Our age has been considered the “age of push buttons” (Hooks 2). Because of our reliance on machines, Americans have been gradually degenerating. We need vigorous exercise in order to grow and develop. The muscles must be overloaded in order to be strengthened. Since ours is a generation of inactivity, our muscles are weakening and degenerating. “The physical fitness of American youths was compared with that of youths from England, Scotland, Wales, and Cyprus. Our young people were found to be as much as 14 percent below those of the other countries for all tests and a

We all know that different sports feel different on the body. You do not need to know how to swim to know that swimming is very different from weight lifting. So an important issue to consider is how your particular sport may affect your bones. Bone mineral density, the best indicator of bone strength, is closely related to your level of physical activity. Simply put, more activity equals stronger bones. Swimming, tennis, gymnastics, and soccer, which have always been popular sports with girls, positively affect bone strength. But new studies have shown that girls involved in weight lifting may have the strongest bones of all. The main reason is that in lifting weights compressive loads are placed on the bones in addition to the weight body itself, as in the sports mentioned above. The effects on bone in these sports come from your body weight being absorbed by your bones when you run or land form a jump. In other sports such as swimming, cycling, and rowing, the only effect on bone comes form the contractions of the muscles. An important key, then, is that it is compressive loading to bone, such as in lifting weights, rather than tension that stimulates the greatest bone growth.

When it comes down to it, there is no excuse for not strength training. Some will say that there isn’t enough time to do it. It only takes a few days in the gym and most of these exercises can be done at home. There are more than a dozen physiological reasons to strength train on a regular basis. It is important to remember that proper strength training may help us to look better, feel better, and function better. Our body is like a car, and our skeletal muscles and bones serve as the engine, chassis, and shock absorbers for our body. And consequently, strength training is an effective means of increasing our physical capacity, improving our athletic performance, reducing our injury risk, and improving our self-confidence.

Reduce Low Back Pain-- Years of research on strength training and back pain conducted at the University of Florida Medical School have shown that strong low-back muscles are less likely to be injured than weaker low-back muscles. A recent study by Risch found that low-back patients had significantly less back pain after ten weeks of specific strength exercise for the lumbar spinal muscles (lower back). Because 80 percent of Americans experience low-back problems, it is advisable for all adults to strengthen their lower-back muscles (Westcott 36; www.strength-training.com).

With the exception of a fracture, injuries to the ligaments, the connective tissue that connects bone to bone, of the ankle are classified in several ways. Perhaps the most common way is by the severity of symptoms and the looseness in the ankle following the injury. A Grade I injury typically shows minimal pain, swelling, loss of function, looseness, and the ability to bear weight on the ankle without much discomfort shortly after injury. A Grade II injury shows moderate swelling, pain loss of function, and some looseness making it more difficult to bear weight on the ankle without pain, a Grade III injury shows significant swelling, pain, loss of function, and inability to bear weight on the ankle. As expected, the worse the injury, the more extensive the rehabilitation and the more time away from training (Bellew 33).

Increase Metabolic Rate-- Research reveals that adding three pounds of muscle increases our resting metabolic rate by seven percent, and our daily calorie requirements by 15 percent. At rest, a pound of muscle requires 35 calories per day for tissue maintenance, and during exercise muscle energy utilization increases dramatically. Adults who replace muscle through sensible strength exercise use more calories all day long, thereby reducing the likelihood of fat accumulation (Westcott 36; www.strength-training.com).

You’ll Lose More Fat Than You’ll Gain Muscle-- Wescott and his colleagues have done n

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