Strength Training: Why Everyone Should Be Doing It

Strength Training: Why Everyone Should Be Doing It

By Justin Murphy, B.S. Nutrition, CPT | iCoach Nutrition

When most people think about improving their health, losing weight, or getting into better shape, their mind immediately goes to two things:

Eat better and do more cardio.

Those things certainly matter.

But there is another piece of the equation that I believe almost everyone should prioritize:

Strength training.

Strength training isn’t just for bodybuilders, athletes, or people trying to lift as much weight as possible.

It’s for the 40-year-old who wants to lose body fat.

It’s for the 60-year-old who wants to maintain muscle and independence.

It’s for the athlete who wants to become faster and more powerful.

And it’s for the everyday person who simply wants to look better, feel better, and remain capable as they age.

Let’s break down why.

What Is Strength Training?

Strength training—also called resistance training—is simply exercising your muscles against some form of resistance.

That resistance can come from:

Dumbbells

Barbells

Kettlebells

Machines

Resistance bands

Cables

Your own body weight

Sleds and other training equipment

Push-ups are strength training.

Squats are strength training.

Rows are strength training.

Carrying heavy dumbbells across the gym is strength training.

The equipment isn’t nearly as important as the principle:

Your muscles are being challenged to produce force against resistance.

Over time, your body adapts to that challenge.

You become stronger, build or maintain muscle, improve your ability to move, and become capable of handling progressively greater demands.

Why Is Strength Training So Important?

There are plenty of reasons to strength train, but let’s start with the obvious one:

It makes you stronger.

That might sound simple, but strength has an enormous impact on quality of life.

Think about everything you do outside the gym:

Carrying groceries.

Picking up your kids.

Moving furniture.

Climbing stairs.

Getting off the floor.

Playing sports.

Hiking.

Traveling.

Doing yard work.

The stronger you are, the easier many everyday physical tasks become.

But increased strength is only the beginning.

1. Strength Training Helps Build and Preserve Muscle

Muscle is incredibly valuable tissue.

Unfortunately, maintaining it becomes increasingly important as we get older.

If you aren’t giving your body a reason to maintain muscle, you can gradually lose it over time.

Strength training provides that reason.

Your body essentially receives the message:

“We need this muscle. Keep it.”

And when training, nutrition, protein intake, and recovery are appropriate, your body can build additional muscle as well.

This is one of the reasons I want clients thinking beyond simply seeing a lower number on the scale.

The goal isn’t always just to lose weight.

A much better goal for many people is to:

Lose body fat while maintaining or building lean muscle.

That’s body composition.

And that’s one of the biggest reasons strength training and nutrition work so well together.

2. Strength Training Can Help With Fat Loss

Here’s an important distinction:

You don’t need to turn every workout into a calorie-burning competition.

Exercise certainly uses energy, but the purpose of strength training shouldn’t simply be:

“How many calories did my watch say I burned?”

Instead, strength training helps create an environment where you can maintain or build muscle while nutrition drives much of the fat-loss process.

Imagine two people both lose 20 pounds.

Person A loses a combination of body fat and a significant amount of muscle.

Person B loses primarily body fat while maintaining most of their muscle.

They both lost 20 pounds.

But those are two very different outcomes.

That’s why at iCoach Nutrition we care about more than body weight.

We want to improve body composition.

For someone trying to lose body fat, a strong overall strategy often includes:

Calorie control + adequate protein + strength training + daily activity + sufficient recovery.

3. Strength Training Supports Healthy Aging

One of the biggest mistakes people make is waiting until they’re older to start thinking about maintaining their physical capabilities.

The better strategy is to build and maintain those capabilities now.

Strength training can support:

Muscle mass

Bone health

Balance

Coordination

Physical function

Mobility

Confidence performing everyday activities

I don’t want someone to simply live longer.

I want them to maintain the ability to do things for as long as possible.

Travel.

Hike.

Play with their grandchildren.

Carry their own groceries.

Get on and off the floor.

Remain independent.

The muscle and strength you’re building today can become an important part of your physical reserve later in life.

4. Strength Training Improves Athletic Performance

For athletes, strength is one piece of the performance puzzle.

Running faster, jumping higher, changing direction, absorbing contact, throwing harder, and producing more power all require the ability to generate and control force.

That’s why intelligently designed strength training is used across virtually every major sport.

However, athletes don’t simply need to become strong.

Training needs to complement their sport.

A football player, endurance runner, baseball player, swimmer, and CrossFit athlete don’t necessarily need the same program.

Your training should reflect your goals.

5. Strength Training Can Improve Your Overall Health

Muscle isn’t only something that changes how your body looks.

It’s metabolically active tissue and plays an important role in overall health.

Regular resistance training has been associated with improvements in several important health markers and physical capabilities, including glucose regulation, insulin sensitivity, bone health, cardiovascular risk factors, and functional capacity.

This is another reason we need to stop viewing strength training purely through an aesthetic lens.

Yes, it can help you look better.

But the potential benefits go far beyond appearance.

How Does Strength Training Actually Work?

Your body is incredibly good at adapting.

Give it a challenge repeatedly, recover from that challenge, and it becomes better prepared to handle it.

This concept is sometimes referred to as progressive overload.

You gradually ask your body to do more.

That doesn’t mean adding weight every single workout forever.

Progress can come from several places.

You might:

Lift more weight

Perform more repetitions

Complete another set

Improve your technique

Use a greater range of motion

Control the weight more effectively

Perform a more challenging variation

Accomplish the same work with better efficiency

For example:

Maybe you begin goblet squatting 20 pounds for 3 sets of 8.

