Try These Strength Training Tips for a Stronger, Leaner You

Strength training is your hero when it comes to leading a healthy, fit lifestyle. It will help you decrease body fat, torch calories in an efficient manner, develop more lean muscle and better balance, and prevent injury to your joints (via Mayo Clinic). This type of exercise is crucial to staying fit—especially as you age. The TikTok community is here for this kind of exercise for a healthier, stronger, and leaner you, offering strength training tips to incorporate into your own routine.

One TikToker who's a strength and fat loss coach shared a video of herself doing dumbbell front squat push presses, writing, "Strength training + low impact exercises changed my body. I combine strength training workouts and pilates." Another TikToker who shares she's "gym obsessed" and a "fit mom" in her bio offers advice for those who are doing 12 reps. She writes, "Up the weight until you can only do 8 reps. Keep that weight until you progress it to 12 reps. Then up the weight again and reduce to 8 reps."

Read on to learn more about some productive strength training tips, and next up, don't miss The 6 Best Exercises for Strong and Toned Arms in 2022, Trainer Says.

Focus on multi-joint and multi-planar movements

woman doing dumbbell row to break the plateau and lose weight, strength training tips — Shutterstock

Eat This Not That! spoke with Natalie Kollars, Exos Performance Specialist, to get her thoughts on strength training and the current trend on TikTok, which has generated over 2.9B views. TikTokers are sharing the strength training workouts they do, and you can easily weave them into your weekly rotation.

Kollars tells us, "At our Exos facilities, we focus on training movements, not muscles. This means we select exercises that are multi-joint and multi-planar. Not only do these types of exercises give you the biggest bang for your buck from a time and efficiency standpoint, but they also have the greatest transfer to succeeding in sports." She adds, "Examples of these exercises include barbell back or front squats, barbell deadlifts, barbell or dumbbell bench variations, pull-ups, barbell or dumbbell rows, planks, bear crawls, weighted carries, sled pushes, etc. We also place a large emphasis on speed training, plyometrics, medicine ball exercises, and conditioning."

Weight training has mental health benefits, too

mature man barbell workout, mistakes at the gym — Shutterstock

Not only are there physical benefits of weight training, but there's also so much mental health goodness to benefit from as well. It's important to know that we lose lean muscle mass as we get older. By strength training, you can decrease your body fat and develop muscle mass. You will get more bone density and lower any risk of developing osteoporosis. You can also lower your risk of chronic health issues including back pain, arthritis, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and depression. Not only that, but you will increase your learning and thinking ability (via Mayo Clinic).

Kollars explains, "Weight training has so many physical and mental health benefits. The physical health benefits include an increase in bone mineral density, an increase in metabolism, which results in an increase in lean mass and a decrease in fat mass. Mentally, it increases self-confidence, endorphins, and feel-good hormones."

Free weights, resistance tubing, and cable suspension training are excellent choices

woman doing gut-burning exercises with dumbbells outside — Shutterstock

If you're motivated to incorporate strength training into your routine, get started with some great choices. Mayo Clinic says free weights, weight machines, resistance tubing, and cable suspension training are all excellent. Also consider basic squats, lunges, planks, pull-ups, and pushups at home.

Before starting any aggressive workout regimen, it's always wise to check in with your medical professional, especially if you're over 40 years of age and not very active. In addition, it's important to start your exercise session with a brief warmup for between five and 10 minutes or so to prevent any risk of injury.