Add Strength Training to Your Workout and Prevent Disease

Remember the last time you used the staircase instead of the elevator or moved around furniture? How easy were these activities? Were you sore after moving furniture? These activities require strength and endurance. Without adequate strength, even daily chores that we take for granted can be hard to do.

Many people lose muscle and strength with age. However, most of this loss is due to inactivity.

After puberty, whether you are a man or a woman, you begin to lose about 1 percent of your bone and muscle strength every year. "One of the best ways to stop, prevent, and even reverse bone and muscle loss is to add strength training to your workouts," advises Troy Tuttle, MS, an exercise physiologist at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston" (EverydayHealth.com, Illiades).

Not getting adequate workouts in people tend to see these affects:

exercise tolerance declines
body fat increases
muscles decrease in size and become weaker and
bone thickness decreases

These upsets can lead to detrimental consequences such as bone fractures, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and even depression.

Strength training, or weight training, can prevent and even reverse these changes. Working out your muscles increases your strength and endurance. Slowly incorporating strength training into your workout helps your body become stronger. You start feeling younger and have more energy.

There are two types of resistance training:

Isometric resistance involves contracting your muscles against a non-moving object, such as against the floor in a push-up.
Isotonic strength training involves contracting your muscles through a range of motion as in weight lifting.
Both make you stronger and can get you into better shape. Remember that with strength training your muscles need time to recover, so it should only be done on alternate days. Always take some time to warm up and cool down after strength training.

It takes hard work to develop one's strength and muscle potential. A simple beginner program is a full-body routine performed 3 times per week. Perform 2 or 3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions per muscle group. Begin with a light exercise program. Exercise slowly with good posture, full range of motion, and regular breathing. Never hold your breath while lifting weights. Many household items can be used as weights. Beginners do not need to buy expensive equipment or join a health club.

Performed properly, strength training should maintain or even increase a joint's range of movement. It strengthens bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and improves fitness and health. It can also help prevent accidents and injuries and speed recovery when injuries do occur. It improves one's ability to do everyday chores and activities. Strength training can and should be done for a lifetime. Medical studies show benefits of strength training for people in their 80's and 90's!

Remember we shouldn't be focused on curing diseases, we should focus on PREVENTION of diseases. Working out whether it's jogging, walking, strength training, swimming etc. at least 30 minutes a day will give you energy and will help you in the long run.

Get a medical checkup before starting any exercise program. Your training should include a workout routine and instructions on how to do the exercises correctly.

Check out my workout in the park!

My choice juice drink before a workout is beet juice. Beets are an appropriate choice before a workout because of their high carbohydrate content. The sugar and other carbohydrates in beets fuel your body with easily accessible calories for quick energy. As with all foods, time your consumption of beets for best results. If you eat beets as part of a heavy meal, wait at least three hours before exercising, as registered dietician Natalie Digate Muth suggests. If you eat beets or another snack before exercise, wait about 30 minutes before you work out.

Check out FitLife.tv's pre-workout beet juice recipe!

Pre-Workout Drink

What are some of your favorite workouts?

Sources:

http://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness/add-strength-training-to-your-workout.aspx

http://www.uihealthcare.com/topics/exercisefitness/exer3113.html