Hello everyone. This is Amatou.
In this article, to help you grow to love strength training even more, I will introduce six benefits you can gain by making strength training a habit.
Strength training is an exercise that offers a wide range of wonderful effects, not just for shaping up, but also for ‘brain impact’ such as improved productivity and cognitive function, strengthening bones, alleviating stiff shoulders and lower back pain, and even mental care like boosting self-esteem.
This time, I will explain these six benefits one by one, based on scientific data obtained from numerous studies and my own personal experience.
■ Your basal metabolism increases, making your body more prone to weight loss
Basal metabolism is the minimum energy metabolism consumed just by a human being alive.
It is the calories automatically consumed even if you are lying down and staying still all day, and it actually accounts for about 60% of your total daily calorie expenditure.
In other words, the higher your basal metabolism, the less likely you are to gain weight and the easier it is to lose weight.
The number one benefit of strength training is this ‘improvement in basal metabolism’.
However, it is said that the basal metabolism consumed by muscle alone is ‘about 13 kcal per 1 kg’.
Looking at just this, you might think, ‘That’s only about one bite of a rice ball…’
Therefore, you often hear the negative argument that ‘even if you increase muscle mass, the improvement in basal metabolism is negligible’.
However, from the perspective of sports science and physiology, it has been clarified that the increase in metabolism due to increased muscle brings about changes in the human body that cannot be dismissed as ‘negligible’. I will introduce a few studies that serve as evidence for this.
■ The metabolism of internal organs other than muscle also increases
A study by McCrave et al. reports that as muscle mass increases, the metabolic activity of internal organs is also maintained and promoted accordingly.
When muscles are stimulated or increased through strength training, metabolic processing in the liver and kidneys becomes more active.
This is because internal organs like the liver and kidneys begin working at full capacity 24 hours a day behind the scenes to maintain and repair the increased muscle.
In other words, because the energy consumption rate of internal organs also increases, basal metabolism inevitably rises as well.
…even if you are told that, it is hard to really grasp the concept of activating visceral metabolism because it is not visible to the eye, isn’t it?
Actually, the easiest way to experience this increase in liver and kidney metabolism is the increase in urine volume after starting strength training.
When you move your muscles during strength training, the pump that sends blood and lymph fluid back to the heart works, and blood flow throughout the body improves all at once.
As a result, the kidneys become more active, and excess salt and water that had accumulated in the body are rapidly excreted as urine.
As a result, unnecessary water in the body is thoroughly removed, and the body changes into a refreshed state without swelling.
In other words, if you feel that your urine volume has increased after starting strength training, that is the real proof that your liver and kidneys are using energy to perform metabolic processing.
■ Improved insulin sensitivity makes it harder to gain weight and easier to lose fat
Research by DeFronzo et al. has proven that over 70-80% of the carbohydrates consumed in a meal are taken up and processed by skeletal muscle.
In other words, when muscle mass increases, the “destination for sugar” increases, which improves insulin sensitivity and powerfully prevents excess sugar from being converted into body fat.
It is great that just by increasing muscle, your body changes to one that is less likely to gain weight even when you eat.
Furthermore, there is an ultimate “bonus time” immediately after strength training.
Because the muscles immediately after strength training have depleted their energy source, sugar, they begin to absorb blood sugar intensely without waiting for insulin’s instructions.
In other words, carbohydrates eaten before or after strength training are preferentially drawn into muscle recovery without any chance of turning into body fat.
Therefore, there are quite a few strength training enthusiasts who intentionally aim to eat their “reward sweets” right after a workout.
…well, even so, there is a limit to the amount of sugar that muscles can store.
Please keep in mind that this is only to the extent that ‘it is less likely to cause weight gain than eating without exercising at all’.
Be careful not to overeat like I did, thinking ‘I’m fine because I did strength training!’… I have learned this the hard way many times.
In addition, increasing muscle mass increases the calories consumed during daily activities, and a phenomenon called the ‘afterburn effect’ occurs after strength training.
This is a phenomenon where oxygen consumption increases during the process of repairing the damaged body, and a high metabolic state is maintained for several to dozens of hours after training.
As such, while it is a fact that ‘1kg of muscle burns 13kcal,’ that is only talking about the muscle in isolation.
In reality, due to various synergistic effects such as the coordination of internal organs, improved sugar processing capacity, and the afterburn effect, even just gaining 1kg of muscle significantly increases basal metabolism, so it goes without saying that your body will change into one that is easier to lose weight!
Strength training is also effective for the ‘brain’
Actually, surprisingly, numerous studies have proven that strength training is good for the brain.
First, a study by Dr. Liu-Ambrose and colleagues at the University of British Columbia found that just doing strength training once or twice a week significantly improves the function of the frontal lobe, which governs concentration and judgment.
Furthermore, when you do strength training, a substance called ‘BDNF,’ which is known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, is secreted, activating the hippocampus, which governs memory.
Moreover, research results have been reported that even without continuing for months, just moving your body for about 30 minutes once increases blood flow to the brain all at once, improving work processing speed immediately afterward.
