Weight training brings with it many health benefits, from improving strength, endurance and body mechanics to preventing any developing chronic conditions.
Below, our experts have identified 5 key health benefits of weight training:
Improves strength, endurance and creates better body mechanics
Strength training can build muscle mass, protect your joints from injury, and improve coordination, balance and posture.
Building up muscle mass improves your health by encouraging better overall balance, especially through strengthening your lower body. This can be very beneficial as you get older, as good balance prevents falling, and therefore injury.
Did you know: as you get older your muscles start to naturally lose body mass?
By contracting muscles against resistance force with weight training equipment can help you strengthen and tone your muscles and help protect them from deterioration in the future. You can do this through a range of strength equipment, including free weights or with benches and racks.
Protects bone health
As well as increasing muscle mass, weight training can also increase bone density. Much like increased muscle mass, increased bone density is beneficial as you get older. Stressing your bones can increase bone density, thereby reducing the risk of osteoporosis.
This is highlighted by Michigan Medicine: “All people begin losing bone mass after they reach peak bone density at about 30 years of age. The thicker your bones are at about age 30, the longer it takes to develop low bone density or osteoporosis.”
Therefore, it is vital to ensure that your bones stay challenged.
To improve bone density, structure and strength, we would suggest that you do 30-minute workouts, twice a week, of high intensity resistance and impact training.
Helps prevent health conditions, improves immune system and regulates insulin
Weight training can greatly improve your health by reducing signs and symptoms of chronic health conditions such as arthritis, back pain, obesity, heart disease and depression.
On top of this, strength training burns through glucose and helps manage blood sugar levels, which is good for people with type 2 diabetes. Muscle-strengthening also helps improve blood pressure, reduce hypertensions, and lower the risk of heart disease.
The government recommends doing strength activities that work all of the major muscles (e.g. legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms) twice a week. We would advise using multi-stations for full body strength workouts to ensure you’re targeting these key muscle areas.
The government guidelines for strength workouts also suggest completing either, 150 minutes of moderately intense activity, or 75 minutes of vigorous intense activity.
Visit the NHS website for the government’s full physical activity guidelines.
Boosts metabolism and encourages weight loss
When taking part in any physical activity we burn calories. Although the number of calories burned during cardio workouts is higher, we still burn calories when strength training.
However, the benefits of strength training are much greater when considering metabolism. This type of exercise can help increase resting metabolism, and keeps your metabolism working longer after exercise in comparison to cardio workouts.
Improves sleep, mood and energy levels
Finally, exercise increases the level of endorphins our body releases, improving energy levels, which can positively impact your mood and improve sleep.
Parkway Fitness
Do you want to improve your health through weight training? If so, we have a variety of weight training equipment available, both new and used gym equipment.
For more information about our products, speak to our team on 01527 529 191 or follow us on social media:
Facebook: Parkway Fitness Ltd
Twitter: @ParkwayFitness
Instagram: @ParkwayFitnessUK