What Are The Benefits Of Muscular Strength & Endurance Training?

Resistance training should be an integral part of a fitness program and of a sufficient intensity to enhance strength, muscular endurance and maintain fat-free mass, recommends the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). Muscular strength and endurance training can benefit a number of groups including healthy adults, older adults, children, adolescents and diseased populations. This type of training not only results in improved muscular strength and endurance but also contributes to several other benefits.

Improved Body Composition

Regular strength training will result in improved body composition. As you train, your levels of lean body mass will increase, which in turn will reduce your body fat percentage. Additional muscle will not only improve the look of your body now, but it will continue to assist you in the battle of the bulge. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue, which means it constantly uses calories even at rest. Strength training can provide up to a 15 percent increase in metabolic rate, which is enormously helpful for weight loss and long-term weight control, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Improved Bone Density

Training to improve your muscular fitness simultaneously improves your bone health. When you contract your muscle to move a weight, the muscle exerts a force on the bone, which causes the bone to reinforce its structure to withstand the force. By stressing your bones, strength training increases bone density and reduces the risk of osteoporosis, per the Mayo Clinic.

Injury Prevention

Training to improve your muscular strength and endurance will also improve your ability to resist injury. Strength training makes muscles, tendons and ligaments stronger and less susceptible to injury, says Thomas D. Fahey in his book "Basic Weight Training for Men and Women." This is an obvious benefit in sports and athletic events, but it also will protect you when performing every day activities, such as lugging a heavy bag of groceries. Individuals with an adequate foundation of muscular strength and endurance are less prone to back pain and injuries.

Prevent Disease

Strength training plays an important role in risk factor intervention by protecting the inside of your body from disease. Resistance training may positively affect risk factors, such as insulin resistance, resting metabolic rate, glucose metabolism, blood pressure, body fat and gastrointestinal transit time, writes R.A. Winett, lead author of "Potential Health-Related Benefits of Resistance Training," an article published in the November 2001 issue of "Preventive Medicine." These risk factors are associated with ailments, such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Age Gracefully

By age 40, your fat-free mass begins to decrease. "Sarcopenia" is the term used to describe the loss of muscle mass associated with aging. This decrease in muscle results from a decline in activity levels as well as a reduction in muscle protein synthesis that naturally occurs with aging. Strength training can prevent, and in some cases reverse, sarcopenia for older adults, states the Health Sciences Institute. It is never too early or too late to increase your muscle mass to ensure your ability to live independently and perform everyday activities as you age.

Improved Quality of Life

Muscular strength and muscular endurance directly impact on activities of daily living because daily living activity requires a given percentage of your muscular capacity to perform common tasks, says the American College of Sports Medicine. By improving your muscular fitness, you are able to perform tasks with less stress on the body as well as continue to perform them throughout your lifespan, which will allow greater independence as you age. Strength training also helps to improve balance, stability, coordination and flexibility. These traits are beneficial for everyone, especially older adults who live alone.

Enhanced Self-Image

Some people exercise simply to feel better about themselves. If this is you, strength training offers that same "feel good" feeling after a workout. Training for muscular strength and endurance allows you to push yourself to the limits and discover what you are truly capable of. This is definitely an efficient way to build confidence in your body and your mind. Strength training also contributes to a slimmer, tighter-looking body, making it difficult not to feel good in your new jeans.