That is why many top executives at major IT companies, such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, who are extremely busy, make it a habit to do a quick strength training session before work.
This is because they know that ‘waking up the brain with strength training improves work performance.’
…However, there is one important point to note here.
If your goal is to activate your brain, high-intensity strength training that pushes you to your limits is a no-go.
This is because overly intense strength training not only exhausts the body but also becomes a strong physical stressor, causing the massive secretion of a stress hormone called ‘cortisol’.
If this becomes excessive, there is a risk that it will conversely shrink the hippocampus, which governs memory.
If you want to sharpen your brain, the best approach is strength training that you finish comfortably in about 30 minutes in total, doing one light set for each body part.
It creates an exquihttps://gymforcestore.com/ balance that suppresses cortisol while secreting high-quality dopamine and serotonin.
■ Strengthening Bones
There is a famous principle called “Wolff’s Law,” proposed by German anatomist Julius Wolff in 1892.
This is the fundamental principle that “bones become denser and sturdier to withstand the load when they receive weight or stimulation.”
Incidentally, this mechanical stimulation applied to bones is called “mechanostress.”
When bones are subjected to mechanostress, the osteocytes within them detect it and activate osteoblasts to create new bone, thereby making the bones stronger.
Actually, I once injured my patella… what is commonly known as the “kneecap.”
Since then, I often felt an unpleasant discomfort in my knee when swimming for long periods in a pool or when fatigue accumulated.
However, since I started strength training, I have almost stopped feeling that discomfort.
The exercise I felt the most effective was the “leg press.”
At first, even with the lightest weight, I felt an unsettling discomfort in my knee. However, as I continued while monitoring it within a reasonable range, that discomfort gradually disappeared.
And now, I can lift heavy weights vigorously, as if the anxiety I felt back then was a lie. It is truly thanks to the leg press that the discomfort in my daily life has disappeared.
When I looked into it, I found that connective tissues such as bones, tendons, and ligaments in the human body have a response system to mechanostress, regardless of the part.
Therefore, even for parts that were injured in the past, by applying appropriate loads and gradually getting them used to it, not only the bones but also the surrounding supporting muscles and joint tissues are reconstructed, so discomfort like aftereffects improves dramatically.
However, of course, applying load during the acute phase when pain is severe or while inflammation is present is absolutely NG (not good).
Please keep in mind that this is strictly for “overcoming discomfort with light loads after the pain has subsided and you have received a doctor’s permission.”
If you ignore the discomfort and apply high weight suddenly, the destruction of the tissue will exceed the repair speed, increasing the risk of injury.
Once a part is damaged, it is more delicate than other parts. I strongly recommend a “cautious approach” where you start with the lightest weight and increase the load in stages!
■ Toning the Body with Muscle
According to a survey of people who perform strength training regularly, about 70-80% of those who have continued strength training for three months or more report feeling high levels of effectiveness, noting that their “body shape has tightened” or that “the fit and silhouette of their clothes have changed.”
In terms of timing, “1 month to less than 3 months” accounts for about 40%, and “3 months to less than 6 months” accounts for about 35%, with many people feeling clear changes within a few months.
Actually, I also noticed my clothing size changed about three months after I started strength training, and people around me started asking, “Did you lose some weight?”
Regarding this result, I seriously regretted my past of relying only on aerobic exercise, thinking, “If my body shape could change in just three months, I should have started strength training much sooner!”
In the first place, the reason I shifted from aerobic exercise to strength training was because I felt the limitations of “dieting through aerobic exercise alone.”
Of course, at first, my weight dropped smoothly. However, as the weight dropped, no matter how desperately I continued the aerobic exercise, the needle on the scale stopped moving entirely.
When I decided to switch to strength training, it brought about positive results that far exceeded my expectations in just three months.
So, why did such a dramatic change occur?
■ The Difference in Density Between Muscle and Fat
The reason lies in the “difference in density between muscle and fat.”
In fact, even at the same weight, fat has about 18-20% more volume than muscle.
Imagine this: even at the same weight of 2kg, muscle is a compact, firm mass, whereas fat has a volume that is one or two sizes larger.
In other words, when the change occurs where fat decreases and muscle increases due to strength training, even if the number on the scale does not change at all, the volume itself shrinks, so the appearance becomes dramatically tighter.
Even at the same 50kg, the visual silhouette is completely different between someone with high body fat and someone with high muscle mass.
Actually, I have lost 10kg through aerobic exercise in the past, but honestly, I was disappointed, thinking, “For having lost 10kg, my appearance hasn’t changed that much…”
However, after switching to strength training, even though I only lost 2kg in just three months, my appearance changed so dramatically that people around me noticed, and the body fat that wouldn’t budge during aerobic exercise dropped at an astonishing speed.
■ The Reason Why You “Stagnate” with Aerobic Exercise Alone
Aerobic exercise tends to cause a loss of muscle along with fat.
This is because aerobic exercise has the property of breaking down not only fat but also muscle protein to consume as energy during the workout.
