05.12.2022 News

The Top Eight Benefits of Weight Training For Men

Weight training, also referred to as strength or resistance training, involves moving your body parts against some resistance, such as weights, resistance bands, and weight machines. It is a brilliant method to increase muscle strength, usually in men.

Weight training is a single type of physical activity or resistance exercise that can help you improve your stability and balance, benefit your heart, strengthen bones, and maintain your desired weight. Once you lift the heavy weight, you overload your muscle fibers, forcing them to adapt and become stronger with time.

From boosting muscle strength, confidence and improving libido and overall health, here are the top eight benefits of strength training for men.

1. Improving Testosterone

Testosterone is the sex hormone in males, made in the testicles. In normal quantities, testosterone motivates men into intimacy, gives them energy, and boosts their libido. In excessive quantities, it can be problematic by increasing the risk of liver and heart conditions. Below the normal levels also has issues such as fatigue, concentration problems, depression, lack of drive, irritability, sleep problems, and physical weakness. You, therefore, need to maintain your testosterone at the correct amounts.

One of the benefits of weight training for men is boosting your body's testosterone production. Since it's natural, the body produces the right amounts required to keep you active and healthy.

2. Burning Calories

Looking for ways on how to get rid of the dad bod? Weight training boosts your metabolism by increasing your metabolic rate. Muscles are metabolically efficient, and this allows you to burn calories even at rest. You still burn additional calories up to 72 hours after a strength training exercise.

A study from 2017 found that dieters who did weight training exercises at least four times in a week lost about 18 pounds of their weight.² The study compared weight training with aerobic exercisers and non-exercisers who lost an average of 16 pounds and 10 pounds, respectively.

If you combine a quality diet with weight training, you can reduce your body fat even more. Exercisers who follow a combined full-body strength training and diet reduce their fat mass and improve their lean muscle better than dieting or weight training alone.³

3. Social Status

Humans have social structures that operate out of their control, just like most other animals. If you are physically strong, you are likely to be more confident than a weak man. You prove you are healthy while maintaining the attractive physical features of males. People will respect you and see you as better and more competent leaders.

Weight training helps you boost your self-esteem by overcoming challenges at the gym while working towards your goal and appreciating the strength that results from the exercise. A study in teens between 10 and 16 years proved the association between weight training and high self-esteem.⁴

4. Improving Your Energy and Mood

Strength training raises the levels of circulation of endorphins. Endorphins are chemicals released by your body as you do an exercise. These chemicals interact with your brain receptors and reduce your perception of feeling pain. These chemicals also trigger a morphine-like feeling, making your mood revive. Experts have recently confirmed weight treatment to be an add-on treatment for depression.⁵

The exercise also delivers nutrients and oxygen to tissues, making your cardiovascular system more efficient. When your heart is working more efficiently, you get the energy to exercise more.

5. Improving Brain Health

Those who engage in men's strength training have better brain health and protect themselves from a cognitive decline that comes with aging. Studies have shown that there are significant improvements in memory, processing speeds, and executive functions in older adults who took part in training compared to those who didn't.⁶

Weight training for men comes with many neuroprotective effects, including reduced inflammation, improved blood flow, and increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression, which links to learning and memory.

6. Builds Denser Bones and Muscle Mass

Weight training is important for bone density and development. The weights you lift during the exercise stress your bones temporarily and safely, signaling to the bone-building cells it is time to strengthen more. The resulting strong bones reduce the risk of osteoporosis. This is a condition where bones become very weak and brittle. With such a condition, you can't walk for long, carry heavy objects or withstand minor falls. Denser bones improve your stability and balance while you walk, especially as you're getting older. You reduce the risk of falling off and fractures as your bones can stand a higher limit of pressure.

At around 30 years, we lose 3-5% lean muscle mass per decade because of aging. Weight training can help you improve your functional performance, bone density, structure, and strength.

7. Improves Our Future Species

Men's strength training can influence the quality of your generation as a man. Once you lift a heavy weight, you give your DNA an improved capacity for self-repair, hence keeping your genes healthy. Your child will get about 50% of their genes from you. The healthy genes developed through weight training will pass to your generation, hence siring healthy kids, too.

If you lift weights, a low sperm count is less of your worry. Men who take strength training exercises have a higher sperm count and more semen compared to men who take no exercise.⁷ If you take at least one hour a day to lift weights, you can increase your sperm concentration by about 48%. Increased libido coupled with high sperm count and quality genes will cause a quality future generation.

8. Better Sleep

If you get less than 6 hours of sleep regularly, you're at risk of serious health issues such as high blood pressure, heart diseases, obesity, stroke, and even causing car accidents since you can't make very informed decisions. The more exercise you do, the better you sleep. Among many other factors, stress could affect the quality of your sleep.

Weight training has a stress-relieving effect that will enable you to have a good night's sleep. Once you grab the bars, your muscles tire and what they need next is rest. Any other exercise adds up to a night of better sleep, but strength training is the most effective of all. This is because it turns more adenosine to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as you work out. The Study has shown that men between 18-85 years enjoy over 65% improvement in quality of sleep once they start and maintain at least three sessions of vigorous exercise per week.⁸

Starting Weight Training

Weight training for men comes with many benefits, but to enjoy them, you have to do it properly. You can sustain serious injuries in weight training exercises, including fractures, sprains, and strains easily. For quality results, consider these tips while starting your weight training:

Learn proper techniques

If you are new to men's strength training, don't do it alone. Work with a fitness specialist or a trainer and learn from them the correct, safe working techniques. Even the experienced need brushing up from their trainers once in a while. However simple it may look, ensure you learn it before doing it.

Warm-Up

This is the quick exercise you engage yourself in before handling the main weight training task. It warms up your muscles and increases the blood flow, hence getting you ready for the training. You should take a short aerobic exercise for 5-10 minutes, then start the weight training.

Use the Proper Weight

A proper weight is not which you can lift but which you can lift for at least 12-15 repetitions. If you exceed that by far, you can add some weight but ensure you can lift to the last repetition.

Take One Set of Repetition

Many theories are trying to explain the right approach to strength training for men, including many hours at the gym and countless repetitions. A single that your muscles can handle for the 12-15 repetitions, then take three sets at a single exercise works perfectly.

Start Slowly

Don't rush with the experts who have been in the gym for years and lifting weights of hundreds of pounds. That will make you quit in a few days. If you can lift a few pounds as a beginner, that's very great. Once you are used to the process, you'll be amazed at how fast you progress.

Have Time to Rest

After exercising each muscle group, maybe after a few days, give the muscles some time to rest and recover. One day is enough.

Start Your Weight Training With Tru Grit

Enjoying the benefits of weight training starts with the right quality of products. If you're looking to start your exercise soon, Tru Grit can help you out. We have a wide range of strength training products ideal for all skill levels. We will help you create or upgrade your home gym with our products to ensure you meet your passion for weight training.

Our Hex Rubber Coated Dumbbells with luxurious thermoplastic rubber heads, knurled grip, and 360-degree steel welded handles are your go-to for strength training. We have an easy-to-install foldable squat rack, Olympic and technique barbells including a 45lb bar and 15lb barbell built to last for years, and cast-iron kettlebell sets to streamline your workout routine.

Check out our website today or contact us to shop more of our wide selection.