Benefits

Health-oriented strength training improves the basic physical condition

If you are still young strong muscles act as a natural "corset", that supports and carries you throughout your life. If you are older it retards physical degeneration and accelerates regeneration.

Reduces effect of gravity

Training increases strength and so improves the strength to weight ratio. Remember that muscle strength is all that keeps you upright, gets you upstairs and supports you. Without muscle strength you would be unable to move, at least not without external help. Why do we feel so good in the bath? It is because the displacement of water gives us a feeling of almost total weightlessness. With strength training you can experience this feeling all the time, making it easier to support your body weight.

Improves appearance

The condition and shape of your muscles are what determine your external appearance, including the way you move. Flabby untrained muscles make you look flabby. Everything tends to sag. Exercise improves muscle tone and with it your figure.

Improves flexibility

Machine-based strength training puts a load on a muscle in both in its extended and contracted state. It is, therefore, more effective at increasing mobility than traditional exercises. If we contract one muscle fully this in turn means that we extend its antagonist fully (for example, biceps/triceps).

Eliminates back pain

Weak back muscles are the cause of 80% of back problems. A strong back knows no pain. Recent research has shown that targeted strength training is the only effective way to prevent and treat back problems. Passive measures (fango treatments, medicinal baths, etc.) aggravate symptoms in the long term.

Prevents osteoporosis

It is not just muscles and tendons that respond to resistance. Bones also become stronger.

Speeds up recovery

Strength training stimulates anabolic processes and so reduces recovery time considerably, such as after surgery. Each muscle is more or less isolated and then exercises separately. This means that training can continue even if individual limbs are immobilized, for example, in plaster.

Improves protection against injury

Training increases the density and specific weight of a muscle and so improves defences in the event of an external impact (armour function).

Helps you loose weight more efficiently

If you use more calories than consume the body has to draw on its own resources and you loose both fat and muscle. This is why those on starvation diets often look worse than they did before. However, if strength training is done the same time the muscle is retained and fat is shed more quickly. Muscles are good fat burners.

Improves posture

Poor posture is a result of an imbalance in inter-muscular tension. The stress and strains of daily life, physical labour and even the sports we play all have one-sided effect. Strength training corrects these imbalances.

Retains strength in old age

We cannot stop the passage of time but we can prevent increasing weakness. A prime cause of the infirmities of old age is loss of muscle and bone tissue and with its strength. We lose control over our body. This makes us anxious. The risk of fractures is also higher. Strength training helps increase and maintain strength and so we retain control over our body.