Men Should Gain Muscle to Gain a Longer, Healthier Life

By Jackie Kolgraf 

For men, strength training isn’t just about getting huge biceps and six-pack abs.  

While improving your physical appearance might be a bonus, strength training can increase longevity by improving health markers like body fat percentage, resting metabolic rate, cholesterol, and blood glucose levels. 

Stronger muscles also aid in mobility, helping you continue to safely do the things you love as you age, and ward off illnesses like cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, arthritis, and more. Strength training has been proven beneficial for mental health, too, reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression.  

Start strength training today for more “gains” than just your bicep size. 

What Happens When Men Strength Train 

Strength training consists of any exercise that causes your muscles to work against a force. That force can come from your own body weight, resistance bands, free weights (like dumbbells), kettlebells, and barbells, or those found on commercial weight machines. 

Starting a strength training regimen can help you change your overall body composition – more muscle, less fat – and the daily number of calories your body burns at rest. 

>> Muscle Mass Increases 

Strength training exercises cause micro-tears in your muscle fibers. To adapt to this new demand, your body repairs the torn muscle with thicker fibers. Continuing to challenge your body by increasing the amount of weight, reps, or days of the week you lift is called progressive overload, which is necessary to keep increasing your muscle mass over time and avoid plateauing.  

Adding more muscle to your body can also help ward off a condition called sarcopenia, which the Cleveland Clinic describes as the age-related progressive loss of muscle mass, strength, and function. Mostly affecting those over 60, sarcopenia can detract from your quality of life and independence as you age, contributing to falls and injuries. 

>> Body Fat Decreases 

Strength training spikes your testosterone levels to help your body grow muscle, and this spike simultaneously tells your body to burn its stores of body fat for energy. That’s why, as you increase your muscle mass through strength training, you also decrease your body fat, changing your overall body composition for the better.  

Research has shown that people who strength train have a lower risk of obesity than people who do not strength train. Another study showed adults can lose 1.4% of their body fat with just four weeks of full-body resistance training. 

>> Resting Metabolic Rate Increases 

Because muscle burns more calories than any other body tissue, as you replace body fat with muscle through strength training, you boost your body’s overall metabolism and daily number of calories burned at rest. 

This higher metabolic rate achieved through strength training can help you lose or manage weight, not to mention the calories you burn from the strength training workout itself. The American Council on Exercise estimates that a moderate intensity one-hour strength training session burns 231 calories in a 172-pound person. 

Unlike cardio workouts (think running, cycling, or rowing), strength training causes a temporary spike in your metabolism and a higher level of caloric burn that lasts long after your workout ends. This sensation is called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), where your body continues to use oxygen and calories at a higher rate while it returns to a resting state by lowering your core temperature, removing lactic acid buildup, replenishing cells, and, of course, repairing that muscle tissue. 

Effects of Weight Lifting on Other Health Markers 

If you’re looking to improve your overall health beyond body fat percentage, strength training is proven to help send things like cholesterol, blood pressure, resting heart rate, and more in the right direction. 

>> Cholesterol 

Strength training can lower “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and increase “good” cholesterol (HDL), helping protect men against heart attacks and strokes by changing body composition and improving circulation. 

Because cardio workouts are the gold standard for improving cholesterol, consider combining both cardio workouts and strength training through high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or circuit training to maximize the positive impact on cholesterol. 

>> Blood Pressure 

Although your blood pressure temporarily increases while you lift weights, incorporating strength training into your routine can reduce your overall blood pressure over time, because stronger muscles require less effort from your heart during everyday activities. 

Anyone with high blood pressure should consult their doctor before beginning a strength training program. 

>> Resting Heart Rate 

Your resting heart rate, a key indicator of cardiovascular fitness, may decrease as your heart becomes more efficient through exercise and body composition change. 

Similar to cholesterol, resting heart rate is impacted more by cardio workouts than strength training workouts, so consider combining them for maximum impact. 

>> Blood Glucose Levels 

Because muscle tissue stores glucose (sugar) for later use when you eat, your body is better able to keep your blood glucose stable while decreasing its need for insulin when you have more muscle mass.  

New research has shown that strength training may be more beneficial at keeping blood glucose at a healthy level than cardio, which is why Dr. Stuart Phillips, research chair in skeletal muscle health at McMaster University, recommends strength training as a primary tool for diabetes management. 

>> Inflammation 

Studies have proven that strength training reduces your risk of low-grade inflammation-related diseases like cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. This is because your muscles release myokines when you lift weights, which are a type of cytokine that is specifically linked to anti-inflammatory effects. 

>> Sleep 

Regular strength training helps you sleep better at night, which is when your body most effectively repairs itself. You can fall asleep faster and improve sleep duration, quality, and efficiency through these types of workouts, while also lowering stress and anxiety. 

