The Benefits of Strength Training

By USGSF Staff

Strength training is an important element of fitness and exercise. If you are trying to lose weight then it is essential that you incorporate some muscle building activities into your training. Losing weight is about burning calories. It is about burning fat and one way to do that is to build your muscles. Basically the more muscle you develop the more energy you burn, resulting in greater weight loss success.

Strength training does not have to be a daily grind. There are many classes or exercise programs you can follow that will help with building your muscles. Most gyms have classes like total body fitness or group power lifting. Typically these types of classes use many types of weight training equipment including barbells, hand weights,resistance bands and my favorite....Kettlebells. The typical class lasts for about an hour.

Over all it seems to be women seem to enjoy these types of strength training classes more than men. Men typically enjoy working out the muscle groups by adding bulk. Strength training classes help to shape and tone your muscles into lean mass without the bulk. In addition, since the instructor pushes you along during the class at a very rapid pace, there is a bit of cardiovascular benefit as well. If your goal is to have both strength training as well as muscle endurance, then you should consider a "cross fit" type class that can focus on both of those areas. Keep in mind that those types of classes not only build strength...but they melt away the love handles much faster.

Lets say you do not care for classes there are many exercises that you can do from home using just simple hand weights will do just fine, and there are many strength exercises that require no equipment like the simple pushup. Find a DVD to follow along to help you with your exercise. A good program to follow will help keep you on track, motivated and more likely to do the exercises correctly without injuring yourself.

Many people go to the gym to lift weights. Typical regimens include alternating days of upper body work with lower body work. For example, on Monday and Thursday you might work your upper body, while on Tuesday and Friday you might work your lower body. This gives the muscles time to repair and grow between workouts. The days off are critical in the time your body needs for muscle recovery. During this recovery period is when your muscle structure develops and grows...its your body's way of saying "Hey I need to be read for the next time that physical event happens. - 17273

About the Author:

The USGSF staff teach old world strength training using Russian Kettlebells as a fun new exercise for both strength and fitness