The benefits of resistance training
- Improves life and sport performance.
- Increases muscle mass.
- Decreases body fat.
- Increases Metabolism and lowers risk of metabolic disease.
- Prevents injuries and aids in pain management
- Improves bone mineral density
What is resistance training?
Resistance training includes objects that provide an external load for the body like barbells, dumbbells, resistance machines and kettlebells.
There are many styles of resistance training like Olympic Weightlifting, Powerlifting, Bodybuilding or training for health and body composition. It is most likely the one that would suit you best is the one you are most likely to do.
All of the above mentioned styles of training have their merits and this will be discussed in future.
From my own experience resistance training has a bad rap. Some of the things I have heard personally are I don’t want to bulk up, I don’t want big muscles, lifting is for men, also worryingly athletes have told me weights are for bodybuilders and resistance training will slow them down.
These people are missing out on some of the most beneficial activities out there for health and fitness.
Rep ranges for Neuromuscular Strength, Hypertrophy muscle building and muscular endurance.
Age related performance reductions
Inactive adults can lose 3-8% of muscle mass per decade past 30 years of age.
When adults reach 50 muscle mass can decrease by 5-10% per decade.
With this comes an increased body fat percentage and reduction in metabolic rate (how your body uses energy) and diseases associated with reduced metabolism like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Wescott, 2012).
Benefits of resistance training
Resistance training can help individuals avoid the above-mentioned age-related decreases in performance and health, research has shown that following a resistance training program for 10 weeks can increase metabolic function by 7%, decrease fat mass by 1.8kg and increase lean mass by 1.8kg.
Resistance training can offset age related loss of muscle mass, help with the prevention of osteoporosis, maintain or increase muscle mass and decrease body fat
Resilience
Resistance training is excellent for helping with the bodies resilience to injury and management of ailments. Resistance training has been shown to aid in arthritis pain management, as well as increase bone mineral density by 1-3% (Wescott, 2012), Deadlifts in conjunction with other exercises have been shown to be effective in prevention and management of lower back pain, (Fischer, Calley & Hollman, 2021).
Aiding the bodies functions
Skeletal muscle mass makes up around 40% of a human’s mass, Skeletal muscle mass also can have a large influence on the risk of metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Muscle mass will help the body efficiently deal and optimise the use of Glucose and fatty acids (carbs and fats) absorbed via the diet avoiding issues like high blood cholesterol and Glucose intolerance (Wescott, 2012).
Training recommendations
Training should be overseen by a qualified professional with proper queuing and spotting available for safety.
Training programs should include progression, individualisation (taking into account your body lever lengths and previous injuries etc) and deloads (intensity is kept, volume is lowered to allow regeneration).
Resistance training should be happening around 2-3 times per week, with 2-3 exercises on multi joint exercises and 1-2 sets of single joint exercises like bicep curls or leg extensions (Kraemer et al, 2019)
I would definitely recommend having a professional oversee your training, whether via online support or a coach in person. If you are looking for a personal trainer in Putney or South West London do not hesitate to get in contact. If you would like help with me recommending drop me a message.
References
Westcott, W. L. (2012). Resistance training is medicine: effects of strength training on health. Current sports medicine reports, 11(4), 209-216.
Fischer, S. C., Calley, D. Q., & Hollman, J. H. (2021). Effect of an Exercise Program That Includes Deadlifts on Low Back Pain. Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, 30(4), 672-675.
Zwolski, C., Quatman-Yates, C., & Paterno, M. V. (2017). Resistance training in youth: laying the foundation for injury prevention and physical literacy. Sports health, 9(5), 436-443.
Fragala, M. S., Cadore, E. L., Dorgo, S., Izquierdo, M., Kraemer, W. J., Peterson, M. D., & Ryan, E. D. (2019). Resistance training for older adults: position statement from the national strength and conditioning association. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 33(8).
JAMES DALEY PERSONAL TRAINER 