Overtraining and not giving the body adequate time to rest between strength training workouts can have the opposite effect on your body, however. So, finding a healthy level of strength training exercise is key. 

How to Start a Strength Training Regimen 

Even if you’ve never tried a strength training workout before, it’s never too late to get started and enjoying the healthy benefits. But, to avoid injury, it’s important to start slow and learn proper form, either from a professional trainer or by practicing in front of a mirror. 

>> Join a Gym or Set One Up at Home 

Getting a gym membership is the easiest way to access all the equipment you need for strength training. If you don’t have access to a gym or would prefer to complete your workouts at home, a pair of sneakers, a mat, a set of resistance bands, and a set of dumbbells ranging in weight is a good place to start for most people. As you build muscle through progressive overload, though, you may need to invest in heavier weights to continue seeing results. 

Bodyweight strength workouts, where you use your own weight instead of dumbbells or gym machines to create resistance (think pushups and squats), require no equipment and can be completed almost anywhere. 

>> Learn Proper Form 

To avoid injury, consider hiring a professional trainer to teach you about different exercises and proper strength training form at the beginning of your strength training journey. 

For a more affordable option, you can also follow along with a video from a trainer. Try FunFitnessVideos.com for endless options of easy-to-follow video workouts broken down into arms, abs, chest, legs, shoulders, and more. 

>> Lower Weights and Reps 

Ease into a new strength training regimen with lighter weights. More repetitions with lighter weights can provide beneficial results. Pay attention to how your body feels during and after the workout to find a good middle ground between too easy and too hard. 

>> Track Everything 

Whether you’re strength training at home or in a gym, use your phone or a notebook to write down what exercises you’re doing, the number of pounds you’re lifting, and how many sets and reps you’re doing. That will help you not only safely increase the weight, sets, and reps as you get stronger, but also to visualize your progress along the way. 

>> Progressive Overload 

Increasing the intensity of your strength training routine over time is referred to as progressive overload. You can choose to lift heavier weights, add more reps, complete more sets, or work out more times each week. The goal is to confuse your muscles so they continue to grow. 

>> Training to Failure 

An important part of progressive overload is training to failure, which is exactly what it sounds like: doing a specific exercise until you can’t complete another rep (or fail). When you’re increasing your strength training workouts through progressive overload, training to failure is the key way to measure your progress. If you complete the intended number of reps in a set without failure, it’s time to add a little weight. 

If training to failure feels too extreme for you, experts recommend training to fatigue instead. You should still feel tired at the end of a set, but doing a few more reps wouldn’t be impossible. 

Target Different Body Areas 

Because strength training can cause muscle soreness, it’s important to focus on different muscle groups throughout the week.  

For instance, if you do a full-body workout on Monday, it’ll be challenging to then do an arm workout on Wednesday when you’re still sore from Monday. Instead, you could try focusing on your arms on Monday, your core on Wednesday, and your legs on Friday. That way, you give the muscles in one body area the time they need to recover while working on strengthening another. 

>> Arms 

Arm workouts target your shoulders (deltoid, trapezius, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres major, teres minor, and subscapularis), upper arms (biceps and triceps), forearms, and even your hand muscles. 

Examples of arm exercises include presses, raises, rows, curls, pushups, and pullups. 

>> Chest 

Chest workouts target your pectoral muscles through exercises like presses, flies, and dips. 

>> Abs 

Abdominal workouts target your core muscles (pyramidalis, rectus abdominus, external obliques, internal obliques, and transversus abdominis). 

Examples of ab exercises include situps, crunches, planks, leg raises, and Russian twists. 

>> Back 

Major muscle groups in your back include your traps (trapezius) and your lats (latissimus dorsi), as well as your lower back. 

Examples of back exercises include pushups, deadlifts, bent-over rows, reverse flies, planks, Supermans, and good mornings. 

>> Legs 

Leg workouts target your quads (rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, vastus medialis, and tensor of the vastus intermedius), hamstrings (biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus), calves (gastrocnemius and soleus), and glutes (gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus). 

Examples of leg exercises include squats, lunges, deadlifts, step-ups, and calf raises. 

Why Men Should Strength Train 

When a few weight-bearing workouts a week could help you increase muscle mass, decrease body fat, speed up your metabolism, lower your bad cholesterol, help you sleep better at night, and more, it’s easy to see why strength training is a pathway to a healthier, longer life for men. 

In fact, a 2021 study published in the British Journal of Medicine found that muscle-strengthening activities were associated with a 10–17% lower risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, total cancer, diabetes, and lung cancer. 

The barrier to beginning a strength training regimen is low: join a local gym or purchase a few items to get started building muscle at home.