From Harvard Medical School
Most of us know that strength training (with free weights, weight machines, or resistance bands) can help build and maintain muscle mass and strength. What many of us don't know is that strong muscles lead to strong bones. And strong bones can help minimize the risk of fracture due to osteoporosis.
If you sit at a desk all day but aren't motivated to exercise, this incredibly short routine can help you look and feel better. Office workers have it rough in one way which matters quite a bit. Sitting in a chair for most of their waking hours often translates into carrying around more weight than is good for a person, physiologically or esthetically speaking.
Many of you have been curious about the effectiveness of the Timed Static Contraction workout that I have talked about. Many are converting to this workout on a regular basis, especially when moving the weights causes joint pain or becomes too much of a struggle to maintain proper form and breathing.
High Intensity training (HIT) is a form of strength training that focuses on performing quality weight training repetitions to the point of momentary muscular failure. The training takes into account the number of repetitions, the amount of weight and the amount of time the muscle is exposed to tension in order to maximize the amount of muscle fiber recruitment.
By Chris Iliades, MD
Medically Reviewed by Samuel Mackenzie, MD, PhD
Strength training goes a long way in terms of supporting bone health, making aerobic exercise more productive, preventing injury, and facilitating healthy aging. If you knew that a certain type of exercise could benefit your heart, improve your balance, strengthen your bones, and help you lose weight all while making you look and feel better, wouldn't you want to get started?
Excerpt from an article by Markham Heid in Time Magazine
For many, weight training calls to mind bodybuilders pumping iron in pursuit of beefy biceps and bulging pecs. But experts say it’s well past time to discard those antiquated notions of what resistance training can do for your physique and health. Modern exercise science shows that working with weights may be the best exercise for lifelong physical function and fitness.
Excerpts from “Resistance Training: Metabolic Magic” from the American Council on Exercise
• Research in the past few years has confirmed that lifting weights changes human metabolism in ways that improve health and well-being.
• Resistance exercise also improves resting metabolic rate and cardiorespiratory fitness.
by Charlene Laino from WebMD
Preliminary research calls into question the old adage that stretching improves flexibility more than resistance training. "Our results suggest that full-range resistance training regimens can improve flexibility as well as, or perhaps better than, typical static stretching regimens," says James R. Whitehead, EdD, of the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.
