When you think of strength training, you may picture someone straining under a barbell set or weight bench. While these are both useful tools to build muscle, they aren’t the only way to do strength training. And strength training itself does not always need to be in pursuit of a bodybuilder physique — you can customize a strength training routine for your own goals. Strength training enables you to stay fit for everyday life, whether you’re gardening, carrying in groceries, or playing in the rec softball league.
To this end, strength training often targets the following muscles:
- Back. The health of your back plays a role in everything from sitting comfortably to getting good sleep. There are three major “layers” of back muscles: the superficial (like the latissimus dorsi), the intermediate (between your shoulder blades), and the intrinsic (deeper beneath the skin).
- Legs. Legs are key to mobility, whether you’re walking, running, or climbing stairs. Starting with your glutes and extending to your feet, leg muscles include the quadriceps, hamstrings, calf muscles, and anterior and posterior tibialis.
- Arms. Yes, you can get flex-worthy guns with strength training for arms. But you can also maintain your ability to comfortably lift and carry objects and manipulate your hands and wrists. More than 20 individual muscles work together to form groups including biceps, triceps, flexors, and extensors.
There are many ways to do strength training with and without equipment. The most important things you can do are to give your muscles a chance to rest, which is crucial to building new tissue, and to stick to a routine. As the saying goes, use it or lose it.