Benefits of strength training

High-intensity exercise brings about neuromuscular changes. This means that the individual muscle fibres are better controlled, while the body produces more muscle protein and deposits these in the fibres, causing them to become thicker and longer. Strength training provides you with additional strength and increases your performance to enhance your everyday life and activities.

Your muscles determine your posture. Strong abdominal and back muscles keep you upright, stabilise your spine and joints and protect them from excess strain and wear. This reduces the risk of musculoskeletal disorders such as back or neck pain, inhibited mobility, slipped discs, arthrosis, nerve irritation or inflammation.

Your muscle mass is the foundation you need to stay active and healthy. But as you get older, your muscle mass begins to disappear if untrained. If the percentage of muscle relative to overall body mass is between 30% and 40% in adolescence, it begins to diminish by between 0.6% and 2.0% each year from the age of 50. This results in a decline in strength, performance, resilience, mobility and also increases the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders and lifestyle diseases. But this doesn’t have to be. Improve your quality of life with Kieser and develop muscle mass quickly and effectively.

Putting the same muscles under strain by sitting at a desk or doing the same sports causes an uneven use of the muscles, which can result in muscular imbalances. These imbalances are in the strength of muscles in proportion to one another, which can cause poor postures and discomfort. Kieser provides a balancing effect in this regard. The tailored training aims to achieve balance in strengthening the entire body in order to prevent or correct imbalances and poor posture.

High-intensity strength training can improve endurance significantly. Observable longer-term reactions include an increase in mitochondria and mitochondrial enzymes, a change from IIx to IIa muscle fibres, and a reshaping of blood vessels (including capillarisation).

Did you know that your bones are a living organ that you can train? The mechanical exercise at Kieser stimulates the metabolism of the bones, which helps to prevent osteoporosis. Strength training is also used to provide support in the treatment of osteoporosis. Click here to learn more about how Kieser can help prevent or manage osteoporosis. 

If your muscles are active, it increases the production of BDNF (brain-derive neurotrophic factor). This growth factor helps to protect the nerve cells and synapses of the brain from degeneration, to encourage the formation of new ones and to improve communication between nerve cells.

Strength training is equally important for a healthy cardiovascular system. The heart of an active person, for instance, works much more efficiently than that of an unactive person when doing the same activities. Strength training can also help you protect yourself from cardiovascular disorders.

Your muscles are your largest metabolic organs, which is why strength training has an enormous impact on your lipid, sugar, protein and bone metabolism. Strength training is an effective way of preventing or counteracting lifestyle diseases such as excess blood sugar, blood lipid or blood pressure levels. Strength training also helps to prevent obesity, as more muscle mass means you have a higher basal metabolic rate. In other words, you burn more energy than someone who has less muscle mass.

In 2007, scientists discovered that the muscles works like a gland during intense activity, producing hormone-like messenger substances. These myokines enable your muscles to communicate with your organs (e.g. the liver, pancreas, bones and brain) and influence their function. Science is presently aware of around 400 myokines. Interleukin 6, for instance, which activates the sugar and lipid metabolism and is a strong anti-inflammatory agent, has been well-researched.

Strength training encourages self-esteem, confidence and an awareness of one’s own body. It helps to overcome stress and improve the quality of your sleep. It can even provide benefits against anxiety and depression.