Health Benefits of Muscular Strength & Endurance
Strong muscles that don't tire quickly help you perform better in life and sports, and prevent disease, pain and injury.
With strong, healthy muscles, you can be proud of your appearance and feel confident when accomplishing everyday tasks. When you perform resistance exercises to build strength and endurance, you'll improve your health and even help fend off some dangerous illnesses. Increasing muscle mass will also help you perform better in your favorite sports and exercise activities and help you age better without injury.
Increase Your Capability
The most obvious benefit of strong, healthy muscles is the ability to perform everyday tasks on your own. With strength comes self-sufficiency, which contributes to a healthy lifestyle. With capable muscles, you can take care of home repairs and yard work, rearrange your furniture when the desire strikes and carry heavy grocery bags from the car to your kitchen. Older adults can maintain their independence by building muscle strength, allowing them live alone as long as possible without the aid of a nurse or caretaker.
Improve Sports Performance
With greater muscular strength and endurance, you'll be able to perform better in your favorite sports and exercise activities. Muscular endurance will help you go strong through a tennis match or soccer game, hike longer and higher, or finish a 10K race. All sports require muscular strength, but it's most obvious in sports that require explosive power, such as gymnastics, basketball and football.
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Ward Off Disease
When you increase muscle mass, you change your body composition, creating a lower percentage of body fat. A lower body fat percentage can translate to a reduced risk of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides and cholesterol and increased blood sugar levels, which can lead to Type 2 diabetes.
Building muscular strength and endurance can also protect bone health. Just as your muscles become stronger with resistance straining, so do your bones. People who engage in strength training are less likely to suffer from age-related diseases such as arthritis and osteoporosis.
Prevent Pain and Injury
Strong, capable muscles that don't poop out will be less likely to suffer injury or cause you pain. Building strong back muscles, for example, can reduce back pain, one of the most common complaints of Americans. Strong back and leg muscles can also prevent common injuries from lifting heavy objects.
Muscular endurance can help you perform repetitive tasks, such as raking leaves, without your muscles becoming sore. Muscles that don't tire quickly are much less prone to strains, sprains and spasms.
With strong muscles, you'll be less likely to fall while walking or performing other physical activities. This can significantly benefit older adults, who may risk dangerous fractures from falling.
Strong muscles are crucial for maintaining the integrity of the joints. Knee and shoulder pain -- common ailments -- can be largely prevented by strengthening the muscles that support those complex joints.
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