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Whether you want to build muscle, lose weight, or just deal with the signs of aging, strength training is one of the best things you can do. Focus on it more than cardio.

When you think of the gym, you likely initially think of the running machines. There are also the rowers, the crossfits, and more. There’s this idea that cardio is going to help you lose weight and look good.

The truth is that’s not what you want to do cardio for. Cardio is great for the heart health, and you certainly want to add it into your fitness regime. It’s not the type of training that you want to focus a lot on. You need to do more strength training rather than cardio.

Strength training improves your cardiovascular health

While running and rowing are certainly going to be good for your heart and lungs, so is strength work. As you get older, your heart needs to do more. It is a muscle, and you need to build it if you want to keep it working as well as it did when you were younger.

The more you work on your strength*, the more you’ll increase your aerobic capacity. That means you’ll be able to do more physical activity over longer periods of time. And you won’t feel fatigued.

You’re also reducing the risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

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You’ll increase your muscle strength

Your muscles will start to degrade over time. You need to avoid that happening, which means you need to do more strength training*.

This is also important for improving your joint health. The tendons and ligaments around your joints are strengthened, offering more support as you get older. It’s so much better than cardio workouts as you’re not putting as much pressure on your knees, hips, and shoulders as you would when you’re pounding the pavement or the treadmill.

With better strength within the joints, you’ll have better stability. This help to decrease the risk of injury as you’re standing and turning. You’ll also find that your posture improves, so you won’t deal with as many health issues from bad posture as you get older.

Yes, strength training will help you reduce body fat

A lot of people think that running is the way to lose weight. After all, a lot of runners are slim. That’s not really the case, though. Strength training is actually the best thing for reducing body fat. You will want to include some cardio workouts and a balanced diet at the same time.

Your muscles can help you burn more calories throughout the day with strength workouts*. Your muscles break down and then need to repair, which means they continue to burn calories long after the workout is done. This doesn’t happen as much or as effectively with cardio workouts—unless you’re doing high-intensity interval training workouts.

With this strength workout, you’re building on the muscle. It makes it harder for the body to take the calories from the muscles, so it has to turn to the fat to burn the excess calories. On top of all that, you’ll boost your resting metabolic rate, burning more calories throughout the day naturally.

You may not see the change on the scales, though. This is something that you’ll notice in your clothing, as yes, muscle does weigh more than fat!

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Exercise as a whole is good for you. You want to aim for three strength training days and two cardio days at least. If you can do more strength workouts, go for it!

What type of exercise do you enjoy doing? What are you trying to achieve with your workouts? Share in the comments below.