How Strength Training Builds Capacity for Life

Strength training, or resistance training, is any form of exercise in which your muscles are working against a resistance to produce force. That’s a bit of a fancy way of saying moving weight around or trying to move things that don’t want to move on their own— which may include your own body.

Strength training leads to musculoskeletal fitness and can increase muscle mass and strength and improve body composition and bone health. All of which make your activities easier and more efficient.

Just like cardiorespiratory endurance, musculoskeletal fitness is an important part of overall health. Strength training has also been shown to improve factors related to cancer, metabolic diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and dementia and is associated with a 21% lower all-cause mortality.

Simply put – when we get strong, we can live better, and live longer!

So how do you start a strength training program? A common misconception is that strength training means doing bench presses and squats at the gym. That’s one option, for sure, but there are many others. Basically, strength training can be anything in which you’re working against a resistance.

Here are some great starter strength-building activities:

Housework. Believe it or not, even housework can count toward strength training, depending on the task. Vacuuming, laundry, and scrubbing surfaces can all give your muscles a good workout.

Hiking. Any walk in which you’re gaining elevation or adjusting to varying ground can count toward strength training, as you’re producing significantly greater force than with a walk on flat ground. Going uphill, you are doing mostly concentric muscle contractions (shortening your muscles), and on the way down, you’re doing mostly eccentric muscle contractions (lengthening your muscles). Both are great for improving strength and health. Stairs work in the same way. Taking a break at home or the office by climbing up and down the stairs is a super simple and effective option.

Body-weight workouts. Here’s another no-special-equipment option. Whether or not you have access to a gym, there are many exercises that can be done using only your body weight. You can also easily sprinkle in some body-weight exercises throughout the day. For example, do 10 push-ups a few times per day—or standing push-ups against a wall if you’re just starting out. Or every time you get up from your desk, do 10 or 20 body-weight squats. Whatever works for you with the equipment (your own self), space, and time that you have.

Weights. The most classic type of strength training can also be done at home or at a gym using simple weights like dumbbells or machines. You can even use canned goods or jugs of liquids you might have in your pantry or laundry room. For a workout, you can do anything from low weight and high repetitions to increase endurance to heavy weight and low repetitions to increase muscle mass (and everywhere in between). Especially when using weights, it’s a good idea to get advice from a certified personal trainer or registered kinesiologist before performing an exercise you’ve never done before.

Pilates. Pilates is a guided workout that combines strength, balance, and flexibility. Its focus is on the core muscles to improve posture, alleviate pain, and prevent injuries. Find a nearby studio or online class to guide you through a practice.

Swimming. Although swimming is predominantly an aerobic activity, it also strengthens your muscles because you are exerting force against the water each time you take a stroke. It is a full-body workout that engages multiple muscle groups, including the arms, shoulders, back, core, and legs. Water provides natural resistance, which makes swimming an effective form of resistance training. This resistance helps build muscle strength and endurance as you work against the water's force.

Different swimming strokes target various muscle groups. For example, the freestyle stroke primarily engages the shoulders, chest, and triceps, while the backstroke emphasizes the back and biceps. The breaststroke and butterfly strokes also engage the core and leg muscles significantly. Maintaining stability and proper body position in the water requires significant core engagement. This constant activation of the core muscles helps improve overall core strength and stability. Incorporating swimming into your regular fitness routine can lead to improved muscular strength and endurance, contributing to overall physical fitness and health.

Final Thoughts

Obviously, you can combine some different activities to keep yourself interested or challenged, such as alternating between a summer and winter sport or just mixing it up, like taking a Pilates class once a week and mixing in some weight training or circuit training.

Whatever you decide, make choices that you enjoy. If you’re having fun, you’re more likely to make time for your activity and develop a healthy routine.

That’s it for this week! Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Yours for health, wellbeing & peak performance - Dr. Greg