Magic minutes

Strength training is just that, magic minutes. What strength training can do for you in a matter of 20 to 30 minutes a day, three days a week is incredible. It can change your overall health in no time, in a myriad of ways. Even those of us with chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis can benefit from strength training. Here are just a few of the benefits.

With Strength training you can:

1) Increase your body's ability to burn calories by 15 percent, even when you are at rest. As you increase your muscle mass it revs up your body's metabolism and as a result your body burns up to 140 more calories a day. A 30 minutes strength training session burns two times the amount of calories as a 30 minute aerobic exercise session.

2) Increase your body's lean muscle mass. After puberty whether you are a man or a woman you lose 1-2 percent of your muscle strength every year. With strength training you can slow this process down and add to your muscle mass.

3) Protects, increases and prevents bone loss. Strength training decreased the risk of fractures and increased bone density. Post-menopausal women are especially susceptible to bone loss and women who are on breast cancer medications that are estrogen blockers.

4) Protection and prevention of major diseases, such as Type II Diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, depression, back pain, and osteoporosis. The data on what strength training does for diabetes is amazing. We have patients who have reduced their use of their medications with our strength training programs.

5) Improves ones overall outlook and energy levels. When you feel tired and discouraged instead of reaching for food or a drink, try doing push-ups, lunges, sit-ups or squats. Research shows that the body will increase its natural production of endorphins with strength training exercises.

6) Improve the quality of your sleep patterns. You fall asleep quicker, sleep deeper, sleep longer and have fewer times that you awake in the night. Sleep is the time that our body heals. Think of it as your restart button everyday. Without good sleep are body can't be all it was meant to be.

7) Improve your balance, coordination and posture and reduce the risk of falling by 40 percent. As you strength train you improve your overall muscles ability to fire quickly and efficiently. They have actually seen the insulation surrounding the nerve increase with strength training and as a result we then have a more efficient muscle function.

So all it takes is 90 minutes a week. That is nothing when you have 10,080 minutes in a week. So let's take these minutes and see what magic we can do to make a difference in our health.

Sheree DiBiase, PT, is the owner of Lake City Physical Therapy and she and her staff would love to help you get rolling with your strength training exercise regime. Physical Therapists are experts in this area and they are trained to deal with all types of disease pathologies. There is no reason that you can't live the life you desire to have. We utilize strength training techniques to make a difference in our patients everyday. Call for an appointment at (208) 667-1988.