Benefits of Strength Training

How Stregth Training Can Change Your Life

“The beach is that way,” says the man with ripped muscles on the cover of the fitness magazine as he makes a muscle showing off his enormous Biceps. Few of us are fortunate enough to have a ripped model body, however, its springtime and in just a couple weeks we’ll be wanting to hit the beach with hopefully something to show off. Besides the obvious benefits of having a better looking body there are so many other reasons a person should start a strength training program. Let me take a brief moment to tell you my story. Currently I’m 19 years old and up until the last two years thought strength training was a waste of time because to see the benefits would take far too long and I lacked the patience. I’m not saying I was out of shape, just young and unmotivated. The first time I went to a gym at 17 it was merely a social thing. My older brother went with a few of his friends and I had to tag along. That night made me do a complete 180 on how I felt about weightlifting. The competition drove me to work as hard as I could, and I felt the real benefits the next morning when I woke up to a sore chest. Knowing I did something to change my muscles really inspired me and I became determined to continue to learn about the sport. My body responded very well to the activity and within only a month myself and others noticed the change. Not only did I gain size, but I noticed psychological changes and an increase in energy. While I was never depressed or lacking in self esteem, I noticed that I became an even happier person with a healthy view of my image. I also started to view weightlifting as a form of recreation and began to enjoy going to the gym, as the chemical reaction it created left me feeling satisfied and complete.That’s my story, but how about you. Who doesn’t want to look and feel great? And to be honest it really isn’t that hard, all you need is three hours a week, and a little motivation. The good thing about strength training is that unlike cardio work, it burns calories very quickly. Not only will you burn calories while lifting, but also you receive the benefits of burning calories after, because muscle requires energy, or calories, to sustain itself. Therefore you can be sitting on the couch, but because you have additional muscle will be burning extra calories. Well I’ve got you interested now, right? So you’re asking where do I go from here? To the gym of course! But first you should probably figure out what you’re going to when you’re there and what goals you want to accomplish. Strength training can be used to either can weight by adding muscle, or lose weight by replacing fat with muscle. Generally, a person looking to lose weight will do high repetitions using a low amount of weight. This technique will help to tone muscles and give them more of a shape. On the contrary a person who wants to gain size and weight will do low reps and higher weight. It’s good that we now have a goal, and we’re almost ready to “pump some iron” so in my next article I will help you with specific exercises that can be used to help you reach your goal.