Without the strong stimulus of strength training, aerobic exercise makes it easy for the body to decide that “this muscle does not need to be maintained,” and it also promotes muscle breakdown to compensate for energy shortages.
Therefore, if you continue only with aerobic exercise without taking measures such as doing it in parallel with strength training, you will lose muscle along with fat.
As a result, dieting with only aerobic exercise often leads to the disadvantage that “as your weight drops, your basal metabolism decreases, making it easier to hit a plateau.”
Let’s stop being fooled by the trap of the number on the scale.
What we really want is not a lower weight, but a toned, cool-looking physique.
The best way to achieve that is through strength training!
■ Improvement of lower back pain and stiff shoulders
The first thing I was able to realize after starting strength training was the “improvement of lower back pain and stiff shoulders.”
I will explain the mechanism for why these two symptoms are improved.
■ Mechanism of lower back pain improvement
The main cause of lower back pain is the weakening of the abdominal muscles, back, glutes, and thighs that support the pelvis, which causes poor posture and concentrates stress on the lumbar spine and muscles.
When the large muscles of the lower body, such as the glutes and thighs, are strengthened through strength training, the position of the pelvis is correctly stabilized.
Furthermore, by strengthening the abdominal and back muscles, the pressure in the abdomen acts as a “natural corset,” which significantly disperses the burden placed on the lower back during daily movements, leading to a dramatic reduction in lower back pain.
■ Mechanism of stiff shoulder improvement
On the other hand, the true cause of stiff shoulders is an “ischemic state” where muscles become stiff because blood flow is stagnant due to lack of movement, causing fatigue substances and pain-inducing substances to accumulate.
However, when you stretch and contract your muscles through strength training, a muscle pump action works, where muscles pump out blood vigorously like a pump. This dramatically improves stagnant blood flow and makes it easier for waste products to be excreted.
Furthermore, by training the muscles around the shoulder blades, the foundation of the back that supports the heavy head, which weighs about 5kg, becomes solid, drastically reducing the burden on the shoulders.
When posture collapses due to lack of muscle strength, muscles are forced into excessive tension, either in a constantly stretched state or a constantly contracted state.
However, when muscles are trained and moderate tension returns, your daily posture naturally improves without you even being conscious of it, and you stop putting unnecessary strain on your shoulders and lower back.
Training muscles through strength training is not a temporary relief of pain like a massage, but a fundamental solution of “supporting the skeleton back into the correct position with your own muscles.”
■ Boosts Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy
It has been proven by numerous studies in the fields of psychology and exercise science that strength training dramatically increases “self-esteem” and “self-efficacy.”
According to a meta-analysis by a research team at the University of Georgia and others that summarized multiple papers, it is concluded that strength training significantly improves self-esteem regardless of age or gender.
In particular, the realization that “I achieved the healthy body I wanted through my own efforts,” such as the improvement of lower back pain and stiff shoulders, or a toned physique, is sublimated into strong self-approval.
The thing I realized most after making strength training a habit myself was “how unhealthy my body actually was, which I had previously thought was ‘normal’.”
I blamed everything on my age or being overweight—why my body felt heavy, why my joints ached, and why I wasn’t seeing results despite working so hard on my diet—and I had given up somewhere along the line, thinking it wasn’t something I could improve right away.
However, as I started strength training and my lower back pain and stiff shoulders gradually improved, and I felt my body becoming lighter, I realized that “I was more unhealthy than I imagined,” and at the same time…
“Even someone like me can change their body in just this short amount of time!”
“Aren’t I amazing!?”
And, without exaggeration, my outlook on life changed completely.
Of course, the change in appearance is also pleasing, but the physical sensation of “my body doesn’t hurt” and “it doesn’t feel heavy” fills my heart many times over and makes me positive.
Just having a light body makes me able to tackle work and dieting with a positive attitude, and my daily life becomes more active, to the point where even “walking is fun.”
The very fact that you are “improving your healthy state day by day through your own efforts” is the greatest secret to acknowledging yourself and learning to love yourself.
Scientifically, it has been proven that strength training leads humans to a positive state.
This is because many studies have revealed that performing strength training causes the simultaneous secretion of brain chemicals such as “testosterone,” which generates motivation and confidence, “dopamine,” which provides a sense of accomplishment, and “serotonin,” which stabilizes the mind.
In work and relationships, no matter how hard you try, sometimes your efforts are not rewarded.
However, muscles will respond 100% to the time and effort you put into them.
How was it?
As introduced this time, strength training is not just a task for “building bigger muscles” or “losing weight.”
Building a body that increases basal metabolism and burns fat
Activating the brain to improve performance in work and daily life
Strengthening bones and joints to fundamentally keep knee and lower back pain away
Using the difference in density between muscle and fat to create a toned physique
And, cultivating an unwavering confidence that you have “obtained health through your own power”
Strength training is a “lifelong self-care” that brings out the maximum potential of our bodies and minds.
When you feel a little tired from work or daily life, please try incorporating strength training as a time to gently face your own body.
I have also explained the content of this article in detail on YouTube, so I would be happy if you could take a look!
Thank you for reading this article.
