The Benefits of Strength Training

When you think of strength training, you may have images of heavy weights and muscle shirts pop up in your head. Weight training has often been associated with getting big muscles and bulking up – but in reality, it’s so much more than that. Strength training is an optimal way to get into shape, get stronger and build endurance. Take a look at some of the benefits below:

· Get Strong – This is an obvious one, but an important one! You will get stronger when you start strength training and that’s definitely a bonus for carrying all those heavy groceries from the car.

· Burn Calories – People often think cardio is the best way to burn calories because you burn so many during your session. But once you stop spinning, you stop burning calories. However, when you are strength training, you are increasing your metabolic rate and that allows you to burn more calories while you’re resting and watching Netflix.

· Healthy Heart – It’s not just what’s on the outside that counts. Studies have shown that regular strength training can decrease blood pressure, lower cholesterol and improve circulation.

· Target the Pooch – If you’re looking to lose belly fat, you should switch the treadmill for deadlifts. Research has found that strength training is the best way to target abdominal fat – and when you’re building more muscle and losing fat, you’ll look leaner.

· Perk Up Your Posture – If you’re frequently hunched over at a desk and concerned about your posture, strength training can help. If you target the muscles in your back and shoulders, you can build up muscle and supporting tissue to help improve your posture.

Find the Method that Works Best for You

There isn’t one singular way to incorporate strength training into your workout. At the end of the day, strength training is any physical movement where you use your body weight or equipment to increase muscle, strength and endurance.

A few types of strength training are broken down into the categories below:

Muscular hypertrophy. This is what most people think of when they think of strength training. It’s also known as muscle building and uses moderate-to-heavy weights to stimulate muscle growth.

Muscular endurance. This is when you use your muscle or group of muscles to perform repetitive contractions against a force for an extended period of time. Training for muscular endurance usually involves high reps using light weights or body weight.

Circuit training. This is full-body conditioning that will have you cycling through various exercises with little to no rest between them.

Maximum muscular strength. As opposed to muscular endurance, this type of exercise focuses on heavy weights and low reps (usually 2–6) to improve strength. Explosive power. This training combines power and speed to improve your power output. It’s usually employed among trained athletes to improve their ability to perform explosive movements in their sport.

Not sure where to start? Book a session on the House and have a trainer guide you through the process and build a custom plan to meet your goals. Learn more here: https://houseoftrainers.ca/training