Choosing to work out at home can be daunting for beginners. There is a lot of jargon and thousands of exercises you can choose from, and strength training is one of them. Strength training is a fantastic way to build muscle, gain fitness, improve overall health and make you live longer.
Strength training or resistance training is a form of exercise that uses external resistance to enhance your muscles by using one or two muscle groups.
Strength Training Exercises
No matter your fitness or experience levels, you can start working out at home. There are several strength training exercises you can start doing in the comfort of your home.
Squats. Squats work on the buttocks, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. You can use a chair for squats or add weights to make it more challenging.
Push-ups. A pushup strengthens your shoulder, abdominal muscles as well as triceps.
Lunges. Lunges work on your lower body muscles like the hamstrings, glutes, and quadriceps.
Boxing. Boxing is a full-body exercise that works on your heart and muscles. It helps strengthen the muscles of your arms, legs, core, shoulders, and chest. You can get punching bags for home if you are not working with a trainer.
Shoulder press. This exercise can be done using your arms, dumbbells, or water bottles. It works on your upper body muscles like the trapezius, pectoral, triceps, and deltoid muscles.
Planks. This exercise works on your back, chest, and shoulder muscles.
Kickbacks. There are glute kickbacks and tricep kickbacks. Tripcep kickbacks have more effect when used with free weights.
Hip extensions. There are many variations of this exercise, each targeting the gluteal, hamstrings, and adductor magnus muscles.
What Can You Use For Strength Training?
The beauty of strength training is that it can be done with or without equipment. All you need to do is to overload a muscle so that it adapts and grows stronger.
Equipment suspension and weight machines. Weight machines usually have hydraulics or weights that you can add or remove. Suspension equipment contains straps that allow you to use your body weight against gravity.
Body weight. Using your body to perform exercises is called calisthenics. It is great for beginners who do not have any equipment.
Resistance bands. Resistance bands are bands that stretch when pulled. They can be added to a variety of exercises to strengthen muscles.
Free weights. Free weights are exercise items not attached to anything. They include dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, or medicine balls. You can also use canned goods, packets of rice, or flour in place of dumbbells.
Benefits of Strength Training
Strength training is beneficial to both men and women. Some women shy away from strength training out of the fear of looking muscular and manly. Adding strength training to your routine can improve the quality of your life in many ways.
Helps in Overall Fitness
As a form of exercise, strength training helps improve your fitness. Building muscle assists you in your day-to-day activities, such as waking out of bed, carrying groceries, climbing stairs, walking, or playing with kids.
Builds More Muscle and Strength
We lose 3 to 5 percent of lean muscle as we grow older. Strength training builds muscle mass, which aids in burning more calories. Since muscle is denser than fat, it can make you appear leaner.
Builds Stronger Bones
Nutritional deficits and aging cause your bones to decay over time. Studies show that after 40, your bone mass reduces by 1 percent every year. Exercise can prevent osteoporosis and osteopenia. Strength training has been shown to slow down bone loss and improve bone density and strength.
Muscle contraction in strength training not only pulls on the bones but causes the muscles to release bone-strengthening minerals such as calcium.
Helps You Lose Weight and Keep it Off
Any form of exercise will help you lose calories, especially if it is coupled with a healthy nutritional diet. Your body burns calories during a strength training workout because more work needs to be done. It also continues to burn off calories during rest as it continues to boost your metabolism even after you are done.
Lean muscle is more active than other tissue in the body, and the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. This can also help reduce abdominal fat.
Improves Balance and Coordination
Studies have shown that strength training improves balance, gait, and coordination. Balance and coordination are determined by muscle mass and strength and can protect your joints from frequent falls.
In Summary
Whether you want bigger muscles or a six-pack, strength training is a great way to become leaner and toned, improve your moods and help manage chronic conditions. It does not have to be complicated. The size of your space does not matter. Also, you can strength train without equipment. Like other
Nevertheless, you should talk to your doctor before starting any exercise regimen. Experts also recommend giving your body time to rest and recover between strength training sessions.
