In today’s society, many women and men are used to being skinny and lean. For some, this means a low-calorie diet and for others, it means hours at the gym. But what if there was a way to do both of these things in one simple activity?
You can achieve a toned body without going hungry or spending hours in the gym. Strength training is the answer! It helps you lose weight, strengthen your muscles and feel stronger in general. So how does it work? Well, let’s find out.
Greater Muscle Mass
Strength training allows you to increase your muscle mass. Muscle mass has a high metabolic rate, meaning it requires more calories than other tissues in the body. Consequently, having more muscle increases your resting metabolic rate. This means that when you’re just sitting on the couch or sleeping at night, your body is burning more calories than usual.
If you’re training your upper body, you can increase weight every week with adjustable dumbbells and thus increase your strength and muscle mass. Thus, it is very important to remain consistent and to increase the weight so that you can see progress over time.
Better Metabolism
Another benefit of strength training is that it can increase your basal metabolic rate. Your metabolism refers to the rate at which you burn calories, so a higher metabolism means more calories burned throughout the day. The more muscle you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate (RMR) – meaning you’ll burn more calories throughout the day and night without having to do anything extra to maintain it. And if you’re looking to lose weight? Lifting heavier will help you drop pounds faster than lifting lighter weights because it burns more fat for energy during workouts than lighter weights do.
Increased Endurance and Stamina
The final benefit of strength training is improved endurance and stamina. When you train your muscles by increasing your muscle mass, this allows for better oxygen distribution throughout the body because there is greater blood flow in those areas. This means that when you’re exercising regularly, such as running on a treadmill or biking up a hill, you’ll be able to do it for longer periods with less effort. Having better oxygen distribution may also help prevent fatigue during aerobic activities such as hiking or long-distance running.
More Energy and Better Sleep!
Strength training can give you more energy and help you sleep better. Your muscles release hormones to your body that make your feel more awake and energized. These effects can even last for a few hours after completing a workout and it’s especially common in women who have just completed their first resistance training workouts. Strength training also helps you to sleep better at night because the body releases endorphins as a response to weight-lifting which makes you feel happy during workouts and relaxed afterward. This means that once you’re done with your workout routine, you’ll be able to fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer compared to those nights when you skip the gym because of lethargy or insomnia.
Energy Throughout The Entire Day
Strength training can help you have more energy throughout the day. There are three main reasons to explain this. One, your muscles require more energy so they’ll burn more calories each day (thus increasing your RMR). Two, when you train with maximal or near-maximal weights (heavyweight), then it results in what is known as “post-exercise oxygen consumption.”
This means that after a strenuous workout, your body will continue to consume oxygen at a higher rate than usual for up to 24 hours post-workout! This has the effect of increasing your overall daily calorie expenditure because even while sleeping or watching TV, you’re burning more calories than usual.
A Leaner Body
Lastly, strength training can result in a leaner body. When you gain muscle mass, the fat around your muscles shrinks while the muscles get larger. Strength training can help you lose weight and improve fitness while also gaining some lean muscle mass. This means that when people say “I want to lose weight,” they sometimes mean “I want to lose fat.”
But if you want to lose fat, you need to increase your RMR (resting metabolic rate). The higher your RMR is then the more calories you burn throughout the day whether or not you’re exercising at all!
Increased Confidence
Lastly, you may feel more confident about yourself after beginning a strength training workout routine! This is because your clothes will fit you better and you’ll look leaner if you train muscles instead of burning fat. But the best part about strength training? You don’t have to be skinny or super-fit to start lifting weights.
If you’re overweight, don’t worry about it – just grab some dumbbells and go through 30 minutes of circuit training three times per week. And even if you’re not someone who enjoys exercise very much, lifting weights can help motivate you because seeing results gives them that extra push they may need to stay consistent with their workouts!
Doing It Right
Now that we know why strength training works so well, let’s learn how to strength train! There are many ways to strength train but the most basic is to use what is called “free weights.” Free weights are things like dumbbells, barbells, and kettlebells.
You can also use special machines that mimic these movements in the gym or even at home (for example, using a resistance band with ankle weights attached to it.) What works best for beginners is to pick one free weight/machine exercise each day they want to strength train so that their muscles don’t get too sore or overworked.
Do three sets of 6-12 reps for each exercise. If you’re not sure about how many reps are right for you, ask your gym instructor when you go in. Finally, make sure to do endurance training on different days than strength training!
Strength training is one of the best ways to lose weight, feel more energetic and increase your strength without spending hours at the gym. Make sure to eat at least 1,200 calories per day and try to work out every other day. If you’re interested in learning more about how strength training works, go online or ask for help from your gym instructor or trainer!