Strength Training for Beginners

Getting started with strength training exercises can sometimes seem intimidating, especially if you are new to exercise in general! Today we are going to look at some of the fantastic reasons for giving strength training a go, and discuss some different ways that you can do this.

Why Strength Train?

One of the best reasons for strengthening your body is that so many things become much easier when you feel strong! You will find that you have more energy to do your day to day tasks, and that you don’t get worn out as easily as you maybe did before. Whether you are carrying the groceries home from the store, giving your kids a ride on your back, or helping your friend to move house, using your body becomes much easier when you have the strength to do these things with ease!

Strength training is also a great way to help to protect your body against injury. With regular exercise you will improve the health of the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and your bones. All of these things equate to better alignment within the body and a decreased risk of injury.

This type of exercise is a good choice for those who are trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. Cardiovascular exercise is more commonly associated with weight loss, but building muscle can actually be a more sustainable way to keep those extra pounds off.

When you build muscle then your body will naturally burn more calories, even when it is at rest. This is because muscle tissue utilises more calories than body fat does. Additionally, following a weight based workout, your body will have to do a lot of work to recover from the session. This requires a great deal of energy and can also boost your metabolism.

 

Extra benefits of strength training that are just as exciting are that you will build better bone density, increase your cardiovascular health, improve your circulation, and reduce your resting blood pressure.

Bodyweight Training

There is absolutely no necessity to use equipment in order to get into strength training, when you can in fact just use your own body.

Bodyweight training gives the potential to exercise anywhere, anytime. You can do so in your own home, out in the park, in the office, or literally anywhere else that you like. There are countless exercises that you can choose from, and many different variations of each that you can progress through.

Check out our past post on some amazing bodyweight exercises to get you started!

Gym-Based Strength Training

Going to the gym to do strength training will mean that you have a wide variety of exercise equipment available to you.

 

You may find it best to use dumbbells at first, and then progress to using barbells as your confidence and strength begins to grow. You can also easily get started by using the purpose built weight machines. These machines may have instructions available on them, or you can ask the gym staff if they can show you how to use them.

The act of going to the gym can be incredibly motivational, as you are in the space to exercise and therefore can’t make the same excuses that you might if you were training at home. You will be able ot take inspiration and guidance from those around you, and may therefore feel more inclined to continue developing your training.

Home-Based Strength Training

Although you are unlikely to have the same variety of equipment available to you that you would have in a gym, it is still possible to adequately strength train in your own home. This can be through a combination of bodyweight exercises and those that require equipment.

Your best bet for lifting weights at home is to buy an adjustable dumbbell set. You can then increase the weight as you go without the need to have lots of different weights taking up space in your home! You may also want to buy an adjustable barbell set so that you can really vary the exercises that you are doing within your workout routine.

 

Motivation can be the biggest barrier to working out at home, so you may want to enlist the services of a personal trainer or online fitness coach to keep you on track. You can also keep your motivation up by continuing to remind yourself what it is that you want to achieve by engaging in regular strength training.

Fitness for Physical Health

As we mentioned earlier on, one of the benefits of this type of exercise is that it can help to protect your body against injury. However, as with any type of physical activity, the potential for injury of course exists.

 

At Onto Orthopedics we consider sports injuries to be one of our specialities, and you can reach out to us for a consultation and speedy diagnosis!