subject: The Health Benefits of Resistance Training [print this page] The Health Benefits of Resistance Training
The Health Benefits of Resistance Training
Irrefutable evidence proves that strength training produces unique health benefits of all ages as well as for those with various types of infirmities. The American College of Sports Medicine, The American Heart Association, and the Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activities and Health have all proclaimed and strongly supported the need for strength training for health enhancement and for improving quality of life.
Strength Training Increase Muscle Mass
Strength training increases muscle mass and decrease the fat content of the body. The implications for weight loss and management are enormous, because muscle tissue is more metabolically active than is fat tissue. This means that the body burns more calories under any condition, including rest.
Heart Rate & Blood Pressure
An improvement in strength reduces the exerciser's heart rate and blood pressure while he or she is lifting weights. The practical application of these responses is that there is less stress on the heart when people lift or move moderately heavy objects in every day life. Heavy resistance training and circuit weight training have the potential to produce a high enough volume of work to improve cardiorespiratory endurance by as much 5 to 10 percent.
Improve Strength
Resistance training increases the strength and endurance of antigravity muscles, improving posture and producing les stress on the lower back. Stronger more stable joints are better able to withstand physical stress of trauma.
Strength training also enables one to perform the functions of daily life with less effort. Stronger muscles allow people to perform functional tasks that become more difficult as people age, such as getting in and out of a car, in and out of a bathtub, or up from an easy chair and climbing stairs. Dynamic forms of resistance training have a high degree or transferability to everyday activities.
An increase in leg strength helps those who have osteoarthritis (wear and tear arthritis) because stronger muscles absorb a greater share of the physical stress at joints. In effect, stronger muscles spare the joint structures from some of the weight bearing activity. Rheumatologists (physicians who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of arthritis condition) often recommend weight training to their patients because it alleviates symptoms and strengthen the muscles tendons and all ligaments that surround the joints.
An improvement in leg strength also leads to better balance and decreases the likelihood of falling, which reduce the chances that fracture might occur. Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by the deterioration of the skeletal system. Bone mineral content decreases so that the bones fragile and susceptible to fracture. Women are more prone to osteoporosis, but men are also effected as they age. People can protect the skeletal system by eating nutritious diet and by participating regularly in weight bearing and resistive exercises. Resistive exercises are versatile, having the capacity to stress all of the joints and the bones that articulate with them, and they produce lateral forces that increase thee thickness and density of bones, so they have potential to prevent osteoporosis.
The results brought about by resistance exercises allow people to live independently and with dignity as they age. Illness occurs with greater frequency and severity as we age, but much of the disability associated with aging is not due entirely to the aging process. Many authorities attribute at least 50percent of these changes to "disuse atrophy." Our typical sedentary lifestyles, more prevalent among the aging population than among any other group of American, are responsible for significant number of these illnesses. Those who stimulate there muscles regularly, regardless of their age, do not experience the type of physical deterioration observed in those who are physically inactive. Recent research indicates that physical inactivity is responsible for the majority of age related muscle loss.
Psychological Benefits of Resistance Training
Strength training also produces and impressive array of psychological and emotional benefits, which include improvements in self - esteem, self-confidence. It helps to improve the mood of mildly to moderately depressed individuals. Resistive exercise program improve reaction time and may contribute to more restful sleep.
Cardiac Patients & Resistance Training
Many cardiac patients participate in strength development exercises. Substantial benefits may be gained at minimal risk. Improving upper and lower body strength allows cardiac patients to perform every day lifting activities with less effort and greater movement efficiency. Also, strength training may have a positive impact on cardiorespiratory endurance, hypertension, blood fat level, and psychological well being.
By:Khizer Hayat RajaSr. Lecturer in Physical Education & SportsInternational Weightlifting Coach & ExpertE mail: wlexpert@yahoo.comhttp://www.articlesbase.com/extreme-sports-articles/the-health-benefits-of-resistance-training-3745179.html
