Resistance training is a kind of workout that will cause your muscles to work against an external resistance, with the aim of increasing its muscle mass, endurance, tone and/ or strength. For most of us, doing resistance training isn’t about getting huge muscles. in fact, the benefits of working out your leg muscles extends well beyond growing muscle size.

What to use for resistance training?

The resistance you use can be a TheraBand or resistance band, dumbbells, or even your personal body weight! Really, anything that causes your muscles to work against some resistance can be used!

How Resistance Exercise Works

From a scientific viewpoint, the actual goal of effective resistance training is to cause microscopic tears to your muscle fibres. Sounds a bit painful doesn’t it?! Well actually, these tiny little microscopic tears often aren’t felt, but their effect is what generates the benefit of resistance training…

When you create these tiny muscle tears, your body then works to repair and strengthen them. So it’s this process of workout > microscopic tears > body repairs the area stronger > repeat that causes muscle shape, tone, strength and ultimately turns your body into a metabolic rate machine!

5 Reasons to Do Resistance Training on Your Leg Muscles

If you’re into strength training, regular resistance training of the leg muscles will assist you in improving your big lifts. Your core and legs produce majority of the power during heavy lifting. It is important you perform resistance training since it will strengthen your lower body, glutes and legs. This will make you develop core strength that will support your body in every movement while you’re lifting weights.

If you lack mobility, perhaps have poorly conditioned hamstrings, and muscle imbalances, it can lead to injury. ACL injuries for example are often at lesser risk when you have strong stabilising muscles around the upper legs. So with regular leg resistance training, you can limit your risk of injuries.

Resistance training is also an ideal way of burning calories. Resistance training on your leg muscles requires more energy during the activity It also causes your body to burn calories after you exercise as it goes through the muscle repair and growth phase.

When it comes to aging, from age 30 to 70, a person can lose about 30 percent of type II muscle fibers (strength fibers) in their body. Resistance workouts can reverse or slow down the process of ageing by building muscle mass. Since people lose approximately 2 kilos of muscle every decade after they attain age 30, the training is essential also as it builds muscle tone and strength.

And of course, any form of exercise helps to reduce your risk of serious illness so any type of exercise you can perform is a great thing for health!

Bottom Line

Adhering to a good dietary routine, ensuring you have enough rest  as well as always drinking plenty of water on a daily basis goes handy with resistance training. And of course, if you’re unsure of where to start, there’s a local EFM Health Club nearby that’ll be a great starting point 🙂