14 Benefits of Strength Training, Backed by Science
Medically reviewed by Raynetta Samuels PT, DPT, CLTMedically reviewed by Raynetta Samuels PT, DPT, CLT
Strength training is one of the best types of exercise for improving your overall health. In addition to building strength, it can help improve flexibility, boost metabolism, and improve the health of your organs. Strength training can also help decrease your risk of falls or injury, boost your mood, and improve your overall quality of life.
This article discusses strength training, including types of exercises, equipment, health benefits, and how to get started.
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Related: Strength Training Can Help Lower Your Blood Pressure, Especially If You're Over 50
14 Benefits of Strength Training
There are many benefits of strength training. In addition to getting stronger, you can lose fat, gain muscle mass, boost your mood, and more.
1. Helps You Become Stronger
The most apparent benefit of strength training is stronger muscles. When you first start this type of training, you may notice that your strength improves quickly.
However, even though you are lifting more weight, your muscles are not getting bigger in this phase. Instead, your nervous system becomes more efficient at communicating with your muscles to recruit more muscle fibers during specific movements.
2. Promotes Greater Mobility and Flexibility
Strength training can help improve mobility and flexibility, particularly if you perform functional movements. Strength training exercises, such as squats and overhead presses, translate to daily tasks, such as squatting down to pick up an object from the floor or reaching overhead to place an item on a high shelf.
3. Burns Calories Efficiently
Strength training burns calories while you're exercising, but your body continues to burn extra calories while you're recovering. This physiological process is called postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC).
4. Decreases Abdominal Fat
Strength training helps burn fat in the abdomen and throughout the body. Abdominal fat is a sign that fat is accumulating around your internal organs. This type of fat—visceral fat—increases your risk for serious health conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.
5. Helps You Appear Leaner
Strength training can help you appear leaner by increasing your muscle mass and speeding up your metabolism, helping you burn more fat at rest. However, your diet also plays a significant role in your appearance. To build muscle mass, you must eat more calories than you burn—focused on foods high in protein and carbs.
Other factors, such as age, sex, and genetics, also affect your muscle mass.
Building muscle mass is a slow process. With consistent training and a strict diet, you can expect to gain approximately 0.5–2 pounds of muscle per month.
6. Decreases Risk of Falls
Muscle weakness can lead to balance issues, which increases your risk of falls—especially as you get older. Regularly performing strength training exercises can help reduce this risk.
7. Lowers Risk of Injury
Research has shown that athletes who perform strength exercises as a regular part of their training routine have a lower risk of injury.
8. Creates Stronger Bones
Strength training causes bones to generate more growth cells, making them stronger. This process is called osteogenesis and is specific to the body part exercised; for example, squats increase the strength of bones in the legs.
9. Improves Heart Health
Strength training can improve your heart function. It can also reduce several risk factors for heart disease, such as:
High cholesterol
Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar)
Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Having obesity
10. Improves Brain Health
Researchers have observed improved brain function immediately after a strength training workout and after regularly performing a strength training program for many weeks. This benefit applies across a lifespan, from youth to later adulthood.
Strength training can improve the brain's executive functions, such as attention span, memory, and problem-solving.
11. Helps Balance Blood Sugar Levels
Strength training helps the body maintain healthy blood sugar levels and increases insulin sensitivity. Insulin is the hormone that helps the body convert glucose (sugar) into energy. Chronically high blood sugar levels can lead to type 2 diabetes, which can lead to permanent nerve damage and other health complications.
12. Boosts Your Mood
Strength training can boost your mood. During high-effort exercises, the brain releases "feel good" chemicals called endorphins. Researchers have found that strength training can decrease depressive symptoms in people who have been diagnosed with anxiety or depression.
13. Boosts Self-Esteem
Researchers have shown that strength training can positively affect self-esteem and body image. One study of the impact of resistance training on self-esteem among youth found positive associations between resistance training and overall self-worth, physical self-worth, and perceived physical strength. However, the study authors call for more rigorous research before drawing any definitive conclusions.
14. Promotes a Better Quality of Life
Strength training has been shown to improve overall quality of life, though its impact varies across populations and among those with certain health conditions. One systematic review found that resistance training contributes to improved mental health and pain reduction, improving quality of life.
What Is Strength Training?
Many types of training fall under the umbrella of strength training. Examples include:
Muscular hypertrophy: Training to build muscle mass
Muscular endurance: Training to exercise your muscles for longer periods
Circuit training: Performing a variety of exercises in a specific pattern (called a circuit) typically to target muscles throughout the body in a single workout
Maximum muscular strength: Training to increase the maximum amount of weight you can lift for one repetition of a specific exercise
Explosive power: Training to produce a large amount of muscle force quickly
Agile strength: Training your muscles in an environment in which you have to start and stop quickly and perform movements in multiple directions
Speed strength: Training your muscles to perform movements at a faster pace
People use various types of equipment for strength training:
Free weights
Barbells
Body weight (using the weight of your body as resistance, for example, while doing push-ups)
Body-weight suspension systems
Cable machines
Kettlebells
Resistance bands
Yoga balls
Tips to Get Started With a Strength Training Routine
When starting a strength training routine, it's important to do it correctly to reduce injury risk.
Start With the Basics
Start simple with strength training exercises. Pick a few exercises to begin with, and take some time to get into a routine before adding more. Explore online videos to help you get started at home.
Choose an Appropriate Load and Volume
When beginning a new strength training routine, use light weights, such as small dumbbells. Or, try bodyweight resistance exercises that don't require equipment, such as sit-ups, push-ups, squats, and lunges.
Avoid Overdoing It
When you start strength training, do less than you think you can. You might feel fine during your workout, but that doesn't mean you won't be sore. Muscle soreness can develop 12 to 72 hours after you've exercised—a concept called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
How Often Should You Strength Train?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults perform strength training exercises twice weekly. However, you may benefit from strength training more frequently, especially if you exercise different muscle groups on different days. Make sure to have at least one day of rest between workouts for the same body parts.
Is Strength Training Safe for Everyone?
As with any new exercise program, you should check with a healthcare provider before you start strength training—especially if you have any injuries or medical conditions.
For example, strength training could cause serious injury for someone diagnosed with osteoporosis—a condition that causes weakening of the bones.
If you have an injury or medical condition, a healthcare provider might recommend that you begin strength training under the supervision of a physical therapist who can determine which exercises are safe for you.
If you are healthy but want more direction with your strength training, consider working with a certified personal trainer.
Summary
Strength training offers many benefits, both for the body and the mind. In addition to stronger muscles, it strengthens your bones and heart, helps balance blood sugar levels, and decreases your risk of falls or injuries. It can also boost mood and improve overall quality of life. Check with a healthcare provider before starting a new exercise routine to ensure strength training is safe for you.
Read the original article on Verywell Health.
