Muscle and Strength Training

Strength training to strengthen muscles and prevent injury

Within physical training, in addition to performing an aerobic activity to gain lung capacity and endurance, it is important to perform some kind of strength training to increase muscle strength and thus prevent injury.

A strength training is not just for those who claim to gain a visibly muscled figure. With this type of training, you can achieve benefits that help you perform any regular physical activity and increase strength and endurance in all areas that are less regularly trained.

Some of the most important benefits of this type of training are:

  • Strengthening areas such as the abdomen, trunk, and legs helps prevent injuries and improves posture.
  • It allows you to train areas that may be less strengthened in some sports, thus achieving complete physical training.
  • It reduces body fat, turning it into muscle mass, helping to improve the cardiovascular system.
  • Strength training also helps to improve endurance, speed, and coordination.

Strength training Plan: modalities to practice in the gym

Within the sports centers, you can find several disciplines of strength training. These are activities aimed at gaining muscle strength in the different areas of the body.

Some of them are:

  • GAP: it is a strength training focused on buttocks, abs, and legs. With the practice of this activity, these areas of the body are toned and strengthened, which are often the ones that suffer the most from the accumulation of fat.
  • Body pump: body pump is a complete activity for strength and endurance training, as it is a combination of aerobic exercise and muscle building, for which weights are mainly used, which can strengthen several muscle groups.
  • Grit: the grit is a high-intensity force training system that is usually performed in 30-minute sessions. This discipline combines exercises such as jumps, squats, weights, and ABS, gaining muscle strength and increasing endurance.
  • Core: the core is a force-specific training discipline for the central part of the body. In addition to strengthening the entire trunk, this discipline allows us to avoid injuries in the area, improve posture and gain flexibility.

In addition to targeted activities, sports centers offer specific rooms for strength training using muscle-building machines.

In addition to free weights, dumbbells, and pulleys to perform a strength training of the upper part of the body, there are other types of devices such as the leg press, machine leg extension and abdominal strengthening that allow you to perform a strength training full.

Whenever this type of strength training is carried out, room professionals should be consulted to know the operation of the machines, the correct performance of the exercise, and the number of repetitions suitable for the training plan for each specific case.

Exercises to gain strength: you can also do them at home

In addition to going to a sports center, some exercises can be done at home or outdoors within the training plan:

  • Abdominal scissors: for this exercise, lie on the ground and raise your legs at a right angle. It starts by alternating the movement of legs in The Shape of scissors and then intensifies by also raising the trunk. It is important to have a mat and support your back well on the ground.
  • Flexion arms and chest: this strength training can be done on the ground or by supporting the wings in a chair. Do the push-ups face up and face down, always keeping the rest of the body straight and locked?
  • Jump seat: with this exercise, you get strength training on the legs and an extension of the whole body. Perform the squat and then jump out, extending the arms. To do this, keep the legs and abdomen tight throughout the exercise.
  • Elastic exercises – a flexible rubber can help you do your strength training at home. You can place them under your feet for biceps strength training or with both hands for pecs. They also allow you to perform force exercises on your legs, attaching it to a stable surface and making pendula movements with your leg straight forward and backward.

Tips for strength training

When doing strength training, both at home and at the gym, it is important to take some tips into account:

  • Perform proper stretching before and after training.
  • Make sure the exercise is correct to avoid injury.
  • Adapt strength training to physical characteristics as well as other factors such as age or previous injury.
  • Combine strength training with aerobic activities for complete physical activity.
  • Perform routines that allow training the different muscle groups, for a more complete strengthening.