7 Body and Mind Benefits of Gaining Toned Muscle
Sep 04, 2022
Maintaining muscle is one of the most important aspects of long-term health and longevity.
While many people often become fixated on which diet is best — such as paleo, keto, or low-carb — we know that by doing so you’re missing a big part of the health and fitness puzzle. In fact a lot of the more severe diets can lead to a loss of muscle. We need to shift our focus from dieting and working out just to stay toned (that’s all well and good) to a more health perspective where we understand the myriad of health benefits that having muscle on your frame can bring.
Here’s a few….
- Muscles help control blood sugar.
A high carbohydrate diet coupled with a sedentary lifestyle has contributed to the diabetes (obesity and diabetes) epidemic. About two-thirds of the population are overweight or obese and have prediabetes or diabetes.
However, obesity and diabetes are not always linked. About 20% of people with diabetes or prediabetes are at a healthy weight. However, your body composition, or how much lean muscle mass you have does have an affect on your blood sugar levels.Your liver and skeletal muscles store excess glucose from carbs as glycogen. However, if you don't exercise regularly, especially weight training, you will diminish the ability to store carbohydrates and process higher blood sugar levels. Regular exercise to use up any excess sugar and to keep up your muscle mass is a must to help regulate your blood sugar levels.
Aside from exercising, to address blood sugar issues, you can cut out all processed and refined carbohydrates that spike your blood sugar. Or you can eat more moderate amounts of vegetable based and fibrous carbs.
- Muscle builds strength, power and endurance so you can get through your workouts more easily.
During the first few months of a strength training program, there will be many changes. During this period of adaptation, your nervous and muscular system will be working over time. You can gain considerable strength without adding a lot of additional muscle at first due to your nervous system being activated. After you push your strength limit with your existing muscle, you start building more muscle.
After a few months of consistent weight training and the right diet, you'll notice your body is more toned and your strength continues to improve. Your nervous system is activated which helps you to build on your power, speed as well as your muscular endurance which is so important for overall health and wellbeing. You'll also find that you can perform harder workouts and recover faster than in the past.
If you’re looking for a workout membership, that you can do in the comfort of your own home we have you covered. These workouts have a variety and work on all aspects of fitness such as the HIT, the toning and sculpting and the stretching.
- The muscles support your joints.
One of the main reasons people avoid weight training because its hard. Woman also are scared they will get bulky but with the right eating plan is it almost impossible to get too bulky from weight training unless you are taking enhancements One of the most important factors of weight training is that it protects your joints. Ironically, many people suffer from joint pain due to a lack of exercise and not doing strength training. So get moving and start lifting in order to have better mobility and less joint pain!
Start of with light weights and smaller movements and build up as you go.
- Build muscle and build bone.
Body tension or resistance stimulates increases in muscle mass and bone density. After experiencing stimulation, your body uses amino acids (and other micronutrients) to build and repair muscles, and protein, calcium, magnesium, and vitamins D and K to build bones.
While calcium, magnesium, vitamins D, and K are necessary for bone health, your body doesn't build bones unless you give it a reason. You need to stress your bones with resistance training. When you lose muscle, you almost certainly lose bone density. If you do the necessary things to build muscle, chances are you'll also improve bone density.
Strong muscles almost always lead to healthy bones. The best think you can do if you are a candidate for osteoporosis or weak bones is to start lifting.
- Muscle helps you control body fat.
Muscle burns about three times more calories per kilogram than body fat. So when you lose body fat and add muscle, your weight may not change (because muscles weighs a lot more that ft), but you will make a significant shift in your appearance while increasing your resting metabolic rate which is the rate at which your body burns calories.
Like muscle loss, metabolic rate declines with age. So the more muscle you have on your frame, the higher your metabolic rate will be. So don't let age be a factor. Your exercise and diet choices are a much more important factor than age itself. In fact, a healthy 70-year-old who has lots of firm toned muscle could have a metabolic rate that far exceeds that of a sedentary 30-year-old.
It's important to remember that if you're doing a lot of cardio and eating a low-calorie diet to try to burn excess body fat, you'll actually accelerate muscle loss and slow down your resting metabolism. Instead rely on strength training and the right eating plan to build lean body mass which will keep your metabolism elevated..
6. Muscles can change your emotional state.
When you feel sad or depressed, you may unconsciously slouch, lower your head, and turn your arms. When you feel an emotion, you take the position of that emotion.
Research shows that it works the other way around, too: When you position yourself for that emotion, you begin to feel it. How do most people sit at work or when using their smartphones? In the same position they sit in when they are depressed.
You can do a lot to improve the ergonomics of your workstation, but you can also combat some of the effects of poor posture with balanced muscle building. For example, when designing upper body exercises for clients, we often choose about 60 percent upper body pulls or back movements and about 40 percent upper body push movements. Clients can then focus their muscle movements on improving posture and relieving the effects of sitting and rolling.
Research shows that when people improve their posture, they can also improve their emotional state.
- Muscles make you more confident.
There are few things more exciting than experiencing a physical transformation or achieving a new personal best—slipping into a new pair of pants, seeing definition in your arm, hitting a new squat and deadlift PR, doing 10 real push-ups in a row, or completing your first weight lifting.
These physical achievements can boost people's self-esteem in ways that help them achieve many other things in their personal lives and careers.
Losing physical strength has a direct impact on your mental strength as well. A weak body and a weak mind often go hand in hand. So if you need to be mentally tough for your job, business, relationship or family, do whatever it takes to get physically tough (ahem).
The confidence you gain from getting fit will give you the confidence to do many other things too. Its about overall health for your mind, body and soul.
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- The muscles support your joints.
- Muscle builds strength, power and endurance so you can get through your workouts more easily.
