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Strength Training
By this time, you should be performing moderate-vigorous physical activities about 175 minutes per week. Let’s review the physical activity goals:
- Try to be active on most days of the week (at least 5 days per week) and increase slowly.
- Stay active for at least 10 minutes in a row without breaks. If you haven’t started doing so, slowly increase to 35 minutes per day.
Until now, the focus has been on aerobic exercise such as walking. This week we will also learn about strength training.
Strength training has many benefits:
- Builds muscle, strength, and endurance
- Improves physical appearance, balance, and coordination
- Makes it easier to do daily chores such as carrying things or yard work
- Prevents the loss of muscle tissue common with aging and weight loss
- Reduces the risk of osteoporosis (thin bones)
- Improves the body’s ability to use insulin and maintain healthy glucose levels
However, keep in mind that strength training:
- Burns fewercalories than the same amount of time spent brisk walking
- Does not improve your heart fitness as much as brisk walking
That’s why strength training is an addition to your walking or aerobic activity. It’s not a replacement.
Below are tips to begin a simple strength training program:
| Warm Up before beginning and Cool Down afterwards. |
Do each exercise through the full range of motion. If you can’t do this, decrease the amount of resistance. Add more resistance gradually to develop muscle strength but at the same time, be careful not to do too much.
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Move slowly and smoothly. Never hold your breath. This will prevent a dangerous rise in blood pressure.
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