Just what is strength training? Lifting an enormous barbell?
Doing cable incline pushdowns to work your "lats"? Pulling on a colored
rubber tube? Lifting your legs repetitively? Squeezing your knees
together so hard your face turns red? All of these.
Movement which demands your muscles to work against outside resistance will certainly build up some muscle, bone, tendon, or ligament. Done consistently, extended periods of resisted motion is a strength training. Do it 3 times a week along with stretching and aerobic workouts, and you have a full health and fitness program.
Any sort of good health program includes strength training as an essential part. It keeps your lean muscle mass as it begins to turn to fat around age 30. It replaces slow-burning fat with muscle that takes 7 to 10 times as many calories daily--therefore keeping more fat at bay. Strength training improves your metabolism. The increased metabolism serves to manage many chronic illnesses. The boosted metabolic rate in addition helps your mental function. Strength training builds up bones and balance to prevent or moderate falls.
There are several forms of strength training. Only isometrics are problematical. Isometrics only strengthen muscles in the exact position of the isometric force. In addition, it boosts blood pressure--dangerous for those with cardiac or stroke risks.
The resistance needed by strength training is most typically provided by gravity with the use of increasingly massive free weights to work all body parts. Barbells are large and can be unsafe--it's easy to lose control--but are good for the heavier range. They need a good deal of room for the bench and storage racks. A gym with a spotter is the best place to use these.
More common are dumbbells. These can be utilized at your home or in the office. They use much less space, and are much safer. Unfortunately, to continue a strength training program, you will need to graduate to ever heavier weights, calling for many more dumbbells and much more room.
An easy, space-saving option to standard dumbbells are the Bowflex SelectTech 1090 and Bowflex SelectTech 552 dumbbells. Both allow you to dial the weight you want: put the handle in the rack, twist knobs at the ends of the handle, and a clip will move to pick up the weight you specified. The SelectTech 1090 provides weights from 10 to 90 pounds--hence the number--and the SelectTech 552 gives you weights from 5 to 52 pounds. One or the other will be sufficient for all your years of weight training--unless you are a professional athlete or body builder. "Weight training" is strength training making use of gravity to supply the resistance.
Also convenient are the resistance bands or tubes. Each color has a different resistance, with lighter colors having less resistance and darker, more. As you progress, you will get a rainbow of colors. Light resistance training is good for recovery from injuries. However, it can be a significant and required alternative for even the most advanced strength trainers. You will definitely have to vary your program a minimum of every 3 weeks to prevent "accommodation"--where your body stops using as much energy or building muscles for the same activity.
You can learn for yourself what strength training is and what its rewards are by stretching resistance bands or lifting your own body's weight or dumbbells at home or using the barbells and workout equipment in a fitness center.
Movement which demands your muscles to work against outside resistance will certainly build up some muscle, bone, tendon, or ligament. Done consistently, extended periods of resisted motion is a strength training. Do it 3 times a week along with stretching and aerobic workouts, and you have a full health and fitness program.
Any sort of good health program includes strength training as an essential part. It keeps your lean muscle mass as it begins to turn to fat around age 30. It replaces slow-burning fat with muscle that takes 7 to 10 times as many calories daily--therefore keeping more fat at bay. Strength training improves your metabolism. The increased metabolism serves to manage many chronic illnesses. The boosted metabolic rate in addition helps your mental function. Strength training builds up bones and balance to prevent or moderate falls.
There are several forms of strength training. Only isometrics are problematical. Isometrics only strengthen muscles in the exact position of the isometric force. In addition, it boosts blood pressure--dangerous for those with cardiac or stroke risks.
The resistance needed by strength training is most typically provided by gravity with the use of increasingly massive free weights to work all body parts. Barbells are large and can be unsafe--it's easy to lose control--but are good for the heavier range. They need a good deal of room for the bench and storage racks. A gym with a spotter is the best place to use these.
More common are dumbbells. These can be utilized at your home or in the office. They use much less space, and are much safer. Unfortunately, to continue a strength training program, you will need to graduate to ever heavier weights, calling for many more dumbbells and much more room.
An easy, space-saving option to standard dumbbells are the Bowflex SelectTech 1090 and Bowflex SelectTech 552 dumbbells. Both allow you to dial the weight you want: put the handle in the rack, twist knobs at the ends of the handle, and a clip will move to pick up the weight you specified. The SelectTech 1090 provides weights from 10 to 90 pounds--hence the number--and the SelectTech 552 gives you weights from 5 to 52 pounds. One or the other will be sufficient for all your years of weight training--unless you are a professional athlete or body builder. "Weight training" is strength training making use of gravity to supply the resistance.
Also convenient are the resistance bands or tubes. Each color has a different resistance, with lighter colors having less resistance and darker, more. As you progress, you will get a rainbow of colors. Light resistance training is good for recovery from injuries. However, it can be a significant and required alternative for even the most advanced strength trainers. You will definitely have to vary your program a minimum of every 3 weeks to prevent "accommodation"--where your body stops using as much energy or building muscles for the same activity.
You can learn for yourself what strength training is and what its rewards are by stretching resistance bands or lifting your own body's weight or dumbbells at home or using the barbells and workout equipment in a fitness center.
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