Many people associate cardiorespiratory exercise with weight loss and physical fitness and think that resistance training is not as vital for overall health and wellness; however, regular resistance training yields countless benefits.
These benefits are particularly important as we age, and should be a central component of any well-designed and balanced exercise program.
While any type of exercise program should be personalized and account for your abilities, current fitness level, goals and values, there are some commonly accepted guidelines regarding how a resistance-training program should be constructed.
Benefits of Resistance Training
When asked about the benefits of resistance training, most people would list things like enhanced strength and power, improved appearance and better sports performance. Those are all important reasons to incorporate resistance training into your workout routine—but there are a number of less-known benefits that may be just as essential.
First, resistance training improves your physical capacity, which is the ability to perform work or exercise. The improved strength and force production that results from consistent resistance training enables the body to move, function and perform daily activities more easily and efficiently, including climbing stairs or carrying groceries in from the car.
This benefit becomes more important as we age, as physical capacity naturally diminishes over time. But, this aspect of aging can be delayed or reduced through the regular performance of resistance training, as people can grow muscle and get stronger at any age. The benefits of doing so cannot be overstated, as progressive declines in physical capacity as people age are associated with increased risk of frailty, dependency and loss of autonomy.
Resistance training also enhances metabolic function, as when you have more muscle mass, more calories are burned on a daily basis. An improved metabolism also aids in weight management, which in turn drives countless additional benefits. This is important to highlight, as many people simply don’t associate resistance training with weight loss.
Injury prevention is a vital element of any training program, as nothing derails good intentions like an injury. Resistance training actually reduces the risk of falls and injuries, which is essential no matter your age or training goals. For example, athletically minded clients trying to elevate their on-field performance should always be mindful of proper form during both training and competition to minimize injury risk, while older adults should work on their balance and strength to reduce the likelihood of falling as they perform their daily activities.
Many people envision muscle-bound bodybuilders when they think about resistance training and understandably assume that’s not necessary for general health and wellness. However, balance requires both muscular strength and power, as a muscle’s ability to respond quickly and appropriately is essential to regain balance after a stumble.
Resistance training can help prevent or manage a number of chronic diseases and conditions, including osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and arthritis. An understanding of the long-term health-related benefits of this type of exercise programming can be very empowering, as it allows you to control an element of your health that may have seemed outside of your control
Finally, resistance training can improve psychological health. As you gain strength and see improvements in your ability to perform activities both inside and outside of the gym, your self-confidence and self-esteem will likely skyrocket and, hopefully, positively impact other behaviors like your eating habits and other lifestyle choices.
Self-efficacy, or your perception of your ability to change or to perform certain behaviors, is cyclical in nature, meaning that as your self-efficacy improves, you become more likely to perform a given task, and as you successfully perform that task, your self-efficacy is further enhanced.
Over the long-term, this means that you will become more likely to take on bigger challenges and to succeed in those pursuits. For an athlete, this may translate to better on-field performance, while for an older adult, this may mean an improved ability to climb stairs or lift their grandchildren.
How Often Should You Perform Resistance Training?
Now that we’ve explored the many benefits of resistance training, the question remains: How often do you have to perform resistance training in order to achieve these benefits?
Stated simply, each major muscle group should be trained two to three non-consecutive days per week.
For new exercisers, either two or three full-body resistance-training workouts per week will drive meaningful results. Efficiency is an important element of long-term program adherence, so newcomers to resistance training should stick with two workouts per week until they progress to the point where their goals change. It’s important to note that many people will never have a need to add that third workout unless they have specific performance objectives.
For more advanced exercisers, the frequency of resistance training is largely dependent on their goals, as this type of programming can take on many forms as a person’s fitness and ability levels improve. A person may opt to complete full-body workouts three times per week or split routines that focus on different movements, muscle groups or regions of the body so that the person is training most days, but with appropriate recovery time for each muscle group.
Getting Started with Resistance Training
Resistance training is a form of physical activity that is designed to improve muscular fitness by exercising a target muscle group against external resistance. External resistance can be applied using equipment or body weight.
[View the American Council on Exercise (ACE) library for a variety of movements targeting each major muscle group that use resistance from both body weight and equipment.]
Resistance-training equipment includes selectorized or weight-stack machines, medicine balls, cable machines, plate-loaded machines, free weights, elastic bands, kettlebells, sandbags, stones, suspension trainers and water-filled implements.
Choose a weight that is relatively light (60-70% 1-repetition-max) so you can establish baseline strength and power. Do eight to 12 repetitions and increase the weight load if more than 12 repetitions can be completed safely while maintaining good technique and postural stability.
Increase the weight load in 5% increments until you are using a weight that fatigues your muscles within the goal repetition range. Results can be achieved by performing one to four sets of each exercise. Ideally, for optimal muscular development, you need to feel the burn or achieve muscular fatigue on those last few repetitions.
Start with resistance training at least two days per week and gradually progress to three days per week, depending on your goals, availability and the type of routine you are following; such as, full-body or split routine.
Safety First
The importance of personalization cannot be overstated when it comes to exercise programming, as the exercises chosen are affected by your previous exercise experience, skill, fitness and ability levels, your goals and values, as well as the available time and equipment.
Safety is of the utmost importance, so if you’re a newcomer to resistance training, begin with body-weight exercises that focus on stability and mobility so that you can develop proper posture and technique before adding external weights to those exercises. The last thing you want to do is add resistance to improper movements, as that is a recipe for injury. Start slowly and progress as your performance improves.
Finally, it’s vital to understand that resistance training is only one element of a well-rounded exercise program, which should also include cardiorespiratory, flexibility and neuromotor (i.e., balance, agility and coordination) training.
About the Author
Cedric X. Bryant, PhD, FACSM, wrote this article on behalf of the American Council on Exercise (ACE). As president and chief science officer, Bryant stewards ACE’s development and delivery of exercise-science and behavior-change education in ways that are engaging and compelling, recruiting more people to become exercise professionals and health coaches, and equipping them for growth in their respective fields.