Benefits of weight training
Some love it, some hate it but no one can deny there are many benefits to weight training. If you are a cardio queen or a kick boxing junky, strength i s important. When we talk weight training, there is many layers to this form of exercise. I’m going to explain the two most common methods we use at our gym, Kick N Box. These are Hypertrophy and Endurance weight training. Examples of these, heavy weight with less reps to build muscle (muscular hypertrophy) and lighter weight with more reps (muscular endurance). The goal with weight/strength training is to have your muscle under tension to create small tears in the muscle which helps to stimulate growth. Our Cross Core group classes are programmed for you with these methods.
Now to talk about some of the benefits of weight training.
Starting with a common know benefit of weight training that being, an increase in your bone strength. Weight-bearing exercises has your bones under temporary stress which results in your body rushing to rebuild your bones stronger. Having strong bones is important for so many reasons, they protect your organs, helps with posture and reduces the risk of osteoporosis. As you age, having strong bones can assist with reduce in fractures and falls as you are better able to support your body.
Weight training is amazing for boosting your metabolism. At rest, with more muscle mass on your body you are able to burn more calories at rest. Another positive is after weight training, your metabolic rate is raised for up to 72hours after a session. This means that hours, even days after weight training you are still burning more calories.
Another internal benefit of weight training is the improvement on your heart health. Weight training helps decrease blood pressure, can assist in lowering cholesterol and it helps strengthen your heart with improving the circulation of blood around your body.
The last benefit that I want to tell you about is an external one. When you are weight training consistently you will notice your body become ‘tighter’. Your numbers when you weigh yourself may not change but your jeans may feel looser than ever. This is because muscle is denser than fat. 1kg of muscle takes up less space than 1kg of fat. Weight training can change your body in many ways.
We are fortunate enough to have some amazing trainers who understand the benefits of weight training, so when they say ‘’Go heavier, less reps” or “You need to add some cross core to your week split”, remember this blog. We promise you, you will start to see some amazing results when you change up your training.
If you would like any more benefits (there are so many more) speak with one of our trainers. And remember, we are always here to help you achieve your goals.
