Strength Training. Why EVERYONE should do it

December 9th, 2009

Hi, this is Paul Hurley from Bodysmart. Today, I’ll be talking about strength training and why everybody should be doing it, if they are not already. Heres why.

Loss of skeletal muscle tissue is one of the biggest ongoing health problems affecting each and every adult on the planet. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people, even those who exercise, are even aware of this devastating problem. If you’ve ever wondered why you eating the way you always have, yet are gaining more and more weight every year, keep listening. I will reveal the very source of this problem, together with the solution.

From the age of approximately thirty onwards, both males and females lose muscle tissue and strength.  Muscle is metabolically active, meaning that simply having it burns calories. The less muscle you have, the fewer calories you burn. 

So if you’re losing more and more muscle each and every year, and eating the same way you always have, you will gain body fat. This is because you no longer possess the fat-burning muscle you used to have. So instead of being burned off, your body stores the excess calories as surplus body fat. 

For women, this means more body fat around the lower tummy, bottom, hips, legs, upper back and the backs of the arms. For males, this excess body fat will be stored around the stomach, chest and lower back (the infamous love handles!). The largest portion of our metabolism is represented by skeletal muscle tissue. To speed up your metabolism and burn fat therefore, you must gain new muscles or at least regain the muscle you used to have when your metabolic rate was at its highest. For most of us, this will be when you were in your late teens or early twenties.

Now lets talk about how losing muscle has many more serious health consequences. As muscles weaken, many physical functions begin to slow and become impaired. If this problem is unresolved, and you allow muscular weakness to continue into your senior years, you risk losing all independence altogether. The good news is that research has demonstrated that people of all ages can reverse this process through strength training. Stopping muscle loss is of utmost importance to all adults – especially adults 40+ years in age.

I speak to so many people who believe that so called cardio exercises such as jogging and cycling provide them with all the exercise benefits that they need. Yet none of these aerobic exercises can halt muscle loss, let alone reverse it. 

This is a common misunderstanding amongst fitness enthusiasts today.  Wayne Wescott PhD, one of the foremost exercise physiologists in the world, cites a 10 year study which revealed that Americas best masters distance runners lost 5 pounds of muscle between their mid forties and fifties.  This is the same rate of muscle loss seen in sedentary individuals.  So it doesn’t matter if youre a dedicated marathon runner or a couch potato.  If you are not doing anything to build muscle, you are losing muscle and the strength that goes with it. 

Since regular strength training is the only exercise you can do to regain precious muscle tissue, let’s explore how Power Plate training can help you reverse this process.

There are 2 ways in which you can improve functional force (stability, strength or power).  The first way is by applying more mass to the body.   The most common form of strength training use mass – as seen in exercises performed using weight machines and free weights.

The second way is by applying more acceleration to the body.  This is the method we use here at Bodysmart.  We use Power Plates to, by applying acceleration to the body, while keeping mass, i.e. your body weight, the same.

This is a real breakthrough in training and conditioning.  Now, you can now optimally “load” your body while minimizing high impact, high load, and high stress factors.  Gravity is the force that adds load to the human body every second of every day for every movement we perform. Through Acceleration Training™ exercise, Power Plate® machines make the body feel as though it “weighs” more every time acceleration forces increase.

To conclude, strength training is a veritable “fountain of youth”.  Performed properly, it provides more health benefits than any other single form of exercise.  Strength training properly in an ideal environment, with expert instruction and specialised equipment is a safe and superior approach to improving your health and fitness.

Paul Hurley is Master Trainer for BodySmart.  BodySmart combine expert personal training and high technology such as Power Plate machine. 

To find out more, go to www.bodysmart.ie

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