Reasons to Build Muscle
March 31, 2009
Aside from looking good, there are several health benefits to building muscles. Muscular fitness means that you have the strength, endurance and flexibility to handle your daily requirements without injuring yourself. There are different ways to develop muscle strength and fitness but all plans incorporate weight lifting with aerobic exercise. You could take all the supplements you want but if you are not doing resistance training, they will make little impact on your muscle development.
Even if you do not want to build big muscles, you should still perform some sort of muscle building exercise during your life. Even the smallest bit of muscle building activity will benefit your body in the long run. By strengthening your muscles, you can avoid lower back pain, poor posture and osteoporosis.
As you age your body begins to lose muscle. Insulin-like growth factor,IGF-1, is a hormone that enables cell growth, maintenance and repair. When your IGF-1 is lowered, the muscles atrophy. Muscle atrophy can be treated with corticosteroids, dexamethasone and cyclosporine.
Lack of nutrition causes a lack of vitamin D. This coupled with limited physical activity can also cause muscle loss in older people. Excess amounts of inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-alpha and IL-6 can waste the muscle which is called cachexia.
As men get older they may lose muscle due to the down-regulation of the hypothalamic-anterior pituitary-testicular axis.
As one gets older their body fat increases and their muscle mass decreases. Testosterone levels diminish and create visceral fat when there is an increase in adipose tissue and an increase in aromatize.
As the body accumulates more fat, the body becomes resistant to insulin. In women, as their testosterone levels decrease, they begin to show signs of perimenopause. This affects their libido, mood, bone density, and muscle mass.
Fat accumulates on the body in two ways. Either more adipocytes or fat cells occur, or those adipocytes that do exist take in too much fat-glucose and enlarge. To reduce the amount of body fat caused by adipocytes, a person can take conjugated linoleic acid or CLA. Studies show that CLA is known to reduce body fat without removing muscle mass.
In 2001, the International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders conducted a study on CLA. The results showed that the presence of CLA reduced fat stored in the abdominal region on men.
To build and maintain muscle, it is important that you combine weight training with a healthy diet and possibly dietary supplements.
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