Many people put a lot of time and energy into losing weight, and weight loss is often equated with getting fit. But, warns a nursing researcher, emphasising weight loss without sufficient exercise to build up lean muscle strength does not produce a fitter body, merely a lighter one.
Nursing researcher David A. Boley, who is a doctoral student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and an Intramural Research Fellow at the National Institutes of Health, is researching the skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise, in the hopes that it will help more people to understand the physiological need for regular exercise to strengthen their muscles and maintain body fitness, and the role of exercise in long-term health maintenance and improvement
The Importance of Exercising Muscles
Writing in the Spring 2010 Johns Hopkins University Nursing Research News, Boley, who is also a personal trainer, said an obsession with weight loss often overlooked the important role of the muscles, “specifically building and conditioning the lean skeletal muscles that support movement and boost metabolism.”
He reminded people that humans are not meant to be stationary or sedentary, but that like all animals, the human body is designed for movement. If muscles aren't used, they become weak and the body can’t move easily or correctly.
“Bodies are made to move, and muscles are responsible for moving the joints that make that happen. Muscle strengthening and maintaining both the quantity and quality of muscle fibers is a critical piece of long-term health, and that can only be achieved through regular, intentional exercise,” he stressed.
Find the Exercise that’s Appropriate for Your Body
“Exercise is a specific type of activity that is done for the express purpose of improving our functional abilities and reducing limitations. It’s how we how we maximize our potential for a healthy life,” Boley said.
He suggested that people should find the type of exercise that best suited them, but, having found the type or group of exercises, to do them regularly.
“Numerous scientific studies demonstrate that the benefits of exercise can be achieved through a lot of different activities,” he said. “From bodybuilding to Pilates to simple callisthenics, exercise can vary widely, and some forms might be more appropriate than others for certain individuals. Further, any type of exercise can be adapted to account for limitations such as age or physical disability.”
Resistance Training Better for Muscle Strength
Whatever your age and whatever the condition of your body, Boley recommends weight training or resistance training as well as aerobic exercise, for building muscle strength.
“We have a tendency to focus too much on aerobic exercise,” he said. He commented that there is evidence from other research that resistance exercises alters the cellular structure of muscle in a way that aerobic exercise doesn’t.
So, while fat burning exercises like running, bike riding, dancing, cardio-boxing are great for the circulatory system and cardiovascular health, he warned that exercisers shouldn’t overlook strength training.
“Whatever it is, it should have some components that challenge the strength of the muscles in your body,” Boley said. “Bodies are made to move, and muscles are responsible for moving the joints that make that happen.”
To be Effective, Exercise Needs to be Regular
While the jury is out on whether long or short sessions of exercise are better for developing fitness, any exercise routine needs to be repeated regularly to build and maintain muscle quality. This might mean as little as 30 minutes a day or longer sessions of an hour three or four times a week.
As the muscles grow stronger, the exercise routine needs to be varied in length or intensity or other exercises included to build on the growing strength and endurance.
“Fitness requires constant revision. As you become more fit, you can maintain that level, or you can make adjustments to reach a higher level or fitness,” he said. “The very first step, though, is to establish the habit of doing one thing on a regular basis.”
Muscle Strengthening May Help the Chronically Ill
Boley’s research into how the skeletal muscle adapts to exercise has shown him that the cellular structure of muscle is altered by resistance training in a different manner from aerobic exercise.
He plans to further his research into the role of exercise in long-term health maintenance and improvement in the hope that he can improve scientific understanding of how those changes ease the symptoms of common, chronic diseases.
Regular exercise has the potential of “improving our functional abilities and reducing limitations. It’s how we how we maximize our potential for a healthy life,” he said.
For more on Exercise and resistance training, you might like to read Resistance Training at Any Age, 30 Minutes to Better Health in 2010 and Tips to Avoid Injury While Exercising.
Sue Cartledge - I'm a science, health, nutrition and lifestyle journalist, fascinated by the way the physical world operates in all its forms, and how ...
Join the Conversation