The benefits for us all that can be gained from exercise extend way beyond what people used to believe even a decade ago. Recent research has revealed that by doing physical activity on a regular basis, many health risks can be reduced. Apart from the health side, regularly doing a physical activity can be fun and give your quality of life a boost in a very positive way. There are many proven facts as to the benefits of exercise:
Stroke and heart disease: Daily workout can help prevent these types of conditions by making heart muscles stronger and making your blood pressure lower. This will, in turn, improve your body’s blood flow and give your heart a bigger working capacity. By optimising these factors, there are many other benefits, not the least being, drastically lowering the possibility of Peripheral Vascular Disease

• High blood pressure. For people that suffer from high blood pressure, a regular physical workout will reduce the amount of body fat that is often associated with this condition. Obviously, this should also be linked to a better diet.
• Noninsulin-Dependent Diabetes. Controlling a problem like this can be done with regular exercise. By lowering the body fat levels, it is also an excellent method of prevention.
• Obesity. Being overweight is a problem that has been highlighted in society and affects a broad range of age groups and both men and women. Daily workouts will reduce body weight and build muscle mass, which in turn will improve your body’s capacity to burn calories. If this type of physical activity is combined with a nutritional diet, it is a terrific technique of staying healthy and getting down to your optimum weight level.
• Pain in the back region. An increase in the strength of your muscles by physical exercise will improve flexibility and help prevent back pain.
• Osteoporosis: By using weight training this painful condition can be controlled

Apart from the above, doing exercise on a daily or regular weekly basis will improve your overall mental health and the way that you feel about your body. It will give you more confidence in your everyday life and reduce anxiety and depression.

Resistance training

An important part of any health regime is resistance training. This is also called weight or strength training and is utilised to not only increase your body’s strength capacity but also to build anaerobic endurance and body size.

The theory

The theory behind resistance training technique is that the body will engage to overcome an external resistance force. By doing this regularly, the muscles will gradually become stronger and stronger.
A well-balanced program for this method of training will include training that will improve the strength of ligaments, tendons, muscle, bone density and joint functionality. For a well-rounded program, the strength training should be linked to aerobic activity which will also work on improving lung and heart fitness and flexibility. It is recommended that activity should take place at least twice a week, for an improvement to take place.
To get the benefits out of any resistance training program, it should be varied between every six to eight weeks. Activities that can be varied include:

• Sets
• Repetitions
• The exercises that are completed
• The weights that are used
• The frequency of each session
• The rest that is taken between sets

The variation is essential for you to get the full benefit from resistance training. By doing his, then you will be able to keep the strength gains that you have already achieved, and be able to push on and achieve more.

Some examples of resistance training

Whether you are in the house or a gym, there are numerous ways that you can strengthen muscles, by doing a variety of resistance training. It is; however, wise to use a professional coach to help with this type of training, to enable you to get the total benefit. The different types of resistance training include:

• Using free weights of every size
• Using weight machines that have been specially designed to work on a particular muscle group
• Taking advantage of a medicine ball
• Resistance bands. These look like giant rubber bands, but will provide the body with resistance when stretched. These are portable bands that can be taken with you anywhere and are able to be adapted to most workouts.

It is possible to use the weight of your own body as resistance. There are plenty of exercises that do not require any external weights but can be used to build strength. Exercises such as chin-ups, push-ups and squats are ideal for this.

The basic health benefits of resistance training

By using resistance training under suitably qualified supervision there are many advantages:

• You will improve the tone and muscle strength of your body
• Your muscle to fat ratio will grow because as you build muscle the body becomes more efficient at burning calories when it is at rest.
• You will have much greater stamina
• Your body will have more of resistance to chronic conditions (mentioned above).
• You will have improved mobility, balance and pain management that is linked to better posture.
• Less risk of injury because the body is very healthy
• Fantastic bone density which will significantly reduce the risk of osteoporosis
• Better overall well-being, which includes sleeping better
• You will have higher self-esteem and an increased ability to perform everyday activities to a higher standard.

How to start resistance training and general aerobic exercise

For people who would like to start exercising and resistance training on a regular basis, then the first place to head for is the local gym. It is always best to seek out the help of a professional when you are dealing with anything that involves your body. The gym will work out a program that is unique to your needs, which will always pay particular attention to personal safety.
A typical program for beginners would involve around ten exercise routines that will be done two or three times a week. The aim of a well thought out fitness program is to increase the sets gradually and build up fitness and strength levels over the weeks, months and hopefully, years.