We all know that resistance training is good for us, but what benefits does it offer exactly? Have a look at the list below, and find out what regular resistance training could do for you!

1. Increases fat free mass: If you do resistance training regularly while applying the principle of progressive overload, you will increase your muscle mass over time. By increasing your muscle mass, you change your body composition. More of your body weight will come from muscle in comparison to fat. This effect is enhanced even more by the fact that resistance training can also help with fat loss.
2. Increases metabolic rate: The more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolism will be, meaning that the more muscle mass you have, the more calories your body will burn at rest, which is why resistance training also helps with fat loss.
3. Increases muscular endurance, strength and power: Through regular resistance training with challenging weights, you will increase your performance over time, including muscular endurance, strength and power.
4. Strengthens ligaments, tendons and muscles: We all know that consistent resistance training strengthens our muscles, but it can also help strengthen the ligaments and tendons! Through muscle contractions, our ligaments and tendons are stimulated to grow in thickness and become stronger. The process of strengthening tendons and ligaments is however much slower than the process of strengthening muscles.
5. Increases bone density: Any form of weight bearing exercise, including resistance training, can help increase bone mineral density and bone strength. Healthy and strong bones are something we become more aware of needing in older age, but a healthy foundation is built before that throughout your entire life, so give resistance training a try to prevent bone issues later on!
6. Improves posture and proprioception: Many of us have postural issues from sitting too much, and often we don’t even realise we do! Through training the muscle groups that are neglected in our daily life, for example the back muscles, we can improve our posture drastically. With time, regular resistance training can help us get a better sense of what our posture looks like just by paying attention to what it feels like, which is extremely helpful for moving effectively and safely when we train, but also in everyday life.