Recently I shared an encouraging testimony, which you can read HERE if you haven't yet. Today, let's go deeper into the importance of strength training.
Muscular strength is one of the 5 health-related components of physical fitness. While building and maintaining muscle used to happen naturally through the physical labor of day to day life, that is no longer the norm in modern day. Now it's very easy for humans to be low on muscle mass and high in body fat, which is detrimental to our health, vitality, and mobility as we age.
Consider these 5 benefits of building and maintaining muscle mass:
1. Increased Metabolic Efficiency - When you hold more muscle, your body needs higher amounts of energy to survive. Since muscle is 3-5 times more metabolically active at rest, muscle tissue burns significantly more calories at rest than fat. Thus, a more efficient metabolism helps with weight management.
2. Improved Insulin Sensitivity - This means more control over blood sugar levels and lower risk of diabetes. You'll also have better blood glucose control. So, less dietary glucose (sugar) will store as body fat and you'll have more energy overall.
3. Fight Sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss) - Around the age of 30, we start to lose muscle mass, but strength training helps us fight against this. Working to build and maintain muscle will benefit our mobility and functionality as we age. "Use it or lose it" really is true when it comes to muscle!
4. Disease Prevention - We all know that excess body fat can lead to a variety of serious health conditions. One of the best ways to keep fat off is by building muscle. In doing so, we can do our part to prevent life-threatening conditions such as stroke, heart attack, diabetes, and many others.
5. Builds Confidence - Taking care of our bodies by building up our strength boots our confidence! And we soon find that confidence spreads across all areas of life, not just the physical. Feeling stronger in our bodies leads to feeling stronger in mind and spirit too!
So what is the best way to build and keep muscle?
The first step is strength training! Our muscles need to work against resistance in order to get stronger. This can be done by using weights, resistance bands, or even your own body weight.
It's recommended that we do so at least 2 days per week, which is why you'll typically see 2 days of strength workouts on the Rise & Abide Wellness class schedule.
Other important factors include proper nutrition, sleep, hydration, stress management, and mobility work.
I hope this helps you see the value in tending to our muscles that goes way beyond appearance. My goal is to encourage women in the stewardship of their bodies so they can serve God and others to the best of their ability.
If your current routine includes strength training, well done! Keep it up! If you have been putting it off, we would love for you to join our workouts, either live or by using the videos in the library! Use THIS link for the FREE 7-Day Trial to the Rise & Abide Wellness online studio.
I would love to encourage you in your wellness goals, so please email me to get in touch if you'd like to chat more about getting started.
Who do you know that also needs this information? Go ahead and forward it on!
Taking care of the bodies that God has given us is one of many ways to grow in our love for Him. It has been my experience that as we worship through stewardship, we continue to discover more of His goodness and love.
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