Strength Training – The Secret to Weight Loss Success
When it’s time to get healthy or get serious about shedding those extra pounds, most people mistakenly opt out of strength training. A common misconception most people are under, is that losing weight is all about strict diets or grueling aerobic training. Strength training seldom enter conscious awareness as an essential component in any weight loss program. Strength training is so vitally important that neglecting it will hamper your weight loss goals. I would encourage anyone serious about losing weight to start including a strength training regimen to their workout whether you’re a man or a woman.
What is Strength Training?
Put simply, strength training is the use of resistance against the muscles to increase strength, build muscle, and increase endurance. Strength training includes weight training, resistance training, and isometric training, and it is up to you to decide which type of strength training best fits your weight loss needs. Weight training is simply lifting weights for improve strength, whereas resistance training requires resistance to the muscles to tone and shape muscles. Isometric training requires equal force and resistance for toning and shaping the body.
Click here to the Best Guide to Strength Training for Weight Loss
How Can it Help?
Strength training isn’t just for bodybuilders; it’s for anyone concerned with their health and weight beyond a number on the scale. First, let’s get one thing straight; the simple act of strength training isn’t enough to turn your flab into 20-inch biceps. To get bigger muscles, you would need to increase your food consumption and utilize protein supplements. Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s move on. Don’t worry ladies; strength training will simply give you toned arms, abs, and buttocks rather than huge bulging muscles.
Strength training or resistance training is a fundamental aspect of successful weight loss because it helps you build the muscle mass that’s lost over time, and it makes sure that you burn fat instead of muscle when you do cardio or aerobic exercises. You don’t want to lose the extra pounds and have loose flesh that hangs; you want a tight toned body of which you can be proud, and strength training gets you there.
Perhaps the most important health benefit of strength training is that it helps keep your metabolism working throughout the day. A slow metabolism is often to blame for failure to shed those last few pounds, and regular strength training can help you burn fat and calories long after your workout has ended.
Strength training won’t just make you look better; it’ll also make you feel better. Strength training will tighten your body, making it look younger. It also helps build bone, which reverses the effects of osteoporosis. In addition, regular strength training can lower high blood pressure and increase range of motion. With all the added benefits of strength training, there’s no good reason not to add it to your daily workout routine.
How to Begin
Begin your training regimen with basic free weights because they don’t limit your range of motion. In addition, free weights allow you to focus more on the integrity of the movements rather than on simply completing each set. Whether you workout at a gym or at home, use free weights in front of a mirror to make sure you’re doing the exercises correctly.
Make sure you work out each major muscle group. The major muscle groups include; chest, shoulders, back, abdominals, arms, and legs. Although these are the major muscle groups, many strength training exercises work out more than one muscle group at a time. Don’t go overboard and try to work out all six groups each day; alternate your strength training based on your weight loss needs.
It’s recommended that you begin weight lifting training by engaging in one set of ten repetitions to work out your muscle groups. A repetition, or rep for short, is a series of lifting and lowering the weights, so you would do ten repetitions. Every ten repetitions are considered a set. As you become more comfortable with these sets, you can increase the number of sets you perform.
Breathing
For the most effective strength training workout, remember to breathe steadily. It’s important that you exhale through each repetition for a maximum workout. As your muscles contract, use your breathing to get the most of each movement. Once your breathing is consistent with your workout, feel free to increase the number of sets you perform each day.
Click here to the Best Guide to Strength Training for Weight Loss