Raising legs with ankle weights attached

Pulling on/against rubber exercise tubings/bands

Even engaging in sports such as impact-based kickboxing

Firstly, weight-bearing exercises have been strongly advocated by medical professionals to increase bone mass in women and so prevent the onset of osteoporosis after menopause.

Recent studies have shown that resistance training is also effective in increasing bone density, and in fact, may be more effective than aerobic training.

The USDA Human Nutrition Research Center at Tufts University in Boston conducted a small study of 39 postmenopausal women and observed the following:

Resistance training offers the following cardiovascular benefits as well:

Improved heart disease risk factors

Assists cardiac rehabilitation after a heart attack

Improve heart failure

A cardiac rehabilitation study in Canada investigated the effects of resistance training among men recovering from heart attack observed the following maximum strength gains:

10% increase in low intensity resistance training group

12% increase in medium intensity resistance training group

14% increase in high intensity resistance training group

30 out of the 57 involved men, experienced heart complications during the aerobic exercise (chest pain, abnormal rhythms, rise or drops in blood pressure), but only one had cardiac problems during resistance training. This provides evidence that resistance training is not only beneficial for cardiac rehabilitation, it is safe as well.

We lose one-half pound of muscle every year after 25 which in turn results in a one-half percent reduction in Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) every year.

‘Basal Metabolic Rate’ refers to the energy used by our body at rest to maintain normal body functions. A reduction of BMR simply means our bodies are less able to use consumed food as energy, this in turn gets stored as body fat.

With high energy requirements, our muscles use more than 25% of our energy (calories), even when we are sleeping. Resistance training will enable you to achieve an increase in lean muscle mass throughout your body and thus increase your BMR.

As we age, our muscles and BMR will decrease and body fat will increase, especially if we do not incorporate a sound strength training program.

In order to decrease the body fat percentage and risk of disease, strength training should be included to assist in the conditioning of the (metabolism) BMR.

There are still many who do not choose to do strength training mainly because they mistakenly think that this type of training will make their body big and bulky. One footnote- women maintain lower levels of the male muscle-building hormone testosterone which makes them unlikely to gain what is considered muscle bulk.

The frail elderly can also benefit significantly from resistance training.

A Pennsylvania State University study of 100 elderly nursing home residents reported significant gains in strength, functional status and spontaneous activity levels in the trained patients after the patients were assigned either a high intensity resistance training program or a control group.

The USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston conducted a smaller but similar study with ten frail 90+-yearold nursing home residents with 9 of them reporting the following gains:

174% average gain in strength

9% increase in size of the thigh muscle

48% increase in walking speed

Based on these results, researchers suggested that even the very oldest among us may benefit significantly from resistance training.

Resistance training not only gives rise to physical benefits, but also strengthens you psychologically and emotionally. 14 studies involving exercise therapy used to treat people with clinical depression found that sufferers were significantly less depressed after 5 weeks of performing weight training 3 times a week for 20 to 60 minutes.

 

Another Harvard University study involving 60 women were asked to do an initial assessment of how they felt about their bodies in the following groups:

Walking group

Resistance training group

At the end of the 4-week study, the resistance training group displayed a level of self-esteem twice that of the walking group. The doctors who conducted the study explained that the fast results experienced with resistance training was the reason for the dramatic difference. A woman starting with 3 pounds could be lifting 5 or 8 pounds in 3 to 4 weeks. This type of achievements empowers women!

Having seen the positive benefits which resistance training can bring to an individual, we should not hesitate to incorporate a resistance training program in our lives.

Start resistance training today and experience the health benefits and you will gain an extraordinary level of confidence to take on the world. With soaring energy levels, your concentration will improve tremendously and most importantly – Feel good about yourself!

Here's to your health!

Contributed by:

Jason Lim
Active Red
Marketing Manager
Senior Personal Trainer (ISSA, AFPA, SSC-FIC, AOK MediBall)
Senior Kickboxing Instructor (IKF, TNT-KL)

Website: bx-fitness.com