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Strength Training Exercises

Strength training exercises are those exercises that will challenge your muscles through resistance. The resistance can be from exercise equipment or using gravity and your own body weight.

In order to strengthen your muscles you must provide enough challenge and resistance to task your muscles more than they are used to from normal everyday activities.

When you provide resistance to your muscles they contract. This contraction is what builds strength, increases anaerobic endurance and increases the size of your skeletal muscles.

Below are links to several strength training fitness videos on this site. However, before you jump into these exercises with step by step instructions and videos, keep reading to learn more about strength training workouts.

Lower Body Resistance Band Exercises
Upper Body Resistance Band Exercises
Lower Body Dumbbell Exercises
Upper Body Dumbbell Exercises

These are just a few of the many free fitness videos on this site. Be sure to check them all out here.

Types of Strengthening Exercises

Weight Lifting

The most common form of exercise to build muscle strength is weight lifting. Although some exercises can be performed with a simple weight bench and free weights, to really get the benefit of weight lifting you will want to use specific exercise equipment.

Most gyms offer a wide variety of weight lifting equipment or you can purchase a home gym.

Weight Lifting

The most common form of exercise to build muscle strength is weight lifting. Although some exercises can be performed with a simple weight bench and free weights, to really get the benefit of weight lifting you will want to use specific exercise equipment.

Most gyms offer a wide variety of weight lifting equipment or you can purchase a home gym.

Resistance Bands

If access to a local gym or purchasing a home gym is out of the question, then try an alternate strength training method. Resistance band exercises are a great alternative to weight lifting and for some people is probably a good way to start your strengthening routine.

With resistance bands you can strengthen and tone all the major muscle groups. The advantage of resistance bands is that you can adjust the resistance, using less resistance when needed or increasing the resistance to increase the challenge.

Dumbbell Weights

Another fairly inexpensive alternative to weight lifting are dumbbell exercises. There are two types of dumbbells; fixed weight and adjustable weight.

If you use the fixed weight dumbbells be sure to by several different weight sizes so that you can alter the resistance during your strength training.

Gravity

Lastly you can use your own body weight and gravity. Body weight exercises are a great way to strengthen and tone your muscles. Many abdominal exercises are done with no resistance exercise equipment, but instead rely on gravity to provide resistance. You can also perform many upper and lower body exercises with no dumbbell weights or resistance bands. Exercises like squats for the glutes will get some resistance from gravity. As these become too easy you will want to find a method to add more resistance. Here are some toning exercises you can do with just your body weight.

Also, here is another site with some body weight exercises that you can try.

Benefits of Strengthening Muscles

By strengthening and building lean muscle you are increasing your basal metabolic rate. This is one of the key strength training benefits. By increasing the lean muscle mass you are burning more fat and calories. The more calories you burn the more fat you burn and the leaner and toner your body will be. So rev up your metabolsim by building lean muscles.

This e-book "burn the fat, feed the muscle" is written by a body builder. It is a great resource for building muscles, losing fat and looking great. It teaches you how to eat right, what exercises are best and how to really tone your body. I highly recommend this book. Just click on the image or click here to learn more.

There are many other benefits of strengthening muscles beyond burning fat and increasing your metabolism. These benefits include increased bone, ligament and tendon strength as well as improved joint function. Strengthening the muscles also minimizes risk of muscle injury. Be sure to check out all the benefits of strength training.

Although strength training is primarily an anaerobic exercise, by performing circuit training you can add some aerobic benefits as well.

If you want to use a personal trainer to learn the proper way of performing your strength training exercises, then you want to know what to look for. Here is an article from a site dedicated to fitness for fun on personal trainer qualifications.

Here is even more information on strengthening training plans from another health site.

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Aerobic Exercises
In addition to strengthenin your muscles you want to add some aerobic exercises to your weekly workout routine.

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