What Are the Benefits of Building Muscle Mass?
Enhances your level of functional fitness: The higher your level of muscular fitness, the more likely you will be able to do the tasks in your life without undue fatigue or risk of injury
Facilitates your efforts to control your weight: The more muscle you have, the easier it is to keep your weight within a desirable range.
Promotes bone health: Proper strength training will help lower your bone loss risk.
Reduces your chances of sustaining both muscular and skeletal injuries: Strength training can be viewed as a relatively effective and inexpensive form of personal health insurance.
Slows down the so-called aging process: Proper strength training can have an invaluable impact on helping people maintain their independence as they age.
Decreases the relative muscular demands of specific tasks: Common activities of daily living (e.g., carrying groceries, shoveling snow, lifting small children) require less effort and are easier to perform.
Helps treat and prevent lower back pain: Proper strength training enhances postural stability, keeping these muscles strong and helping prevent undue load forces from being placed on your spine.
Enhances your appearance: The “fit, healthy” look is a matter of muscle tone, and an improved level of muscle tone is a by-product of proper strength training.
Improves sports performance: Want to improve your pickleball game? A higher level of muscular fitness affects your ability to continue to perform.
Improves psychological well-being: Strength training can have a meaningful effect on the various facets of the mind-body connection.
Why What You Doing Now May Not Actually Be Making You Stronger in the Way That You Think
If you attend my Barre Fusion classes, go to Orange Theory, or do a Bodi Body Pump class, you are building muscle endurance but not muscle mass. Muscle endurance has great benefits, including increasing your energy and endurance to do the physical activities you want to do in your life.
If you take my Barre Fusion classes, you will also improve your balance, mobility, and cardiovascular strength.
So, you are getting many health benefits in these classes, but you’re NOT doing the very important work of building muscle.
So, What Is the Best Way to Build Muscle Mass?
It’s simple: Lift heavier weights more slowly, using mostly compound movements. This method is called progressive overload, and it’s the fundamental principle of muscle gain for both young and old.
If you’re new to weight training, you should ease into it to learn proper form and get used to the movements. However, once you know how to perform the exercises and feel comfortable and coordinated, you must slowly increase your weights to get the full benefits.
Which Exercises Are the Best for Building Muscle?
To get the most bang for your buck, focus on compound or multi-joint movements that work several muscle groups simultaneously.
This week's exercise lineup for my Progressive Strength class is a great example.
1. Lunge Right
2. Lunge Left
3. Deadlift
4. Overhead Press
5. Front Raise
6. Side Plank
7. Bridge Lift
8. Chest Press
9. Alternating Core Reaches
We switch things up each week but the format stays consistent.
If you’d like to sign up for the class, you can use this link.
If you are new to Progressive Strength, feel free to use the Two-Week Free Offer and try it before committing.
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