Whether you have time to go to the gym or afford your own home equipment, sometimes resistance training can be the cheaper and more convenient alternative.
So what is resistance training!?
Resistance training is a form of physical activity that improves muscular fitness and strength! It consists of exercising a muscle or group of muscles against any external resistance. This could be from lifting weights, using resistance bands or tubes to even using your own body weight. With resistance training, you not only build strength, you increase your endurance and can even improve bone density.
Here are some other benefits:
- Improved core strength
- Increased flexibility and balance
- Build muscle mass and reduce body fat
- Improve muscle strength and tone
So how are these muscles built?
When you are lifting weights or doing push ups, what is going on underneath the skin are tiny little tears in your muscles. When those small tears happen, the cells around the muscle fibers activate and go into “repair mode”. As the cells start to join together in repairing those tears in the muscle fibers, the results are an increase in muscle.
As silly as it sounds, when I’m doing push ups, I like to close my eyes and imagine itty bitty cells running around in my muscles trying to build them back up.
Now, if you’re female like me, you may sometimes be hesitant to even start thinking about resistance and strength training for the concern of bulking up and becoming a strongwoman (unless that’s what you’re into, rock it!). Women commonly have lower testosterone levels so it’s actually more difficult for us to bulk up and build that muscle and physique. However, I’ll touch back on this in just a moment.
Effective Ways to Resistance Train
Here’s just a short list of easy but effective ways to implement resistance training into your life without necessarily breaking your bank:
- Free weights – dumbbells, kettle bells, barbells
- Push-ups, sit-ups, squats, lunges, chin-ups and step-ups
- Resistance bands, tubes or machines
My personal favorite that I use at home is the Gold’s Gym Total-Body Resistance Band Training Home Gym. It hangs up on my door so I can go to town on it while keeping an eye on my little one (she thinks it’s funny when I work out) or if I want to still watch some TV.
I started out slowly, doing only 3 sets of 10 reps every couple days to now doing 5 sets of 10 reps every three or four days. I would like to eventually increase this to 6 or 7 sets of 10 to 5 non consecutive days.
I would always recommend to go slow (even though I am of the ‘go big or go home’ mindset) because you never want to push yourself to the point of injury. While resistance training can be uncomfortable in the beginning, you never want to injure yourself.
PCOS and the Benefits of Resistance Training
So I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 22. If anyone else reading this was diagnosed with the same condition, I commiserate with you. It is uncomfortable, painful, depressing and just plain miserable. One of the things about PCOS is that it causes elevated testosterone levels and an increase risk in being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.
But all is not lost for us! According to studies shown on educogym.com, resistance training in females with PCOS has been shown to lower testosterone levels and even fasting glucose levels. It also helps in reducing visceral fat (body fat stored in the abdominal area), build lean muscle as well as improve reproductive function and body composition.
So today, while I’m writing about this topic, I decided to have a little bit of fun with it. Starting today and for the next 30 days, I’m going to challenge myself to increase my endurance with resistance training. I think, personally, being able to do a push-up without using my knees would be quite the accomplishment. So after 30 days has passed, lets see if I can achieve it! I will post a before picture later this evening and the final result will be posted about on March 18. If you’re new and starting out, I encourage you to tag along and try it out with me! If you’re already well versed and know the ropes, please share your encouragement!
Other Fun Facts and Tips All About the Resistance:
- Did you know the human body has more than 650 muscles?
- Push-ups engage the core, deltoids, pectorals, triceps, biceps and forearms! That’s six muscle groups all in one! Not to mention the added benefit of burning off some calories!
- Squatting has been shown to activate more muscles on your own along with free weights, rather than the aid of using a machine.
- 60 percent of people who engage in resistance and strength training sleep 7+ more hours. I like the sound of that.
- Resistance and weight training lowers bad cholesterol as well as blood pressure
- Resistance training has been shown to increase cognitive health and function. The sooner you start, the stronger and sharper you’ll be as you get older
- Resistance training does not benefit spot reduction, however it can firm and reshape different muscles that will overall improve the look of your body. Not to mention show off how strong you are!
Unfit For Human Consumption 