Why strength training is essential for overall health

There are a number of reasons why I recommend strength training for anyone who wants to achieve optimal long-term health. As a chiropractor, I have a triad of things that I believe are essential to optimize our physical well-being. These three things are alignment, flexibility/mobility, and strength/stability. Our greatest interest in our practice is the long term well-being of our patients. As much as we love helping people overcome physical challenges our greatest joy comes from watching people make lifestyle changes that we know will pay dividends over the long term. Strength training is one of those things that we know will provide continual long-term benefits.

One of the questions we ask all of our new patients is what is your 20 year health goal? We try and teach our patients that what you do today will greatly affect your health one year from now. The habits you develop now are the things that will have a major influence over your health in the next 10 to 20 years.
There are other specific patterns that I’ve noticed also with my patients that do strength training. We have assessment tools that we can monitor a person’s alignment over time. We have noticed that the people who do regular strength training hold the alignment changes better and are less prone to flare-ups.

In our industry we also tend to see a lot of injuries when people are in somewhat compromised positions. Whether it’s shoveling, picking up their grandkids or moving something around the house, if your body is not strong the forces will be placed on joints and soft tissue that are not meant to handle certain types of loads. This is where a lot of injuries occur and could be prevented by having better core strength.

Lastly, we know strength training can be a tremendous stress relief. Most people are sitting way more than they should be and many people have elevated levels of stress hormones circulating through their bodies day to day. Regular strength training helps mitigate both of these issues. It helps us with postural muscles and by increasing our heart rate in a consistent matter helps circulate and dissipate those stress hormones.

If you are reading this, you are most likely one of the converted already. However, if there are people that you care about in your life that are trying to achieve better physical health, please have them read this and get in touch with One Up Fitness who can safely monitor an appropriate exercise regime.