Strength training offers strong benefits to your body inside and out. Muscles
Having stronger muscles not only helps you lug more grocery bags at once, it also increases your flexibility and balance. Poor balance often contributes to falls and broken bones in older people, which can lead to disabilities and life-threatening complications. A study showed post-menopausal women who progressively strength trained just two days a week had a 75 percent increase in strength and 13 percent increase in balance.
Bones and Joints
Stressing bones through strength training increases bone density and reduces the risk of osteoporosis and fracture. In addition, a study of postmenopausal women showed gains in hip and spine bone density through just two days a week of progressive strength training. Strength training also can reduce pain in joints. In a study of older men and women with moderate to severe knee osteoarthritis, strength training decreased pain by 43 percent. At the same time, it increased muscle strength and general physical performance, improved the clinical signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis, and decreased disability.
Heart
Running for miles or doing other aerobic activity isn’t the only way to strengthen your heart. Strength training also builds the heart’s aerobic capacity. Because of this, the American Heart Association recommends strength training to lower heart disease risk and as therapy for patients in cardiac rehabilitation. Strength training also helps heart health by lowering LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and triglycerides while raising HDL (“good”) cholesterol. In addition, when you’re conditioned through regular strength training, your heart rate and blood pressure are more likely to stay steady during activities like lifting or carrying, so your heart is less strained.
Weight Loss
It’s simple math. Muscle burns more calories than stored fat. So people with more muscle mass have a higher metabolic rate. In fact, strength training can boost metabolic rate by 15 percent so you’re burning more calories to help you lose weight. And the more muscle you have, the easier it is to control your weight. Also, as you age, you naturally lose muscle mass especially after age 50. Unfortunately, if you don’t do anything to replace the lean muscle you lose, the percentage of fat in your body increases. Strength training will replace the muscle you would otherwise lose to keep your body leaner.
Powerful Partners
Give your workouts a shake and a shot! A ProVantage shake provides nutrition you need for strength and muscle building. And a shot of 24K can give you that added boost of energy you need to power through your workout!
Reliv supports every part of your active lifestyle through nutritional products, online support, health tips and the Team Reliv Fitness Club.
ProVantage® and healthy energy shot 24K™ are perfect complements to strength training. They’ll maximize the results from your efforts while energizing you through every rep. Packed with 13 grams of soy protein, ProVantage provides a balance of nutrients formulated to improve performance, endurance, recovery and repair. 24K nourishes your body and provides fuel for healthy, real energy to promote peak performance throughout the day. Take a look at how a few key nutrients found in these products partner with strength training for real results:
Soy protein: Increases muscle mass and function, reduces fatigue, burns excess body fat for increased energy and promotes maximum fitness levels.
Creatine: Helps extend peak athletic performance for longer periods of exercise and reduces muscle recovery time. Studies show combining creatine and strength training leads to greater gains in strength and lean muscle mass and helps adults over age 50 better retain strength and muscle mass that they lose as they age.
Tonalin® (CLA — conjugated linoleic acid): Helps reduce body fat and increase muscle tone by helping the body extract more energy from less food. A study showed those taking a combination of creatine and CLA while strength training had greater gains in muscle endurance, an increase in fat-free mass and a decrease in body fat percentage.
Coenzyme Q10: Promotes energy production and boosts athletic performance so you can power through your workout.
Resveratrol: Helps muscles use oxygen more efficiently to enhance performance. Also may increase exercise endurance.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Aid in energy production. Also may help with oxygen delivery to active muscles to delay fatigue during exercise.
Bigger Biceps, Better Health
Today, building muscle is more about brains than brawn. It’s a smart way to stay healthy
now and into the future. Strength training is for everyone of every age, young adults to the elderly, men and women.
Sure, impressive biceps and six-pack abs can be a perk of strength training, but strength training also builds multiple health benefits for every part of your body — seen and unseen.
When you strength train, you strengthen your tendons and ligaments to better protect your joints from injury. Your range of motion improves. Your bones get stronger. You have better balance and function. Your cardiovascular health improves. Strength training also can reduce the signs and symptoms of many chronic conditions, including arthritis, back pain, depression, diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis. Research also suggests that regular strength training helps improve blood sugar control.
Strength training isn’t new. But people are finally recognizing how important it is to overall health. Pump up your health status with strength training and Reliv nutritional supplements such as ProVantage® and 24K™, ideal companions to keep you going strong today — and tomorrow.
To your health,
Dr. Carl W. Hastings, Reliv Vice Chairman & Chief Scientific Officer