muscular fitness by exercising a muscle group against external resistance, including free-weights, resistance bands, weight machines, or your own body weight.
Remember that strength training is not just about body builders lifting weights in a gym. Regular strength or resistance training also helps prevent the natural loss of lean muscle mass that comes with ageing.
And you need to rest in between strength-training workouts.
There are two different meanings of strength exercises:
Isometric: involves contracting your muscles without dumbbells or barbells, such as a push-up, plank, abdominal crunches, tricep dips etc.
Isotonic: involves contracting your muscles through a range of motion as in weight lifting with dumbbells, kettlebells, resistance bands or barbells.
Here are the benefits of strength exercises:
· It makes you stronger and fitter
· Strength training helps protect bone health and muscle mass.
· It helps to keep the weight off for good
· Boosts your metabolism
· Improves your mood and energy levels
· Builds your own strength
· Improved shape and body confidence
· It burns more calories after a cardio workout
· Chronic disease management
If you add strength training with a cardio, cycling, jogging, aerobics or HIIT, then you will burn more calories, your body will change and feel fitter with good nutrition.
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