WHAT IS WEIGHT TRAINING?

Weight training or resistance training means lifting weight that is challenging for you. It means performing actions which require some effort from our muscles or performing actions against some resistance. So whether it's a dumbell exercise or push ups your body has to make an effort to perform the action as there is weight or resistsance making it challenging. 

 A large majority of people on earth engage in daily weight training naturally. People doing farm work, construction work do weight training almost everyday. Even women in these situations do weight training everyday; its just that the weight does not look like dumbells. On the other hand in modern city lifestyle the need for physical labour is greatly reduced. Now a days a lot of people have a sedentary lifestyle. Therefore all of them need to deliberately introduce resistance training to their lives; men, women and the seniors.

The term weight training tends to frighten some people as they tend to associate it with body builders who do very heavy and intense weight training. A lot of people perceive that lifting weight is only a sporting activity done by wrestlers and body builders. But all of us have muscles which need to be maintained. There is also a fear amongst women in particular that one will look like a heavyset body builder after regular weight training. It's very important to know that muscle strength and muscle endurance (stamina) are crucial to maintain a healthy,  pain free body capable of performing various daily activities comfortably. 

All of us lose physical strength and stamina naturally with time and age. With sedentary lifestyle there is even a bigger loss of muscle and bone mass. Slowly even the normal day to day activities can start feeling cumbersome leading to aches and pains. 

Let's first understand what is weight training or better yet what is resistance training? When we lift, pull or push a weight that is challenging for us it will be called as weight or resistance training. When we do this regularly it sends a signal to our brain to make our muscles and bones stronger and more resilient. Weight training will not only improve the health of your muscles but also other soft tissue structures in and around the joints like tendons and ligaments. Tendons and ligaments are wirelike structures which keep the muscles and bones in place. 

Now lets look at various ways in which we can do resistance training. All the traditional equipment like dumbells, barbells, mudgal etc can be used for weight training. In addition to these weight training machines, tubes, medicine balls, kettle bells are also used effectively. We can use our own body weight for resistance training eg. squats, push ups, planks etc. Yogasan also offer good resistance training effect. One can mix and match these modalities over the years and keep the stimulus to the body fresh. 

Make sure to include weight/resistance training to your fitness schedule 2 to 3 times per week. It makes the bones stronger by helping to increase the bone mineral density. It will help you to avoid osteoporosis while keeping the muscles toned and firm. It will also help you with weight loss leading to inch loss. Weight/resistance training will give you a strong, resilient body. 

Happy Exercising and remember the mantra: 

'WHEN IT COMES TO EXERCISE BEING REGULAR IS MOST IMPORTANT'

AT A GLANCE