{"id":5810,"date":"2016-09-22T08:00:55","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T12:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/?p=5810"},"modified":"2016-09-16T09:33:48","modified_gmt":"2016-09-16T13:33:48","slug":"why-strength-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/health-maintenance\/why-strength-training\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Strength Training?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"by\">\n<h2>Strength training: Get stronger, leaner, healthier<\/h2>\n<p>Strength training is an important part of an overall fitness program. Here&#8217;s what strength training can do for you \u2014 and how to get started.<\/p>\n<p>Want to reduce body fat, increase lean muscle mass and burn calories more efficiently? Strength training to the rescue! Strength training is a key component of overall health and fitness for everyone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"auto-mobile\">Lean muscle mass naturally diminishes with age.<\/div>\n<p>You&#8217;ll increase the percentage of fat in your body if you don&#8217;t do anything to replace the lean muscle you lose over time. Strength training can help you preserve and enhance your muscle mass at any age.<\/p>\n<p>Strength training may also help you:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Develop strong bones.<\/strong><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>By stressing your bones, strength training can increase bone density and reduce the risk of osteoporosis.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Manage your weight.<\/strong><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>Strength training can help you manage or lose weight, and it can increase your metabolism to help you burn more calories.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Enhance your quality of life.<\/strong><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>Strength training may enhance your quality of life and improve your ability to do everyday activities. Building muscle also can contribute to better balance and may reduce your risk of falls. This can help you maintain independence as you age.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Manage chronic conditions.<\/strong><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>Strength training can reduce the signs and symptoms of many chronic conditions, such as arthritis, back pain, obesity, heart disease, depression and diabetes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sharpen your thinking skills.<\/strong><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>Some research suggests that regular strength training and aerobic exercise may help improve thinking and learning skills for older adults.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"auto-mobile\">Strength training can be done at home or in the gym. Common choices include:<\/div>\n<div class=\"auto-mobile\"><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Body weight.<\/strong><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>You can do many exercises with little or no equipment. Try pushups, pull-ups, abdominal crunches and leg squats.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Resistance tubing.<\/strong><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>Resistance tubing is inexpensive, lightweight tubing that provides resistance when stretched. You can choose from many types of resistance tubes in nearly any sporting goods store.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Free weights.<\/strong><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>Barbells and dumbbells are classic strength training tools.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Weight machines.<\/strong><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>Most fitness centers offer various resistance machines. You can also invest in weight machines for use at home.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/healthy-lifestyle\/fitness\/in-depth\/strength-training\/art-20046670\" class=\"broken_link\">http:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/healthy-lifestyle\/fitness\/in-depth\/strength-training\/art-20046670<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"adsmobileBottom\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"auto-mobile\"><\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Strength training: Get stronger, leaner, healthier Strength training is an important part of an overall fitness program. Here&#8217;s what strength training can do for you \u2014 and how to get started. Want to reduce body fat, increase lean muscle mass &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/health-maintenance\/why-strength-training\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9193321,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[313094],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-maintenance"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paB9fc-1vI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9193321"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5810"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5820,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5810\/revisions\/5820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.butler.edu\/healthyhorizons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}