Muscular Strength: Everything You Need To Know
Contents
Introduction
Talk about being physically fit, and muscular strength would emerge as one of the most important aspects of it. Just for your knowledge, we want to let you know that there are mainly Five components of physical fitness. Muscular strength being one, the others include muscular endurance, flexibility, cardiovascular endurance and body fat composition. In this article, we will focus mainly on the first, which is the muscular strength.
Muscular strength definition
Talking about strength, it means nothing but the ability of your muscles to create a force in contrast to physical objects. In the world of fitness, this actually means what amount of weight you can pull or lift when doing various strength training workouts or Exercises.
No matter what you do in your everyday life, you require strength. From waking up in the morning and pushing yourself out of bed reluctantly, to brushing your teeth, then going out for work, everything needs strength. While you need a lot of strength to push a box full of vegetables or to open a heavy door, easier things like combing your hair, or sipping a cup of coffee require much lesser strength.
If you talk about muscular strength definition, muscular strength is nothing but one of the compositions of Physical Fitness that can be measured with the largest quantity of weight that any of your given muscle can carry or move for one rep. Muscular strength is a very popular term in the world of fitness BTW.
What are the benefits of muscular strength?
The advantages of muscular strength or strength training are many. Let us find out what they are!
1- Muscular strength helps to ward off injury and pain:
When you have strong and powerful muscles, you will be less susceptible to suffer from injuries or any other muscle related pain. For instance, when you have strong back muscles, your back pain will reduce by leaps and bounds. Powerful leg muscles and a strong back can also help to ward off common injuries when you attempt to lift heavy objects. Strong muscles are also synonymous with strong joints. The most common ailments like shoulder and knee pain can be prevented largely when your muscles are strong and healthy. Remember that muscles which don’t get tired easily can keep strains, spasms and sprains at bay!.
2- Strength training helps you burn more calories:
Metabolism is nothing but the rate at which your body automatically burns calories in a day while at rest. Now strength training helps to improve your metabolism. To add to that, resistance or weight training helps to improve your calorie burning count while you’re working out and after that too. This is because your body wants more energy while you’re exerting greater energy to do strength, resistance or weight training. This means you lose a lot of calories while strengthening your muscles during the workout session and even after when your body relaxes to reach normalcy.
3- Aids in Chronic Disease Management:
Research has shown that with the health benefits of strength training, it is easier to manage chronic disease conditions in many people. For example, if you are suffering from arthritis, strength training can work as a wondrous medication in lessening the pain from Arthritis.
4- Helps you bid goodbye to so many diseases:
When your Muscle Mass Percentage increases, the composition of your body changes that in turn leads to lesser body fat percentage. When you have less body fat, it prevents the risk of conditions like high blood pressure, increased triglycerides, and increased levels of blood sugar and cholesterol, which can ultimately cause type-2 diabetes. Increased muscular strength can improve your bone health too. When your muscles are strong, you are lesser prone to developing bone-related diseases like osteoporosis and arthritis.
5- Makes you more capable:
In the sense that muscular strength helps to increase your capability. When you healthy and strong, you are self-sufficient and almost like a one-man army! Your ability to do everyday chores becomes a cakewalk. Everything, from doing small home repairs, to carrying heavy bags carrying grocery, becomes easy when you have strong and healthy muscles. Strength training can be very beneficial for older aged people mainly, as they can live their lives independently without the help of any caregivers or nurse.
6- Your body mechanics improve with strength training:
A study revealed that the aged people who have a risk of falling due to their deteriorated physical functioning can avoid such risk by 40% when they are engaged in strength training. It helps to improve the balance, posture and coordination in your body. Remember that the stronger your muscles that keep you on your toes are, the better your body balance will be. Everyone should indulge in strength training.
7- Strength training helps to elevate your mood:
Your endorphin levels reach a new high with strength training. Now, endorphins help to release the stress within you and accelerate pleasure on the other hand. This, in turn, helps to make your mood better and your energy levels will also reach a high. There is strong evidence to prove that strength training helps you to have a good night’s sleep too! What more can you ask for?
8- It helps you to lose weight faster:
While cardio does help you to burn calories and shed excess kilos, strength training only accelerates the whole weight loss program! Strength training helps to increase your metabolism rate in an unimaginable way, which actually helps you lose weight faster. This is because you burn calories even when your body is at rest or just relaxing.
9- Strong muscles mean your sports’ performance becomes only better.
When your muscular strength and endurance is high, this only translates that you will perform wonderfully in your sports or other exercise activities or tasks. No doubt you need strength in all forms of sports, but when it comes to games like football, gymnastics and basketball, you obviously require greater muscular strength as you need to exert a lot of power and energy in such games.
What should you ideally eat or include in your meals while you do strength training to improve your muscular strength? What are the main muscle building foods? Find out here.
