Muscular Strength
Is Muscular Strength Training for Everyone?
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Our muscles govern each and every movement our body makes, from walking, sneezing, opening a door to circulating our blood. Having healthy, strong muscles keeps the skeletal system in alignment and our organs working properly. Having good muscular strength and endurance will:
- Reduce risk of back related problems and pain
- Increase ligaments and tendons which help reduce injuries
- Help prevent osteoporosis
- Increase resting metabolism
- Positively affect HDL levels and blood pressure
- Enhance lean mass
Strength refers to a muscle’s ability to function efficiently and/or to generate force against physical objects. In the fitness world, this typically refers to how much weight you can lift for different strength training exercises. The type of resistance used for such exercises can include dumbbells, barbells, resistance bands, machines, cables or your own body. When lifting heavy weight, you increase strength, muscle size and connective tissues such as ligaments and tendons.
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Whether the goal is to tighten flabby arms or increase definition, it is necessary to include a variety of types of fitness training using resistance. Keep in mind that in order to improve muscle strength you must overload the muscle, which simply means, you must use a heavier weight than the muscle is use to. This principle applies to both men and women. Keep in mind that the overall higher muscle mass and testosterone levels in men is what allows men to “bulk up” when proper exercise programs are followed. This does not apply to women, unless they are enhancing their natural levels of certain chemicals. So, NO ladies, you will not look like a guy if you train with weights or any other form of resistance training.
The barbel curl in an example of one exercise to include in your fitness training plans to increase the strength and tone your upper arms. Performing 4 to 12 repetitions with a weight heavy enough that the last 3 or 4 “reps” are a challenge to complete is a good guide on the amount of weight you should be using to positively affect increases in your muscular strength.
Obviously, there are such exercises for each and every muscle group. Unless there is a hindrance of some sort or an injury related reason, each muscle group should be trained to enhance muscular strength on a properly created fitness training program.
