Total body strength training means using resistance to develop all the major muscle groups of your frame: legs, arms, shoulders, back, chest and abdominals. Resistance is the force operating against a muscle during the performance of an exercise. The force can be the gravity of your own body weight, such as when you do a push-up, or it can be the gravity of free weights or the resistance of hydraulic machines.
Progressive Resistance
Progressive resistance is a method of increasing strength that can be applied to your entire body. It normally requires access to barbells, dumbbells or the weight machines found in fitness centers. If you lift the same amount of weight to perform the same exercise every time you work out, your muscles will adapt and the gains in muscular development and strength will stop. You must gradually increase the resistance to continue growing stronger.
Core Strength
You should develop your body's core, or trunk, strength before concentrating on your legs or arms, according to the CoachR website. This is because your core muscles support the weight you use to build strength in all other parts of your body. The stronger your core muscles are, the more weight you can move with your arms and legs. Two common core exercises are abdominal crunches and Roman chair hyperextensions for the lower back.
Types
There are two main types of total body strength training: full-body workouts and split routines. Each type incorporates all major muscle groups but in different ways. Using a full-body workout, you will exercise every muscle group each time you go to the gym or the weight station in your garage, basement or bedroom. If you use a split routine, you might exercise your legs one day, your chest and triceps another, your back and biceps the third time and your shoulders the fourth.
Considerations
Regardless of whether you use a split or full-body routine, you will need to take days off from training individual muscle groups. A full-body routine should never be done more than three times a week. This is because your muscles "break down" and need time to recover. A split routine can be done more often, because you do not focus on the same muscles every day. Even if you work out five days a week, you will only concentrate on your shoulders once or twice a week.
Benefits
The University of New Mexico website contains an article by Dr. Len Kravitz that outlines the multiple health benefits of resistance or strength training. Muscles throughout the body adapt to resistance training by growing stronger and larger. Bone growth is also stimulated throughout the axial skeleton by squats and lunges and could benefit people at risk for developing osteoporosis. Weight training, particularly in the larger muscle groups, can also increase energy expenditure both during and after exercise and, thereby, reduce body fat.
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