Wild salmon:
When trying to Build Strong Muscles, the winner among the foods has to be the salmon!, like the Tuna, Rich in omega-3 fatty acids and protein, this becomes the perfect item to build and reconstruct muscle tissues. These two nutrients also help to keep a check on your hunger level. It is loaded with vitamin D and B12, niacin and selenium making it nutrient-rich, and salmons also help to lower your cholesterol levels and boosts memory power at the same time. If you are not fond of fish, you can opt for grass-fed beef.
Grass-fed beef:
Grass-fed beef is loaded with an anti-inflammatory fatty acid called CLA. It also contains creatine that helps you to Build Muscle Mass Faster. It is also a great source of protein and is rich in magnesium, iron and vitamin B12 which all together help you to Get Toned Muscles.
Chicken:
A six-ounce serving of chicken contains 54 grams of protein. Chicken is loaded with an amino acid called leucine, which acts as a key nutrient to build strong muscles. It can be said to be the staple food for people trying to build strong and healthy muscles.
Eggs:
The most common kitchen item, eggs are a great source of nutrients that helps to build muscles. Because you can cook them in so many ways, you will never get bored with eggs. You get 7-8 grams of protein when you consume one egg. To add to that, it is rich in vitamins and minerals and Omega-3 fatty acids too. It has been revealed by some studies that if you have eggs for breakfast, you will be less susceptible to overeat in the latter half of the day. also, you may never believe if I told you that Egg can make you Lose 10 Pounds in a week.
Beets:
Many studies have revealed that your athletic performance improves when you consume beets. The blood flow to your muscles increases when you consume beet juice. Beets contain nitrates that lower your blood pressure and increase your endurance level. Carrots and spinach are also healthy options and can be considered as muscle building foods.
Bananas:
The best pre-workout snack, bananas are loaded with glucose and potassium, which makes you super energetic and aids in preventing muscle cramps while you workout. A medium sized banana contains at least 36 grams of good carbohydrates.
Chocolate milk:
Chocolate milk contains electrolytes that keep you hydrated for longer hours and owing to its sweetness, energy runs into the muscles even faster. This makes it an excellent item post-workout. It is also great for recovery of the muscles. Thanks to its high calcium, vitamin D and protein content. The little amount of sugar in the chocolate milk also helps you to refuel.
Almonds:
Almonds are rich in nutrients which makes it a perfect food when you are trying to build your muscles. Almonds are loaded with fiber and proteins which helps you to feel fuller for long hours and repairs tired muscles as well. They also contain Healthy Fats that prevent joint pain, satisfy your hunger and provide a lot of energy to the body. They also boost your cognitive power.
Full Fat Cottage Cheese:
Being loaded with a high amount of protein, cottage cheese is considered perfect for building muscles and maintaining them as well. It contains vitamin B12 and calcium as well. Low-fat cottage cheese in a cup has approx. 28 grams of protein and 163 calories which is almost equal to what you would take in if you had consumed 4 eggs! Perfect for the vegetarians out there!
Sweet potatoes:
When you talk about veggies that have starchy carbohydrates, sweet potatoes cannot be missed! Sweet potatoes taste sweet and are very easy to prepare. They contain complex carbs, vitamins A and B and fiber which all together help an athlete to feel fuller and satisfied for a longer duration. Have them before or after workouts to reap its benefits.
Beans:
It can be said to be a muscle building machine in simple terms. A cup of black beans contains about 9 grams of fiber and 12 grams of protein. It is also loaded with folate, which increases the growth of muscles. The copper content of beans helps to strengthen the tendons. A Spanish study revealed that four servings of beans or other legumes in a week help in faster weight loss process.
Greek yogurt:
Opt for full-fat and plain variety of yogurt and not the ones that have added fruits or flavors as they contain too much sugar. Greek yogurt contains vitamin D, calcium and protein that are very good for muscular strength. It also works to give you strong and healthy bones.
Chia seeds:
Being highly nutritious and a great source of energy and strength, chia seeds is one of the best of High-fiber Low-carb foods and are loaded with omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, potassium, antioxidants and soluble fiber, which makes it a great muscle building item. You can add them in your shakes or in a bowl of Oatmeal as well.
Apples:
Apples are a fantastic post-workout food and it is rich in electrolytes, fiber and carbs. The apple skin contains phytonutrients that our body essentially needs. The great taste and low-calorie count make it a winner when you want to gain more muscular strength. To curb your sweet cravings, have the nutritious apple, which will also keep you full for a long time!
Water:
Of course, water is not a food item, we know! However, it is necessary for a diet that focuses on building muscular strength. When you are dehydrated, the muscles’ repairing power slows down which ultimately slows down your strength gains. Water helps to replenish the fluids that are lost when you do strength training exercises, which in turn prevents dehydration. You should have at least 10 glasses of water regularly which should be spread evenly throughout the day.
What are the various activities and exercises for building muscular strength?
