Muscle building is exercise that uses resistance to strengthen and condition the musculoskeletal system, improving muscle tone and endurance. “Muscle building” is employed as an overall term synonymous with other common terms: “weightlifting” and “resistance training.” Physiologically, the benefits of consistent muscle building include a rise in muscle size and tone, increased muscular strength, and increases in tendon, bone, and ligament strength. Strength training has also been shown to boost psychological health as well, by increasing self-esteem, confidence and self-worth.
Improved Physical Appearance and Performance
One important result of muscle building is increased physical performance. Muscles quite literally utilize energy to make movement, functioning whilst the engine or powerhouse of the body. Muscle building advances the muscle size, strength, and endurance, which subscribe to improvements within our work, favourite sports hobbies, and our general day-to-day activities.
Another benefit of a great strength-training program is its influence on our overall appearance and body composition, which can directly influence self-esteem, self-worth, and level of confidence. Take, for instance, a 170-pound man who has 20 percent body fat; 34 pounds of fat weight and 136 pounds of lean bodyweight (muscle, bones, organs, water, etc). By beginning a successful muscle building program, he replaces five pounds of fat with five pounds of muscle. He still weighs 170 pounds, but he’s now 17 percent fat with 29 pounds of fat weight and 141 pounds of lean body weight. Although his bodyweight remains exactly the same, his strength, muscle tone, and metabolism have improved, giving him a fit appearance.
Both our appearance and our physical performance can be improved by muscle gain or hampered by muscle loss. Research shows that unless we strength train regularly; we lose about one-half pound of muscle annually of our lives after age 30. Unless we implement a safe and effective lifting weights program, our muscles gradually reduction in size and strength in the process called “atrophy.”
Strength training is therefore essential for avoiding the muscle loss that normally accompanies the aging process. A common misconception is that even as we reach age older persons, it is normal to stop being active and to begin using ambulatory aides like canes and wheelchairs. Many individuals think we have no choice; they think that is normal.
But this couldn’t be further from the truth. There’s absolutely no reason most of us can’t be physically, mentally, socially, and sexually active, living a healthy vibrant life until our last day on Earth! The reason many elderly people count on ambulatory aides and become slower and fatter is merely that through the years their muscles have already been wasting away, so their physical performance and metabolism also decrease, becoming less efficient.
Increased Metabolic Efficiency (your power to burn excess calories)
That one-half pound of muscle loss annually after age 30 produces a one-half percent decrease in basal metabolic rate (BMR) every year. A lowering of BMR implies that our bodies are less able to utilize the food we consume as energy, thus more gets stored as body fat. “Basal metabolic rate” describes the vitality employed by our body at rest to keep normal body functions.
Our muscles have high-energy requirements. Even whenever we are sleeping, our muscles use significantly more than 25% of our energy (calories). When you implement the principles of effective muscle building and you are consistent in your program, you’ll achieve a rise in lean muscle mass throughout the human body and raise your BMR. Put simply, you can actually condition your metabolism to are better and more effectively even when you’re at rest.
A growth in muscle tissue causes a rise in metabolic rate, and a decrease in muscle tissue causes a decrease in metabolic rate. You can see that anyone thinking about decreasing body fat percentage and their risk of disease as well as in increasing physical performance and appearance, should be muscle building to greatly help condition their metabolism (BMR).
One of many biggest mistakes people make when starting a weight-management program is not including a muscle building routine with their cardiovascular exercise and low-fat eating regimen. This really is unfortunate because whenever we cut calories without exercise, we are able to lose muscle as well as fat.
Decreased Risk of Sustaining an Injury
Our muscles also function as shock absorbers and serve as important balancing agents throughout our body. Well-conditioned muscles help lessen the repetitive landing forces in weight-bearing activities such as for example jogging or playing basketball. Well-balanced muscles reduce the risk of injuries that result when a muscle is weaker than its opposing muscle group.
To lessen the risk of unbalanced muscle development, you must make sure that when you’re training a certain muscle group, the opposing muscle groups are now being trained as well (though definitely not on a single day). As an example, if you are doing bench-pressing exercises for the chest with the help of a Coquitlam Personal Trainer, you must include some rowing exercises for the back muscles as well.