Strength Training has something to do with the Mind

What is Strength Training?

It is defined as exercise with the intention of becoming stronger.   It means that you need to do movement against some resistance like free weights or body-weights.

Your mind plays a huge role in strength training.

 Difference between Strength Training and Bodybuilding

For some, strength training and body building are just the same since the training methods are almost identical.  While that is true, the end results are somewhat different.   In bodybuilding, you would want to increase the size of your muscles while strength training focuses on building strength.  It is true that bodybuilders are stronger since their muscles tend to be bigger, but their strength has something to do with the fact that they are bigger.  While in strength training, people, who engage in it also develop strength, but not to the extent that their muscles would grow that big like that of a bodybuilder.

Factors that Affect Strength Training

It is said that we can measure the strength by exerting a force against a resistance.  Though, it is true that most of the time, strength can be measured by the size of the muscle, which is not applicable in strength training.  You can increase your strength without having those bulky muscles.  It is true that our strength increases as the muscle mass increases, but in lifting weight, you are not using all the strength in your body to lift.  By increasing the number of repetitions, you are able to strengthen yourself without increasing your muscle mass.  As you does strength training, your nervous systems activates more muscle fibers, which increases your strength.

Training the Brain

If you want to be stronger, you need to focus your exercise in training the nervous system as that would increase your strength.  By far, the best way to train the nervous system is through lifting heavy weights.   The mind and muscles are interconnected, so you increase your strength when the two are used.   The nervous system remembers how to adapt lifting heavy weights.  In general, you only need five repetitions per set.  Any more than this then you aren’t challenging yourself enough.

In bodybuilding, you train each muscle group once a week; there is room for it to grow.  In strength training, you need to treat your body in a different way, so it can heal faster.   You need to remember that you are training the nervous system, not the body itself.  Your workload should be short, but intense.   You don’t need to train to failure since that would only mean that you need longer time before you can exercise again.  Body-weight exercises are the best way to train in strength training.