3 Health Benefits Of Strength Training

Strength training uses resistance to contract your muscles, which in turn helps to increase your muscular endurance, build strength, and help your muscles to grow. There are a variety of health benefits gained from strength training that are both physical and mental. Three great benefits of strength training will be discussed here. 

You Gain Lean Muscle 

One excellent health benefit of strength training is the fact that it can help you to gain lean muscle. Any form of exercise that gets your heart rate up will help you to burn calories, which in turn helps you to burn fat. However, when you are doing strength training, you are also building muscle at the same time. By lifting weights, or even using your own body weight, you are strengthening and building your muscles through different exercises, such as push-ups, pull-ups, squats, lunges, etc. The heavier the weight, the more likely hypertrophy, or growth of the muscle will occur. However, keep in mind that a big part of building lean muscle is diet, so make sure that you are eating enough protein. 

You Burn More Calories Throughout The Day 

When you are strength training, you are essentially tearing your muscle fibers. It is this tearing that causes your muscle fibers to grow and become larger and more defined. However, because your muscle fibers are in fact being torn, they have to be repaired. In order to do this, your body must use calories to repair these tears. Since this can take quite some time, depending on how large the muscle is and how many muscle groups you worked, you could essentially be burning extra calories throughout the entire day. Since burning calories helps to burn fat, this is a win-win situation for you. 

You Can Relieve Mental Stress

Another health benefit that is gained from strength training is actually not physical at all but is instead mental. Lifting weights, or any form of strength training, is an excellent way to relieve some of the mental stress that you have. You can clear your mind when you are strength training and leave your worries aside, at least for a little bit. For some people, strength training almost has medicinal benefits for them when it comes to stress, anxiety, or even depression, because of the endorphins it releases and how good it makes them feel. 

Strength training has some excellent health benefits, including gaining lean muscle, burning more calories throughout the day, and relieving mental stress. 


Share