​Muscle-Strengthening Exercises

Muscle-strengthening exercise

sometimes referred to as:

- strength training

- weight training

- resistance training

is a voluntary activity that includes the use of weight machines, exercise bands, hand-held weights, or own body weight.

​BENEFITS

• ​Develops muscular strength and fitness

• ​Helps build strong, healthier muscles and bones

• ​Develops good posture

• ​Relieves back pain

• ​Improves athletic performance

• ​Maintains muscle mass during a program of weight loss.

​3 Components of Muscle- Strengthening Exercises

• ​INTENSITY

• ​FREQUENCY

• ​REPETITIONS

​Intensity is the amount of physical power, expressed as a percentage the body uses in performing an activity.

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​For example, it defines how hard the body has to work to walk two kilometres in 20 minutes or to play a game of touch football.

​INTENSITY

​Gauging INTENSITY

​1. How you feel.

Exercise intensity is a subjective measure of how hard physical activity feels to a person — perceived exertion. Perceived exertion level may be different from what someone else feels doing the same exercise. fit.

​2. Heart rate

Heart rate offers a more objective look at exercise intensity. In general, the higher the heart rate during physical activity, the higher the exercise intensity.

​Once you know your maximum heart rate, you can calculate your desired target heart rate zone — the level at which your heart is being exercised and conditioned but not overworked.

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The American Heart Association generally recommends a target heart rate of:

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​Moderate exercise intensity: 50% to about 70% of your maximum heart rate

• Vigorous exercise intensity: 70% to about 85% of your maximum heart rate

You can calculate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. For example, if you're 45 years old, subtract 45 from 220 to get a maximum heart rate of 175. This is the average maximum number of times your heart should beat per minute during exercise.

​Accurate Ways to Measure MHR

​1. Sub-maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing.

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​2. ECG (ElectroCardioGram) - records the electrical signal from your heart to check for different heart conditions. Electrodes are placed on your chest to record your heart's electrical signals, which cause your heart to beat.

​2. FREQUENCY

​How often a person does the muscle-strengthening activity?

• Once a week

• ​Twice a day

• ​Once a month

Repetitions

​Rep is one complete motion of an exercise. A set is a group of consecutive repetitions.

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​For example, two sets of ten reps on the crunches. This means that you did ten consecutive crunches, rested, and then did another ten crunches.