Strength Training = Weight Lifting = Resistance Training
Call it what you like, they all mean making muscles with adaptive stress.
Adaptive stress simply means that enough weight/resistance is imposed on your muscles to cause them to develop more muscle tissue. In turn, you become firmer and stronger with a revved up metabolism to help you become leaner and healthier.
The result of adaptive stress on your muscles is to make tiny or “micro” tears in your muscle tissue due to the effort or “stress” imposed on them. The body quickly responds by not only repairing these micro tears but also by making the affected muscle tissue bigger and stronger so that it can better handle such “stress” as it continues over time. A similar response by our body occurs when we cause stress to an area on our skin. If we repeatedly rub or otherwise cause repeated stress to that area of skin such that we slightly damage it, our body will repair the skin with a thicker, tougher, stronger skin known as a callous to help ensure that the skin will be better able to handle such stress while it continues.
There are a wide variety of ways to impose adaptive stress on your muscles which include using your own bodyweight, lifting weights like dumbbells or kettlebells; using resistance bands or utilizing weight machines. Whether you're lifting, carrying, jumping or pushing something that engages your muscles in a manner that challenges or stresses them beyond the level that they are accustomed to, they will respond by accommodating the increased stress by becoming stronger. The key to this resulting in long-term success is CONSISTENCY. Keep in mind that:
Muscles are a Use It or Loose It reality
If you want to live your life with the enormous benefits of having muscles, you need to remain consistent with using your body in a manner that engages and challenges them. Fortunately, that becomes easy since you will have the strength, energy, coordination and balance that your muscles provide, which in turn, allows you to enjoy the countless activities that a strong body enables you to do. You will live in a beautifully balanced cycle where you CAN because you DO, and you DO because you CAN.
t takes extra energy for your body to maintain muscle tissue. The beauty of that is that additional calories are utilized to accomplish the task of muscle maintenance and repair. That translates to a higher metabolism. Lean tissue (muscle) burns more calories each day, as compared to fat. However, our bodies are also designed to be efficient, so if it doesn’t need to use energy (read “calories”) for a physical function, then it won’t. In other words, if you don’t regularly use your muscles, your body is not going to continue to expend energy maintaining them. The sedentary muscle tissue will start to shrink as it become softer and weaker. Your body will need fewer calories with less muscle tissue to maintain, coupled with the reduction in energy you would otherwise expend to create new lean tissue. In turn, you’ll need to trim your calorie consumption or risk gaining excess weight in the form of harmful fat. Don’t let that happen to you.
Benefits of Building and Retaining Muscles
Muscles....
1. build stronger bones which, in turn, increases the strength and flexibility of our tendons and ligaments; improves reflexes thereby reducing risk of injuries
2. contribute to having more energy, being more productive, having improved memory and other cognitive functions
3. help to provide proper posture which supports pain free movement, especially in the lower a back
3. promote a healthier heart, lower blood pressure, reduce risk of Type 2 diabetes and reduced risk of cancer
4. help you handle stress better, sleep better and stave off depression better
5. improve metabolism with more lean tissue to burn additional calories each day (1 lb of muscle burns about 3x the calories of 1 lb of fat)
6. favorably affect appearance with a leaner, more compact physique and improved posture
7. improve life span, which means you get to live better, while you live longer, which translates to being happier
Improve metabolism with more lean tissue to burn additional calories all day long, (1 lb of muscle burns about 3x the calories of 1 lb of fat)
I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t want everything on that list. It’s all within your reach when you commit to making and maintaining muscles and eating healthy. And for those of you who are too busy to commit to a traditional strength training program, my Muscle Minutes Method is Your Solution!
Let's get started being strong, healthy, active & lean!
Make Muscles and Keep Them!