The Importance of Strength Training and the Relationship Between Exercise Forms and Effects

Strength training is a form of exercise that improves muscle strength, endurance, and shape through repeated sets of rhythmic weighted exercises. While barbell or dumbbell strength training is common, many everyday activities also involve strength training, such as standing up from a chair or bending over to lift a briefcase. Different repetitions, sets, and weights will produce different effects. For example, to improve muscle endurance and increase muscle elasticity, we should use a training method with lighter weights and more repetitions. See the table below for details:

The relationship between practice format and practice effectiveness:

To increase strength: Use 80-100% of your maximum load, perform 6 repetitions per set, 3-5 sets, rest for 2-6 minutes between sets, and hold each set for 12 seconds. Perform this exercise 3-4 times per week.

To increase strength and endurance: Load with 50-60% of your maximum weight, perform 6-12 repetitions per set, 2-4 sets, rest for 2-5 minutes between sets, and maintain each set for 20-40 seconds. Practice 3-4 times per week.

To increase endurance: Load with 30-40% of your usual weight, 12-20 repetitions per set, 3-4 sets, 1-2 minutes rest between sets, 40-70 seconds per set, 3-4 times per week.

Strength training is primarily anaerobic exercise, but we can incorporate the advantages of aerobic exercise through circuit training. This allows us to break down and reuse lactic acid produced by anaerobic metabolism, reducing muscle discomfort.

Besides these factors, another crucial element is proper form. It's essential to understand that ten incorrect repetitions are less effective than one correct one. During strength training, avoid using other parts of your body to assist in lifting heavier or heavier weights simply because you find the exercise difficult. This kind of assistance can easily lead to injuries and also significantly reduces the effectiveness of the workout because it doesn't adequately target the muscle groups.

Many people believe that strength training is only for bodybuilders, that it's for men to build muscle, and that women should never do it because they'll end up looking bulky. But that's not true. For most people, strength training is essential and a winning strategy for overcoming plateaus. It won't make your legs or arms thicker; in fact, it will reduce fat and make you slimmer.

The benefits of strength training are as follows:

1. Delay aging

Studies show that people who don't regularly participate in physical exercise reach their peak muscle strength between the ages of 20 and 25, and then lose about 10% of their muscle mass and strength every 10 years. After age 60, the loss of strength becomes even more rapid. With age, not only does athletic ability decline significantly, but even daily activities become increasingly difficult, such as carrying luggage or using the toilet. Another important manifestation of declining muscle strength is slower movement, reduced walking speed, and increasingly smaller strides. The only way to increase muscle mass and strength is through strength training. People who regularly engage in strength training can maintain their peak condition well into their 60s.

2. Reduce injury and pain

Modern lifestyles increasingly favor a sedentary lifestyle, requiring prolonged work and study that strains the neck and lower back muscles. Without proper neck and back muscle training, muscle weakness and atrophy can lead to muscle strain and changes in body posture. A growing number of people are suffering from cervical and lumbar spine problems. Proper strength training can enhance the strength of these vital areas, improve body posture, and increase flexibility.

3. Burn more calories

Strength training burns more calories than cycling or walking. Furthermore, because strength training promotes muscle and bone growth, energy continues to be burned even after you stop exercising, allowing your body to build new muscle tissue. Through strength training, your body becomes a highly efficient machine for burning calories and fat. If you want to reduce fat and achieve your bodybuilding goals, how can you do without strength training?

4. Reduce obesity

Obesity is caused by excessive accumulation of body fat. Fat is the body's best way to store energy. Each kilogram of fat contains 37,620 kilojoules of energy, and fat tissue does not require energy expenditure. The root cause of obesity is a long-term imbalance where dietary calories exceed the body's calorie expenditure. A slowed metabolism, insufficient physical activity, and chronic overeating are all major culprits. Increasing muscle mass can help boost metabolism and reduce fat. Even without exercise, every kilogram of muscle burns 314–460 kilojoules of energy per day. For every kilogram of muscle gained, the calories burned are equivalent to a loss of 3–5 kilograms of fat per year. Furthermore, increased muscle strength allows for more effective exercise and more efficient fat burning.

In addition to increasing muscle strength and lean muscle mass, strength training can also increase the metabolic rate by 15%, which is very helpful for weight loss or long-term weight maintenance.

5. Prevention and aiding in the treatment of diabetes

More and more people are suffering from diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is more common in adults and is one of the triggers for cardiovascular disease. Strength training can increase muscle mass. More muscle tissue can help the body use insulin more effectively, thus more effectively extracting the required sugar from the blood, and reducing the body's dependence on insulin.

6. Makes you more energetic

Studies have shown that after a year of strength training, participants were more energetic and exercised more actively, increasing their exercise volume by 27% and feeling much younger. These are effects that can be achieved in just one year of strength training.

7. Lowers blood lipids and cholesterol

Studies have shown that regular strength training can lower total blood cholesterol by 10% and LDL cholesterol by 14%.

8. Increases bone density and reduces osteoporosis, joint diseases, and other related conditions.

Many middle-aged and elderly people, especially women, often suffer from osteoporosis. Strength training from a young age is an essential preventative measure. Strength training constantly stimulates the bones, and the body's response is to strengthen bones to adapt to long-term exercise. Joseph Lane, a medical expert at the New York Osteoporosis Prevention Center, says, "I have seen women in their 80s increase their bone mass by 10% in a year through strength training."

We should choose strength training that suits our weight loss goals and stick to it 3-4 times a week, not every day. Because muscle recovery takes 48-72 hours, continuing to train the same muscle group before it has fully recovered will be ineffective and may even have the opposite effect, hindering the training's results.

The timing of strength training is relatively flexible, but like aerobic exercise, it's important to consider coordinating it with mealtimes and rest periods.

Morning: Eat 100 grams of carbohydrates and a little milk 30-60 minutes before exercise.

Morning: Exercise 1.5 hours after breakfast.

Afternoon: Start two hours after lunch or two hours before dinner, and eat 100 grams of carbohydrates 30-60 minutes before exercising.

Evening: Exercise 1.5 hours after dinner, and finish exercising at least 1 hour before going to bed.