Most of us know that to have better health strength training can be beneficial. Weightlifting is one of the best types of strength workout which is beneficial in many ways to your body.
The benefits of weightlifting are:
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- Can help you to build a better figure,
- Much better muscle strength and tone,
- Improve physical fitness,
- Prevent disease,
- Delay aging processes and more…
Therefore, please see below a list of advantages of weightlifting exercises, which is designed to encourage people to do them more often.
Weightlifting for Fat Loss
Building muscle mass is an excellent way to get rid of body fat. This is because every extra lb of muscle tissue causes an increase in metabolism in the body by about 35 kcal per day. For this reason, regular weightlifting is as helpful in getting rid of overweight as do aerobic training.
Weightlifting for Body Shaping
Exercises with weights increase metabolism and affect the reduction of fatty tissue and muscle development. For this reason, as a result of regular training, we can achieve a fantastic figure, a healthy and good shaped body.
Weightlifting Reduce the Risk of Injury
Weightlifting training strengthens not only muscles but also bones, tendons, and ligaments that keep our body moving. And for this reason, regular exercise with weights can protect us from injury.
Weightlifting Increases Muscle Strength and Endurance
Lifting weights increase your strength and endurance. This not only affects the quality of workout but also facilitates everyday life. Usual, physical activities that once required a lot of effort from us, we can do with ease, which significantly saves our time and improves overall well-being.
Weightlifting Improve Sport Results
Training with weights increases our strength, speed, and endurance. Our muscles will gradually increase their size and will get much stronger. The result is a direct impact on our achievement in other sports, which makes us feel rewarded, more joyful and have more motivation to practice them.
Weightlifting Delays the Aging Process
Through regular exercise with weights, we can delay the aging process by slowing down the age of muscular dystrophy, and thus maintaining physical fitness at an appropriate level, which slows down the formation of diseases associated with older age.
Does Weightlifting Increase Bone Density?
The answer is simple: lifting weights increases the density of our bones. Studies in men have shown that weight lifting improves bone density, and thus can prevent the development of osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis is a disease that gradually weakens bones and increases the risk of fractures – it affecting many more women (especially over 65 years of age), but some men also suffer from it. Generally, there is a gradual decline in bone mass with age, which is a risk factor for osteoporosis.
Physical activity is included among the factors that lower the risk of osteoporosis. Researchers at the University of Missouri have shown that weightlifting improved so much bone density in men.
Also, bone tissue density can also be improved by jumping exercises, although their effects are slightly less spectacular.
What is the bone density test and how is it measured?
The bone density test is a type of x-ray examination. Such a test measures the density of minerals, and above all the amount of calcium contained in the bones. This information helps the doctor assess how our bones are healthy and what is the amount of bone in the spine, hip or other bones.
Unfortunately, we are all losing bone weight over the years. Our bones become thinner when getting older. When bones lose calcium, and other minerals become lighter and less dense. This causes the bones to weaken and are more susceptible to fractures.
However if your bone density is lower than usual, you can increase it by doing exercises, lifting weights or exercising on machines.
Benefits of Weightlifting for Heart Health
Some studies have shown that weightlifting training offers unique benefits regarding blood flow to the extremities and regulation of blood pressure. The intensive period of weightlifting training has many cardiovascular benefits and it is good to have it in the daily training regimen.
Systematic weightlifting training for the elderly prepares for a visible increase in their muscle mass, VO2max increase, and strength increase. This kind of training to a much greater extent than endurance effort allows you to maintain lean body mass, which is not without significance for maintaining good heart health.
Also, strength training in older people improves balance, walking, walking stairs, and lifting heavy objects.
Specialists for years have not encouraged their patients to do weightlifting training, despite numerous evidence of the benefits of this type of activity. The reason for this was the fear of a possible increase in blood pressure.
However, it is proven that training with appropriate weight rules and using proper breathing techniques do not contribute to increased blood pressure. On the contrary, it has been shown that it can affect the continued reduction of blood pressure after training.
In the nineties, weightlifting training was recommended as a safe and “must do” as a form of physical activity not only to the healthy but also ill people.
Then, more cardiovascular abnormalities were observed during endurance tests. Such defects did not occur during resistance exercise with a weight of 70% of maximum values.
Summary: By doing weightlifting training, your cardiovascular system will benefit so much. Such training should be included in your way of caring for the health of your heart and health in general. Its benefits primarily result from increasing the flow of blood and oxygen to the muscles.
When used in the right form while maintaining safety rules, it can be used in healthy people and those suffering from cardiovascular diseases. You will get the best effects for your heart health by combining weightlifting and aerobics.
Does Weightlifting Relieve Anxiety Symptoms?
The short answer is it does. So how can weightlifting reduce anxiety? Most of us know that physical activity helps in relieving stress, which is one of the causes of the above condition so weightlifting can be very helpful in reducing anxiety symptoms.
In general, any physical exercise is a useful and supportive method for the treatment of anxiety disorders. However, more study is needed to examine the impact of individual workouts on specific types of anxiety disorders.
Currently, some views explaining how physical activity affects the level of anxiety. Exercises can be effective in blocking negative thoughts or distract people from every day worries. Physical activity can help increase the concentration of neurotransmitters in the brain, which in turn can reduce anxiety.
Also, physical activity increases the level of endorphins or chemical substances produced by the central nervous system and the pituitary gland, which has mood-improving properties.
There are many studies on the impact of physical exercise on anxiety. The results indicate that physical exercise is useful in mild to moderate anxiety disorders. And in generalized anxiety disorders, aerobic seem to be more desirable than other types of activities.
Weightlifting is one of the physical activity that strengthens the immune system, which improves well-being and helps to release from the tension that causes anxiety. The intense movement also makes the heart beat faster, the person sweats and feel breathless.
All, these symptoms often trigger anxiety attacks. So intentionally calling them while exercises allow you to get used to them and learn that there is no real reason to be afraid.
Weightlifting Exercise Safety Guidelines
To stay on the safe side and avoid injury to your body when weightlifting you must follow the rules:
- Have a rest when you get tired. Do not overtrain. Keep a balance between workout and rest.
- Before workout always do proper warm-up for about 10 – 15 mins.
- In the beginning, you have to start with lightweight and keep gradually increasing, and by practice, you will find out the correct weight for yourself.
- Avoid distraction and focus when you exercise.
- When you are exercising, have correct breathing. When you work against resistance, you must exhale, while pushing and pulling inhale when you release.
- Pay attention to the exercise technique.
- Carry water with you and drink it in the gaps between the series. Dehydration leads to a decrease in the strength and efficiency of the body.
- Wear correct shoes designed for weightlifting workout.
- Never lift loads when you are hungry.
- DO NOT exercise while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
- Always set the barbell clamps, regardless of the size of the load applied. Unsecured and gravitational plates that move along the grille are a threat to you and others.
- For exercises requiring a lot of effort, such as a deadlift, squats or overhead press, use a belt that stabilizes the trunk. It helps to focus on the technique and the exercise itself. The belt significantly reduces the risk of injury. Remember about right posture while deadlifting, squats and overhead press.
- Keep in a clean place where you train.
Moreover, before you began weightlifting, please speak to your doctor and do a medical check if you are okay to start to do such training. Do necessary tests for the detection of possible diseases, for example, irregularities in the work of the heart.
Remember that the above precautions are essential. If you follow them, you can achieve maximum benefit from your weightlifting workout.
Does Weightlifting Keep you Healthy?
As you can see all the above, the answer is short: YES, as long as you follow the rules, weightlifting will keep you healthy!
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