Why you MUST Strength Train!

Strength Training has been something many of us associate with body builders and professional athletes. Because of that, when most of us start working out we make the mistake of starting with and sticking to the cardio machines. We feel intimidated by the thought of lifting heavy weight and are often worried if our technique is even correct. That is why we naturally gravitate to the simple cardio machines. While they may give us a good sweat, they don’t go very far when it comes to training our bodies to perform functional movements, build muscle, and shed fat. 

When you incorporate simple cardio workouts, your body eventually adapts to the new daily routine and thus burns fewer and fewer calories on a daily basis. On the other hand, strength training causes our body to adapt not by making the workout more energy efficient but by increasing our muscle mass. By pushing our body to lift more and more weight, our muscles are forced to grow through a process known as progressive overload. While this is still being studied, we know that how much muscle mass we can gain naturally is based on factors such as our bone structure and testosterone and estrogen levels. One good analogy is thinking of your bones as a coat rack, and your muscles as the coats. A bigger and stronger coat rack can hang more heavy coats. The same is true with your muscles and bones. However most of us do not have anywhere near the amount of muscle mass we are capable of having.

So why is it so important to build muscle? When our muscle mass increases so does our basal metabolic rate. What that means is that we have more muscle we literally burn more calories in our sleep or from doing just about any day to day activity. Because of that, missing a couple of strength training workouts will not slow down our fat loss progress as much as missing a couple of steady state cardio workouts would. The fat burning effects of strength training are based on burning more calories at rest rather than during the workout itself. To keep it simple, cardio workouts burn more calories, but strength training boosts your metabolism.

The next big concern most have about lifting weights is that it is dangerous. However, those of us who think that way don’t realize that weight training is one of the safest workouts there is! It is safer than even jogging. So that treadmill you are on almost every day is actually much more dangerous than a strength training routine. On top of that, as you add muscle mass to your frame your joints become more resistant to injury. Strength training is quite literally a form of injury prevention!

One final push back we commonly hear is “but I am too old or too young to strength train!” No you are not! The fact of the matter is that it is never too early or too late to take advantage of a solid strength training routine. It is vital in helping youth develop their muscles as they grow. Just as with adults, kids and teens are less likely to get hurt lifting weights than from playing almost any recreational sport, provided they are utilizing proper technique. Seniors who strength train see their energy levels go up, their joint pain decrease, and most importantly are able to use that strength to stay independent much later into their golden years. If you can properly squat and dead lift even a lighter amount of weight, other tasks like climbing stairs or gardening feel like a piece of cake!