What is muscle strength? How does it help us? And why is it important to us?
Muscle health is essential for our good health, especially with the increasing age. Good muscle health helps in reducing the injuries, and most importantly, the falls.
A person requires strong muscles to strengthen the bones, a reasonable blood sugar control, improving cholesterol levels, healthy weight maintenance, reduction in joint pain, and fighting mild depression. All these things help a person to maintain his or her independence.
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Best Exercises To Strengthen Your Muscles
There is a fact regarding muscles. It is the ‘use it or lose it’ effect. It means if you use your muscles properly, then they will give you the endurance you need, but if you don’t, then you lose the muscles along with the independence. Inactivity causes a loss of muscle protein, which results in a decrease in muscle strength.
Mass muscle decline will be much higher if there is no training, and thereby no strength in the muscles.
A healthy body enables a person to perform various movements and does many other activities that require strength and power without getting tired. Let us also understand the difference between muscular strength and muscle endurance. Both are similar in some ways, with a primary difference that the amount knows the muscular strength of force an individual uses to lift the weight and the amount of strength used to lift heavy weights repeatedly.
At the same time, muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle to endure or bear repeated contractions against any resistivity for a more extended time.
Therefore, proper sleep, a balanced diet, and strengthening exercises can boost endurance while imparting independence.
These are the best exercises to strengthen your muscles include resistance training, weightlifting, bodyweight exercises, and resistance exercises using a specialized band. Running, cycling, and climbing hills are also options.
Muscle endurance exercises include long-distance running, or cycling, and swimming, with circuit training and some exercises for bodyweight.
Muscular Strengthening Exercises
Some of the best exercises for muscle strength are as follows:
- Squats: Squats surely are one of the best exercises for thighs and legs. Squats, the best exercise for toning legs, should be done with utmost care to avoid knee injury. One can do planks with or without using weights. Squats without weights can be done by standing with your back against the wall and lowering yourself for a few inches bending your legs and standing up again. One should remember not to go all the way down to touch the floor. Squats with weights involve using a barbell. A person must carry the barbell on the shoulder behind the neck and lower the body by a few inches bending the legs again, remembering not to go all the way down. One can do between eight to 12 repetitions.
- Biceps curl, arm extensions, and shoulder development: Biceps curl is the best exercise to strengthen your arms, while arm extensions are the best exercises to strengthen your back muscles. A person will need dumbbells or a barbell for doing these exercises. For doing a bicep curl, a person needs to stand with the feet wide apart as per the shoulder width and slightly bent. Place the arms on the side of your body facing up, draw your elbows towards your body, and slowly lift it. Take a pause and then slowly lower your hands, bringing them back to their original position. For doing arm extensions, hold weights and bend your elbows while keeping your arms close to the body. Then take them straight up to cover your head and then bring them back down to the position. Perform two to three sets of ten up to repetitions of twenty.
- Abdominal crunch: One often wants to know what are the best exercises to strengthen your core muscles. Similarly, many people ask as to what are the best exercises to strengthen your back muscles? Abdominal Crunch is definitely one of the best exercises to strengthen your abs and best exercises to strengthen your back muscles. This exercise targets both your back and the core (abdomen and stomach muscles) to promote stability and proper posture. Therefore, it is also one of the best exercises to strengthen your stomach muscles. For doing abdominal crunches, one needs to lie on the back with fingers interlocked behind the head at the base of the skull. Then bend your knees while bringing your feet towards the lower back. Now slowly raise your head and shoulder blade rising off the floor and pause for a few counts before going back to the original position. Repeat two to three sets of eight to twelve repetitions.
- Bridge: People would want to know what the best exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles are. Well, Bridge is one of the best exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and also the best exercise to strengthen your lower back muscles. Bridges strengthen your buttocks as well as the pelvic muscles. For doing Bridges lie down on your back and bend the knees. Place the feet flat apart on the floor. They should be hip-width apart. Place your arms near the sides of your body facing downward. Now contract the buttocks and pelvic floor and lift them several inches above the ground. Now hold this position for about three to eight seconds and then relax and lower them to the ground. Repeat this up to ten times and perform two sets.
- Planks: When asked what are the best exercises to strengthen your back muscles? The answer is Planks. It is the best exercise to strengthen your abs and back. Planks are perfect for the overall strength of the muscles. For doing planks, lie down on the floor with both hands near your chest in the push-up position. The weight of the body should rest upon the forearms and toes holding the body above the floor. Now hold this position for around 15 to 60 seconds and perform two to three sets of this exercise.
Benefits
- Muscular strengthening exercises enhance the overall health of the body while boosting athletic activity.
- Healthy body weight is maintained by burning calories with the enhancement of the body composition that is the ratio between fat and muscle
- Boosts mood and energy levels while promoting healthy sleeping patterns.
- Increases the self-confidence, promotes a sense of accomplishment and provides motivation to continue the fitness routine
- Helps build strong, healthy muscles and bones, relieve back pain, improve stability and balance, provide flexibility to the body, improve body posture, and eliminate injuries and falls
Care to be taken while Exercising
- Keep your movement steady and controlled while working out with weights and give a minute of rest between sets
- Use enough caution while working out with injury or pain prone areas
- Do enough breathing between every movement of your exercise follow the proper inhaling and exiling method
The bottom line
Meet your fitness goals by challenging your muscles to work harder and staying on the target of building a high muscular strength.