Increasing overall muscle strength is the goal of many a young athlete and middle-aged man who is looking to get back to regular exercise. One of the methods of increasing strength is through weight training.
But how much can a person really increase their strength by weight training? There is no simple answer, so the debate rages on.
Weight training is a subset of strength training and something that is being recommended more and more by experts in the weight loss field. The idea behind weight training is to build lean and toned muscles that consume calories and keep excess fat from accumulating in the body. Weight training has already been used in the bodybuilding arena for generations.
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Why Do So Many People Agree That I Can Increase Strength by Weight Training?
Weight training is a specific type of strength training using weight and gravity to put stress on muscles at the beginning of an exercise.
The muscle in question must overcome both the weight and gravity, thereby causing stress.
Other forms of strength training, like resistance training, put the stress on the muscle at different points in the exercise, thereby gaining different results.
Weight training is most effective in overall strength because it is muscle strength that overcomes the stress with an initial burst of activity.
That’s why bodybuilders continue to use time-tested weight training procedures to build their muscle mass and strength. It would stand to reason then, that the average person can increase their strength significantly and in proportion to the amount of weight training he undergoes.
Unfortunately, that not always the case.
If I Can Increase Strength by Weight Training, Are Bigger Muscles Always Stronger?
While there is an obvious correlation between muscle mass and strength, a bigger muscle is not necessarily a stronger one.
Measuring overall strength in proportion to muscle mass reveals that muscle tone is more important to overall strength than merely the size.
Therefore, any plan to increase strength by weight training should be focused on the leanness of muscles rather than just their size and shape alone.
There are many weight training exercises designed to increase tone and leanness and another set of exercises designed to build mass. A personal trainer can guide you through the process of training your muscles and increasing strength.
They can establish a regimen of exercises, along with a number of repetitions and a weekly schedule, which should help you reach your strength building goals.
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Will Genetics Help Me Increase Strength by Weight Training?
From a purely technical point of view, it would appear that any normal person could increase their strength by weight training without any upward limit, as long as they are committed to an ever-increasing weight training regimen. But physiologically, it simply is not possible.
The genetic makeup of every human being determines a strength limit that we will never be able to overcome with mere weight training. For example, there are always those skinny guys who can never seem to increase muscle mass no matter how hard they try.
By contrast, there are the athletically-built ones who seem to put on muscle mass and strength with very little effort. Genetics has a lot to do with this.
Our genetic makeup plays a large part in how our muscles respond to weight training, and how lean and large they may become. Don’t be fooled by the pictures of massively endowed bodybuilders that you see in weight training advertisements.
The vast majority of these bodybuilders take supplements to increase muscle mass, yet do not gain a proportional amount of strength with it. That’s because they are focused on what their physique looks like rather than what it can do.
If you’re interested in strength rather than physique, accept the fact that you will reach a limit in your strength that can’t be overcome through natural means.
Once I Successfully Increase Strength by Weight Training, Is It Necessary to Continue My Training?
Just as it’s possible to increase strength by weight training, it’s also possible to lose that strength if you stop weight training. The phrase “use it or lose it” very much applies to the muscles.
If you do not continue to use them and train them, you will lose tone and strength.
A moderate and regular workout program designed to put your muscles to work is adequate in maintaining your current strength and muscle tone.
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