Importance of Strengthening Muscles
Today's post is a little friendly reminder: Make sure you incorporate some form of weight resistance training in your daily workout regime!
Most of us think that the best way to get rid of excessive body fat is through the means of cardiovascular training only. While that is true, adding a weight-lifting/resistance training regime to your workouts 2-3 times a week (but not limited to) will provide some GREAT added benefits.
Top 10 reasons to strength your muscles:
1. Healthy Bones - regular weight bearing exercise and strengthening work can prevent osteoporosis.
2. Posture Perfect! - wishful thinking, right? When you target specific muscle groups in your body such as your core muscles, gluts, pecs, traps amongst many other essential muscle groups... you will feel an instant lift & hold to your posture. When you have GREAT posture, you are in an alignment where the stress is properly distributed to the intended muscles and ligaments. This allows our muscles to work the way they are suppose to, in turn decreasing wear and tear. Long term benefits include decreased risk of joint discomfort and degenerative arthritis.
3. Fewer Injuries - as your strengthen your muscles, you are automatically strengthening the connective tissue surrounding. Ultimately, this is also helping you in preventing and protecting against injuries caused by weak ligaments, tendons, and muscles. Strength training strengthens the muscle attachments and increases the density of bones at the sites of muscle origins and insertions. This helps in prevention of injuries. Individuals that strength train can recover and heal faster if injured.
4. Higher Metabolism - It's pretty simple! The human body naturally burns more calories each day to maintain a pound of muscle than it does to maintain a pound of fat. Thus, the more muscle you build, the more calories your body will naturally burn each day at rest. Isn't this AMAZING?
5. Better Sports Performance - Athletes possess EXCELLENT relative body strength (the strength in relation to your body weight)... in order for them to be fast and fierce! This allows athletes to do what they are meant to in their respective sport activity. These athletes train via COMPLETE CONDITIONING. These include physical, technical, tactical and psychological aspects of training to help meet their #1 goal which is to be PHENOMENAL. There are over 600 muscles in the body, and athletes want to effectively contract (shorten in length) these. The process is simple: the stronger the muscles, the more forceful the contractions thus the more effectively the athlete can perform.
6. Faster Rehab - Strength training strengthens the muscle attachments and increases the density of bones at the sites of muscle origins and insertions. This helps in prevention of injuries. Individuals that strength train can recover and heal faster if injured.
7. Improved Balance - As per this great article I came across, (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3885846/) it is noted that as one ages, there is a noticeable decline in overall muscle strength. Risk of falls and sedentary lifestyle can be seen with a loss of lower limbs strength. In this study, over the course of 12 weeks, 50 participants were given leg extension and lower curl exercises. Upon training, results showed significant improvement compared to baseline. The study concluded strength training in lower limb may lead to balance enhancement in neurologically intact older persons.
This is true not only for the geriatric population, but in fact in any age group. The more movement you perform (Cardio/strength training etc.), you are definitely on the path to achieve excellent neurological results from it as well in the form of better muscle control & balance.
8. Minimized Body Fat - Building more muscle means burning more fat! Keeping body fat minimal will add years to your life, and overall enhanced sense of well-being!
9. Prevent ailments associated with aging - touch upon this slightly in #7. As we age, our bodies feel fatigued and not as up for activity as we typically perform in younger ages. However, that can be changed. You do what you are able to do to the best of your ability. The goal is to keep the functionality and motion up and running in your joints! Conditions linked to old age often are a result of not exercising enough (or at all!) and eating poorly. If your joints and muscles feel happy and healthy; and you fuel your body with wholesome nutrition.
10. Last but not least - MORE FUN!!! - you will never ever have a boring work out day! Make it fun! Instead of the plain old running on a treadmill, mix it up with an outdoor run with a few different bootcamp exercises in between; try a new class; find a workout buddy! Remember, you want to keep doing it so make it as fun as possible so it never becomes boring dreadful experience!
In conclusion, every person's health goals are different, as they should be since we are all different. However, the common goal should be making sure you are on the path to be & stay healthy! At Chopra Chiropractic Center, Dr. Chopra will take the time to help you as much as possible with your health goals, and specifically focusing on postural exercises to assure that your spine is free of any misalignments and nerve interference. Call us at 404-201-0281 to set up a complementary consultation today and see how chiropractic care can help meet your health goals!
Last but not least... I hope this checklist is one you use everyday.