FREE WEIGHTS AND EXERCISE MACHINES: BOTH EQUALLY EFFECTIVE IN BUILDING STRENGTH

Want to lose weight? Or want to gain strength and some muscle mass? The solution to this goes hand in hand. It all comes down to strength training which is also called “resistance training”. Resistance exercise is any form of active exercise in which dynamic or static muscle contraction is resisted by an outside force applied manually or mechanically. When you are working out and want to enhance your performance, you need to improve in all the three elements of muscle performance which are – strength, power, and endurance—can be enhanced by some form of resistance exercise. To what extent each of these elements is altered by exercise depends on how the principles of resistance training are applied and how factors such as the intensity, frequency, and duration of exercise are manipulated. The development of muscle strength is an important factor for individuals of all ages and all ability levels. Strength training or strengthening exercises are basically systematic procedures of a muscle or muscle group lifting, lowering, or controlling heavy loads (resistance) for a relatively low number of repetitions or over a short period of time. The most common adaptation to heavy resistance exercise is an increase in the maximum force-producing capacity of muscle, that is, an increase in muscle strength, primarily as the result of neural adaptations and an increase in muscle fiber size.

Endurance is a broad term that refers to the ability to perform low-intensity, repetitive, or sustained activities over a prolonged period of time. Cardiopulmonary endurance is associated with repetitive and motor activities such as walking, cycling, swimming, or exhausting yourself on a treadmill or cross-trainer which involve the use of the large muscles of the body. Muscle endurance (sometimes referred to as local endurance) is the ability of a muscle to contract repeatedly against a load (resistance), generate and sustain tension, and resist fatigue over an extended period of time. Endurance exercises are characterized by having a muscle contract and lift or lower a light load for many repetitions or sustain a muscle contraction for an extended period of time. The key elements of endurance training are low-intensity muscle contractions, a large number of repetitions, and a prolonged time period. Unlike strength training, muscles adapt to endurance training by increases in their oxidative and metabolic capacities, which allows better delivery and use of oxygen.

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Source: Powermax Fitness