Living longer doesn’t matter as much as how you live. Whether it’s feeling more energy today or 30 years from now, strength training fuels your body for a better quality of life. It gives you the stamina to cook dinner after work, play with the kids, squeeze in a workout, or simply walk up the stairs or get out of bed without pain.
While longevity is how many years you live, your health span is the number of years you spend actually feeling good. One of the biggest factors of how good you feel depends on muscle mass — not just for staying active and flexible, but for keeping your mind sharp and your energy high.
With strength training, you can build muscle mass to improve your overall quality of life and longevity. This includes lifting weights or using your body or bands for resistance. It’s different from powerlifting, which is about lifting the heaviest weight possible, or bodybuilding, which is more about building a muscular appearance for aesthetics.
To find out what strength training is all about, check out this podcast that boils it down and describes how to make it work for you.
In this article, we’ll cover how building muscle mass benefits you in all areas of life, now and in the long term. Learn how to get started with strength training to set yourself up for a long-lasting life full of activities you love.
Your muscles don’t care how they look. They exist for function and impact how you live and feel on a day-to-day basis. These are some of the most noticeable benefits you’ll get from building muscle mass that influence how long and how well you live:
All the benefits listed above come together to impact your daily life in a noticeable way. You don’t have to wait until old age to notice how much easier you move than all your friends (or how many fewer hospital visits you have). Within a short time, you’ll be able to notice these changes:
Science shows over and over again that strength training reduces levels of depression, anxiety, and general mental health symptoms. Overall, it boosts your mood and decreases the risks of chronic illnesses and fatigue. It has a domino effect on your mental health by helping you sleep better, regulating hormones, and increasing strength, immunity, and confidence. Every day, you’ll be less stressed, think more clearly, and feel more capable of taking on the day.
It also helps your brain and tissues get more oxygen and nutrients, thanks to increased blood flow. Put together, that means you can concentrate and focus better, and reduce your risk of age-related issues like dementia and Alzheimer’s.
We all know how easy it is to gain weight (and how much harder it feels to lose it). With strength training, your body naturally maintains a healthier composition and weight more easily. Lean muscle mass burns more calories at rest, increases your metabolism, and regulates blood sugar levels. That means your body is less likely to store fat and reduces your risk of developing diabetes or an unhealthy waist circumference.
Plus, building muscle helps you feel less tired, more confident, and energized, which helps you move around more in general. Again, its domino effect is at play, where the more you move and feel good, the more you want to move and feel even better. Of course, adding in the best diet for maximizing your lifespan is also going to have a huge impact.
We don’t tend to think about mobility and everyday movements when we’re young. However, once middle age and older hits, it’s something most people wish they prepared for. The more muscle mass you have, the stronger your bones and mobility are maintained into old age. That means you can still walk up the steps in your 70s and avoid knee and lower back pain in your 40s and 50s.
We’re not young forever, so building muscle mass now will make future you incredibly grateful. Life gets a lot harder when you lose your independence, can’t travel, or have to leave your home because you can’t get around easily anymore.
You might live long into old age, but that doesn’t mean you’ll live well. Strength training keeps you strong, active, and mobile. Even your brain is sharper, helping you stay independent longer so you don’t have to feel the pain of being unable to do the things that bring you joy. Whether that’s traveling, hiking, or playing with your grandkids or dogs in the park. You’re less likely to get sick overall, too (whether that’s the common cold or something more serious like cancer). That means every year can be more enjoyable and vibrant, with fewer doctor visits and time spent sick.
Knowing that something is good for you doesn’t mean you’re more likely to do it. Starting (or keeping) strength training as part of your routine long-term means finding ways to make it fun and manageable. Here’s how to make sure you’ll working on your muscle mass from here on out:
One of the most overlooked and important points of staying consistent with strength training is taking the time to find exercises you actually enjoy. It’s just like trying to eat healthy by serving yourself a plate of chicken and broccoli every day — if you don’t like it, you’re not going to stick with it long-term. Give yourself the freedom to experiment with different classes, at-home exercises, equipment, and trainers to find the right fit. See how to hire a reliable personal trainer that makes all the difference.
Remember, what interested you last month might not work for this month. We need variety to stay engaged (which is what makes a personal trainer so helpful — they’re constantly adjusting your workout to make it challenging and fun). You can truly unlock your potential with the power of personal training support.
When it comes to exercise, we often try to do too much too soon (just like our New Year's resolutions). With strength training, it’s important to go slow and gradually increase difficulty. Not only does this help avoid injury, but it makes you more likely to stick to your exercises long-term. There’s really no need to buy a big set of weights or even sign up for the gym if that’s not your thing. Think of a strength training habit so small it’d be impossible not to add to your routine, and make it SMART:
Whatever it is, make it follow the SMART goals for you. It has to be something interesting enough for you. An example could be adding 10 squats after warming up for the next two weeks. If you want to build upper body strength instead, for example, it could be 10 push-ups after warming up for two weeks.
If you’re not reaching your goals, the goals need to change. It’s not you — it’s the goal. We usually make them too difficult or we don’t realize all the blockades in the way (or that it’s actually not something that interests us enough anymore). Check in every week or two to see if you’re progressing or not, and why. Then, adjust and move towards a more manageable and interesting goal.
Also, as you eventually progress, you’re going to want to set harder goals to avoid boredom and push yourself forward. That’s where experimenting with new routines and workouts (or getting the expertise and challenge from a trainer) can be incredibly helpful.
You’ll know if your goals are manageable and exciting enough by how consistently you work towards them. If you’re having a hard time getting consistent, think about moving backward and habit-stacking. Take your goal and list all the steps that come before it to make it happen. If it’s overwhelming, that means the habit may be too challenging (or boring) to be consistent. How can you stack something interesting enough onto an old routine?
A measurable example could be keeping some dumbbells on your desk and doing tricep dips or bicep curls while you’re on a non-video work call (wearing headphones so your hands are free, of course). You could also keep an exercise mat by your desk and do some core resistance training for 5-minute work breaks. It’s the little things that add up, in the end.
Having a hard time getting consistent with strength training? Trainwell’s personal trainers make sure you love your exercises, long after you’re done with your time together. Everything is tailored to your likes, dislikes, and goals. They know how to stop you from getting bored all the while challenging you just enough to make you excited to keep going. You’ll learn the mindset and tools you need to go forward on your own, always setting new milestones and reaching your goals. Not sure if it will work for you? Try a 14-day free trial and cancel if you don’t love it, no questions asked. With the right trainer, everything is possible.
Written by Jennifer Olejarz.