1- Perform Hybrid exercises:
Most of the resistance exercises are used to train your endurance level and strength. For instance, an upper body exercise that promotes both endurance and strength is the bench press workout. It covers your triceps, chest and shoulder muscles. Another example is a barbell squat, which is a hybrid lower body exercise that does the same. You can perform high reps and do low weight to convert it into an exercise promoting leg endurance, or do low reps and use heavy weights to gain more strength. In a similar fashion, you can do deadlifts as well. They can be used for building strength or endurance. By performing hybrid exercises, it becomes easy to increase the weight and do just a few reps, or you can lift weights that are lighter by doing an increased number of repetitions. When you use dumbbells, cable machines or barbells in your workouts, it becomes very simple to adjust the weights, and therefore it becomes one of the best ways to build muscular strength.
2- Workouts involving resistance bands:
Inexpensive equipment, resistance bands help to build strong muscles without the use of heavyweights. As you feel your strength improving, you should wrap the bands with more force and tighter to exert more resistance. This will only add to your muscle building exercise. You can do both upper body and lower body workouts using the resistance bands. Guess the best part? You can spice up the workout regime using the bands by bringing along your friend as a partner to help you with the same. Together you can do Squat Jump for which you would need two resistance bands, or you can do lunge-to-chest passes, or lunge and full body rotations, or band sprints, or Russian Twist passes, trunk rotations and so much more! Resistance bands are available in different shapes, sizes and strengths. The most common among them are therapy bands, loop bands and tube bands having handles. Consult a fitness expert to know more about the type/size/shape of a resistance band with which you should train.
3- Use free weights to your advantage.
As a beginner, you should begin small. Lift hand weights weighing 5-pounds and do exercises, for instance, biceps curls that would help to make your arms stronger. You can also lift dumbbells at least twice or thrice in a week. You can wear ankle weights in order to do exercises involving leg abduction in which you stretch out your leg to the side and back again in the middle to generate more power in your lower body. A trainer can help you to lift barbells in your gym. As you progress and in order to increase your muscle mass, you should lift heavier weights, and do more reps for the same.
4- Use weight machines to gain muscular strength:
Remember that not every weight machine will suit your need, and therefore it becomes essential to consult a fitness professional before using one. Leg press, hamstring curls, hammer strength machines, leg extension, pec-dec machines, preacher curl machine, lateral raise machine, seated calf raise and lat pulldown are some of the gym machines that you can use in order to build your muscles and gain more strength.
5- Dance your heart out:
Dance not only promotes better cardiovascular health but twirling your body in contrast to the gravitational force only adds a strength building aspect to the hip-hop, jazz, tap, ballet and ballroom dance form. When you dance with a partner, lift your partner in the air and hold him/her as a part of the dancing process, or as a dance step, it only works to build your muscles better. Dancing requires you to maintain a lot of endurance and energy too and may come across as a challenge to you. Challenge yourself then!
6- You can do power rowing:
You can either use a rowing machine or row a boat yourself in order to boost the muscular strength and endurance in your arms, core and legs. When you row, your muscles tone in a better fashion and it improves your cardiovascular health as well. It gives a boost to the muscle power in your entire body. Indoor rowing machines have an advantage in the sense that it lets you modify the pace and resistance. You should use lower resistance when you want to continue for long and want to combine both cardio exercises and strength building. In order to prevent a back injury, you should push up the intensity by increasing the resistance and stroke rate simultaneously.
7- Say no to elevators:
Instead of using the elevators to go upstairs (unless of course, it is in the 30th or 50th floor), take the stairs! Say no to escalators and elevators whenever it is possible or feasible. Run up the stairs, bro! When you climb up the stairs, the muscles of your legs become strong and your endurance level also increases which in turn allows you to work out for longer hours. To make it more creative, carry dumbbells or wear ankle weights while climbing up two or three floors. You should increase your speed rate while climbing up and running down the stairs in your strength-training workout to add a cardiovascular characteristic to the same.
8- Indulge in heavy gardening:
Gardening techniques including shoveling and digging can also be considered as strength training exercises as they require a lot of force to do such activities, which in turn help to build your muscles and increase your muscular strength.
We sincerely hope now that you have read our article; you are clear about almost everything concerning muscular strength. Follow the right diet, have enough water, and indulge in strength training workouts to reach your goal of increasing your muscular strength. Thanks for reading!
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Some Article Sources:
https://www.verywellfit.com/what-is-strength-1229648
https://www.livestrong.com/article/84419-health-benefits-muscular-strength-/
https://www.everydayhealth.com/fitness/add-strength-training-to-your-workout.aspx
https://www.muscleandfitness.com/nutrition/meal-plans/5-best-foods-building-muscle
https://www.eatthis.com/best-foods-to-eat-for-muscle-and-strength/
https://www.mensjournal.com/food-drink/the-top-30-muscle-building-foods/
https://www.livestrong.com/article/107661-examples-muscular-strength-endurance-exercises/
https://healthyliving.azcentral.com/activities-promote-muscular-strength-9244.html
https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/strength-and-flexibility/Pages/strength-flexibility-training.aspx
https://www.livestrong.com/article/497002-5-activities-for-muscular-strength/
