Strength Training Exercises

Strength Training Exercises
If you want to feel stronger, get more flexible, achieve
better balance and body harmony, and just be able to
perform physical activities much better than you do at
present, it's time to get into strength training. Strength
training exercises activates your muscles to work further
than it is used to, which, in effect, is how it becomes
stronger.

There are three basic kinds of strength training exercises:
abdominal, upper body and lower body exercises. Abdominal
exercises strengthen your center, which is supposed to give
you optimum control over the rest of your body and keep all
your power in check. Exercises for the upper body involve
the back, torso and arms, while legs, thighs and hips are
developed by lower body exercises.

Most of these exercises involve lifting weights, which will
serve as your weight resistance. This said, you must be
aware of risk factors involved when starting out on your
strength training program. For example, if you have any
diseases or problems with your heart, or even if there is
any history of coronary disease in your family, you must
get your doctor's permission before you can start a
strength training program that involves weight lifting.
Other factors that would require you to have a chat with
your doctor include high cholesterol and obesity, smoking,
chronic hypertension, chronic muscular and joint pains,
arthritis, diabetes, and asthma.

You should also talk to your doctor about being ready for
strength training when you are recovering from surgery,
have had no physical exercise whatsoever prior to your
upcoming strength training plans, are pregnant or had given
birth less than three months ago. Obviously, after events
such as these, you would probably want your body to be much
stronger, but jumping into strength training exercises
after such a weakened condition would do much more harm
than good. Let's get going, but slowly.

It is important to have a strength training program that
involves the majority of the muscles in your body. If your
strength training program focuses mainly on abdominal
strength - perhaps your original goal is to get yourself a
neat six pack - the rest of your body will suffer. A
primary program you can start with would involve the bench
press, lateral pulldowns, overhead press, bicep curl and
tricep pulldown for upper body; squats, leg extensions and
leg curls; and abdominal crunches for your midsection. You
can add exercises later on.

There are even programs with combination exercises for
people on the go. Such exercises include squats with bicep
curls, or with overhead press, lunges with lateral raises,
and so on. But these are for later, when you've already
achieved some strength and experience in strength training.

Your strength training exercise program should be very
basic when you start out. The American College of Sports
Medicine recommends that you accomplish a minimum one set
of 8 to 12 repetitions per muscle group being exercised to
get the desired results. As you progress with your
exercises, the amount of resistance that is applied to your
exercises must increase as well, but again, don't rush into
it. The only way to go is up. You'll be stronger before you
know it.

----------------------------------------------------
Mary Meade, fitness addict and core strength training
enthusiast. Read more at
http://www.strengthtraininganatomy.net