I have heard from a lot of you that your workout routine has had to change drastically lately because the gyms have been closed. It is so very important to continue to do some sort of resistance training, either with hand weights, soup cans or body weight. Our joints are held in place by our muscles and ligaments and if they get loose or weak, our bones go out of alignment (subluxated) easier which leads to pain, tightness, and instability. Doing some sore of resistance training will help your adjustments stay in place better, reduce neck and back pain, and improve posture.
Before your next workout, consider these science-backed benefits of strength training. Lifting weights is a great addition to any exercise program and helps your Chiropractic adjustments hold longer.
1. Lower abdominal fat. In a 2014 study published in the research journal Obesity, Harvard researchers followed 10,500 men over the course of 12 years and found that strength training is more effective at preventing increases in abdominal fat than cardiovascular exercise. When people incorporate strength training into their exercise routine, they not only burn calories, but increase lean muscle mass, which stimulates the metabolism,” Rebold says. Muscle mass is a major determiner of basal metabolic rate, or the number of calories the body burns per day to sustain physiologic functions.
2. Better cardiovascular health. Abdominal fat (also known as visceral fat) sits in and around the vital organs, including the heart. So, preventing or reducing any excess abdominal fat through strength training can certainly improve heart health. However, studies suggest that strength training also directly impacts the heart. For example, 2013 research in the Journal of Applied Physiology demonstrates that young men who regularly strength train have better-functioning HDL, or good cholesterol, compared with those who never pump iron. Rebold explains that strength training improves blood pressure and triglyceride levels similarly to cardiovascular exercise, but it has even greater benefits on HDL. And 2015 research published in The Lancet medical journal shows that grip strength (a marker for total-body muscle health) more accurately predicts death from heart disease than blood pressure does.
3. Controlled blood sugar levels. “Resistance training is something we want anyone with Type 2 diabetes to incorporate into their routine,” Rebold says. He explains that a 2013 review published in the journal BioMed Research International shows that, in addition to building muscle, strength training also improves the muscle’s ability to take in and use glucose, or blood sugar. “In your muscle cells, you have these transporters that pick up glucose from the blood and deliver it to the muscle cells,” Rebold says. “Strength training improves their functioning to pick up a lot more glucose from the blood and into muscle, thereby decreasing blood sugar levels.”