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Staying at a healthy weight, staying active throughout life, following a healthy eating pattern, and avoiding or limiting alcohol may greatly reduce a person's lifetime risk of developing or dying from cancer. Read More. Sign Up. Get Help. Image of. Young people tend to take for granted the day-to-day parts of life that require strength, like walking up stairs or picking up a baby.
Building muscle can fight back against that process. Lifting something heavy, like a dumbbell, makes bones bear more weight, and in exercise, stressing your bones is a good thing to a point of course. Bones are constantly remodeling, explains Anthony Hackney, an exercise physiologist at the University of North Carolina. Women have smaller, thinner bones than men from the start, and after menopause they lose estrogen, a hormone that protects bones.
Strength training also comes with the less visible benefit of lowering risk for several diseases. Doing so makes the body more sensitive to insulin, and therefore more durable against certain diseases. In a study, researchers from Harvard Medical School and the National Institutes of Health used data from nearly 36, older women, who ranged in age from 47 to The women filled out questionnaires for about a decade detailing their health and exercise levels, and one question asked women to estimate how much weightlifting or strength training they had done per week in the past year.
The researchers then tracked which of the women had a heart attack or stroke and which developed Type 2 diabetes. First, building muscle increases your metabolic rate. Muscles are more metabolically efficient than fat mass, allowing you to burn more calories at rest 5 , 6. Second, research shows that your metabolic rate is increased up to 72 hours after strength-training exercise.
Fat stored around the abdomen, especially visceral fat , is associated with an increased risk of chronic diseases, including heart disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer 9 , 10 , 11 , Multiple studies have shown the benefit of strength-training exercises for reducing abdominal and total body fat 13 , 14 , This is because muscle is more dense than fat, meaning it takes up less space on your body pound for pound.
Also, losing body fat and building stronger and larger muscles showcases more muscle definition, creating a stronger and leaner appearance. Fortunately, many forms of strength training have been shown to be effective, such as tai chi , weight training, and resistance band and bodyweight exercises 19 , 20 , 21 , Strength training helps improve the strength, range of motion , and mobility of your muscles, ligaments, and tendons.
This can reinforce strength around major joints like your knees, hips, and ankles to provide additional protection against injury 1. For example, having a stronger core, hamstrings, and glutes takes the load off of your lower back during lifting, decreasing your risk of lower-back injuries 23 , 24 , 25 , Finally, adult and teenage athletes that engage in strength training have a lower likelihood of injury 27 , 28 , Multiple studies have shown that regular strength-training exercise can decrease blood pressure, lower total and LDL bad cholesterol, and improve blood circulation by strengthening the heart and blood vessels 31 , 32 , 33 , Strength training also can help you maintain a healthy body weight and manage your blood sugar levels.
High blood sugar levels are a major risk factor for heart disease Strength training may lower your risk of developing diabetes and can help those with the condition manage it better.
Skeletal muscle helps increase insulin sensitivity. It also reduces blood sugar levels by removing glucose from the blood and sending it to muscle cells. As a result, greater muscle mass can help improve blood sugar management 35 , 36 , 37 , Strength training may also reduce your risk of developing diabetes. Strength training increases joint range of motion ROM , allowing for greater mobility and flexibility.
Plus, those with weaker muscles tend to have lower ROM and flexibility In fact, a recent review comparing stretching with strength training found they were equally effective at increasing ROM
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