How Strength Training Can Improve Your Health

Any beginner workout guide can teach you how to build muscles easily, even if you don’t have a specific muscle-building plan in place. What becomes more challenging to master is some of the basics of eating for lean gains and most importantly, the fundamentals of strength training.

Anyone serious enough can commit to a muscle-building workout plan, but there are advanced strength training techniques that have proven effective for strength-training professionals that someone who wants to excel in this endeavor should take a page out of.

Although used interchangeably, muscular strength and building mass depend on different training protocols for enhancement and understanding the difference can help you determine the type of workout plan that will best address your intended outcomes.

For example, did you know that due to differences in muscle physiology and training programs, large-muscled bodybuilders are more likely to be less strong than smaller-muscle strength athletes?

The American Council on Exercise defines muscular fitness as muscle volume and appearance and strength training as the ability to sustain a specific muscular activity over time.

An effective strength training program is multi-faceted as it incorporates up to five sets, of one to eight repetitions, using the heaviest load equaling 80 to 100 percent of your one-rep maximum you can lift successfully, for a given exercise, once. Sounds intimidating right?

Why Strength Training?

As daunting as strength training sounds especially for beginners, it has proven benefits across the board, particularly when paired with cardio. For starters, the right workout routine for men provides a higher calorie burn including but certainly not limited to the following benefits:

  • Boost better endurance.
  • Increases the body’s metabolic rate.
  • Increases bone mineral density and joint strength consequently, reduces the risk of injury during workouts.
  • It can slow down even reverse various age-related physical function.
  • Through decreasing visceral fat, strength training can help prevent or manage type II diabetes, cardiovascular issues, obesity, blood pressure, cholesterol, chronic pain, etc.
  • Strength training can lead to significant improvements in cognitive abilities even reverse aging factors.

Best Ways to Gain Strength

Generally, there are five basic strength training beginner workout movements that you should master first before you start using additional loads like dumbbells. Learning these maneuvers will not only decrease the risk of injury, but it will help you when it comes to lifting heavier weights further down your strength training workouts.

While there are many variations of each of the five primary movements, the main patterns include bodyweight squat, glute bridges, push and pull-ups, inverted rows, and core work planks.

1. Squats

When it comes to the most effective workout for strength training, nailing a proper squat goes a long way because it is a compound, full body exercise that strengthens the bones, ligaments, and tendons and also trains the thighs, hips and buttocks, quads, and hamstrings.

Provided you listen to your body in case of any pain and maintain proper form when performing a squat, you can improve both your upper and lower body strength including your leg muscles.

When performed correctly, squats are the most time-efficient ways to burn more calories, and they can also help create an anabolic environment, which promotes body-wide muscle building. They also are phenomenal for increasing leg strength and joint flexibility, which in turn, enables you to maintain mobility, balance, and range of motion.

2. Push-ups

There are many push-ups variations, but if you are starting on a beginner workout program, perhaps the easiest one to master is the bent knee position. Push-ups are the go-to strength-training exercises as they yield more toned muscles and increased endurance because they activate and stretch nearly every major muscle group in the body as you engage in this exercise.

If you can hack more than 100 push-ups a day and make it part of your daily routine today, you can quickly build strength, upper body definition, a strong core, and create balance and stability.

In order to find the best variations for your body, it’s advisable to focus on a technique or form that will help you work on your overall upper body strength, and once you are comfortable enough, you can give your body the challenge it needs by increasing your repetitions, sets, and time between sets.

3. Planks

We all have a love-hate relationship with planks because if you can’t hold the plank position for more than three excruciating minutes, then pack up and go home. A plank’s primary role is to provide stability for the lower back, generate power through your arms and legs, build the endurance of core muscles, and provide a robust, stable platform for your torso and hips.

So, go on, let’s see you attempt a five-minute plank.

4. Pull-ups

To say pull-ups are challenging and one of the more respected workouts you can master is an understatement. They are the most effective upper body exercises for muscle growth and strength as they bring focus to your back muscles, the laterals, the forearm muscles, and your core.

For a beginner workout routine for men, try to perform pull-ups continuously for about 20-30 minutes to help increase your heart rate, grow arm, back, and abdominal strength, boost your metabolism, even prevent muscular imbalances.

5. Row

Whether you are using machine cable row, body weights, or bent over row, this type of exercise is especially ideal as a beginner workout for strength training because it’s a relatively low impact full body workout and easy for all ages and fitness levels.

Rowing targets several major muscle groups thus making it an ideal aerobic exercise for increasing stamina, toning and building muscles, for weight loss, even helps improve your mood and sleep quality.

Takeaways

Building physical strength is vital because it enhances flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and cardiovascular endurance. If you want to make consistent gains throughout your strength training program make sure that you are eating right, rest, and most importantly, have fun with it.


Diego RicaurteAuthor Bio: Diego Ricaurte is a NASM certified personal trainer. He has been practicing Floyd Mayweather style jump rope for a few years now. He is a co-founder and the head trainer at Myworkouts.io – the WebMD of fitness.