Neurophysiology and Biochemistry

Strength training may have its positive effects on mental health through eliciting changes in neurophysiology and biochemistry, especially in the brain.

If you review the various benefits of strength training, it becomes clear that this is something we should all be doing. I often wonder if it’s because life is so easy now – with our tools and technology – that we’ve lost not only our bodily capacity to overcome a physical challenge, but also our will and mental resolve to do so. When was the last time you avoided the stairs because you were tired, or didn’t feel like it? Once upon a time, you couldn’t.

Strength (resistance) training also has many of the same benefits of conditioning (aerobic / endurance) exercise.

Besides body composition improvements (basically, your ratio of muscle to fat), there are also quite a few metabolic benefits. To name a few:
Improves insulin sensitivity (how good your body deals with high blood sugar).
Improves your good (HDL) to bad (LDL) cholesterol ratio.
Lowers triglycerides (fat molecules) in the blood stream.
Improves basic metabolic rate. (burning more calories even at rest)