Eventually you perform 3 sets of 10.

Then 3 sets of 12.

Eventually you move to a 25-pound dumbbell.

That’s progression.

Small improvements compounded over months and years can create enormous changes.

Understanding Sets, Reps, and Weight

Strength training doesn’t need to be complicated.

A rep is one repetition of an exercise.

A set is a group of repetitions.

So:

3 sets of 10 squats = 30 total repetitions.

The appropriate number of sets and reps depends on your goals, experience, exercise selection, and how challenging the weight is.

Generally speaking:

If your goal is strength:

Training often includes heavier resistance and lower-to-moderate repetition ranges, along with longer recovery between demanding sets.

If your goal is building muscle:

A relatively wide range of repetitions can work when sets are sufficiently challenging and your overall training volume, nutrition, and recovery support muscle growth.

If your goal is muscular endurance:

Lighter resistance and higher repetition ranges are commonly used.

But don’t get obsessed with finding a magical rep range.

Your muscles don’t know whether your spreadsheet says 8 reps or 10 reps.

They respond to tension, effort, volume, progression, and recovery.

Focus on the Basics

Social media can make strength training unnecessarily complicated.

You don’t need 37 exercises.

You don’t need a new workout every week.

And you definitely don’t need to copy the program of an elite athlete or fitness influencer.

Most people can accomplish a tremendous amount with fundamental movement patterns:

Squat

Examples: Goblet squat, back squat, leg press

Hinge

Examples: Romanian deadlift, deadlift, hip hinge

Push

Examples: Push-up, bench press, dumbbell press, overhead press

Pull

Examples: Row, pulldown, pull-up

Single-leg movement

Examples: Split squat, step-up, single-leg variations

Carry

Examples: Farmer carry, suitcase carry

Add appropriate accessory exercises based on the individual’s goals, limitations, and preferences.

That’s already enough to build an excellent program.

How Often Should You Strength Train?

There isn’t one perfect answer.

Your training frequency should fit your:

Goals

Schedule

Training experience

Recovery capacity

Injury history

Other physical activity

Preferences

But here’s something I tell clients all the time:

Don’t create a program for your imaginary perfect week. Create one for your actual life.

If you can realistically train three days per week, don’t build a six-day program and then feel like you’re constantly failing.

Two consistent workouts every week for a year will accomplish far more than six workouts per week for two weeks followed by two months of doing nothing.

For many people, 2–4 strength-training sessions per week can provide plenty of opportunity to make meaningful progress.

The exact number matters less than finding a frequency you can consistently recover from and sustain.

Recovery Is Part of Training

More exercise isn’t automatically better.

Training provides the stimulus.

Recovery allows you to adapt to it.

Your body needs adequate resources to repair tissue and prepare for the next training session.

That means your results aren’t determined exclusively by what happens during your workout.

You also need to consider:

Protein

Protein provides amino acids used to repair and build muscle tissue.

Total calories

Your energy intake influences performance, recovery, muscle growth, and fat loss.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates can help support training performance, particularly as training volume and intensity increase.

Sleep

Consistently poor sleep can make training, recovery, appetite regulation, and healthy decision-making more difficult.

Stress

Training itself is a stressor.

Add demanding workouts on top of poor sleep, work stress, family stress, inadequate nutrition, and insufficient recovery, and your body still has to deal with the total load.

Sometimes the smartest training decision isn’t doing more.

It’s recovering better.

You Don’t Need to Destroy Yourself in the Gym

One of the biggest misconceptions about exercise is that a workout only “counts” if you leave exhausted.

That’s simply not how good training works.

Soreness isn’t the goal.

Sweating isn’t the goal.

Exhaustion isn’t the goal.

Progress is the goal.

A productive strength workout might leave you feeling challenged but completely capable of going about the rest of your day.

You don’t need to crawl out of the gym.

You need to create enough stimulus to improve and then recover so you can do it again.

What If You’re a Beginner?

Start simple.

Seriously.

You don’t need advanced techniques.

You need to learn how to perform basic movements safely and consistently.

A beginner might start with just a handful of exercises:

Goblet Squat — 3 × 8–10

Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift — 3 × 8–10

Dumbbell Bench Press — 3 × 8–12

Seated Cable Row — 3 × 10–12

Lat Pulldown — 3 × 10–12

Farmer Carry — 3 rounds

That’s a legitimate full-body strength workout.

Perform something similar two or three times per week, progressively improve your execution and strength, eat appropriately, and recover.

You don’t need complexity.

You need consistency.

What About Cardio?

This isn’t an either/or conversation.

You don’t have to choose between strength training and cardiovascular exercise.

They accomplish different things, and both can be valuable.

An excellent overall fitness program might include:

2–4 days of strength training

plus

Regular walking and cardiovascular exercise

The exact combination depends on the individual.

Someone training for a half marathon will obviously need more running than someone primarily focused on building muscle.

Someone who has been sedentary for ten years might start with two strength sessions and daily walking.

Individualization matters.

Nutrition + Strength Training

This is where everything comes together.

Training provides your body with a stimulus.

Nutrition provides your body with the resources to respond to that stimulus.

If you want to build muscle but consistently under-eat protein and calories, progress may be limited.

If you want to lose body fat but consistently consume more energy than you expend, adding another workout may not solve the problem.

If you want to perform well but aren’t adequately fueling your training, performance can suffer.

That’s why I don’t believe nutrition and exercise should exist in completely separate worlds.

They work together.

At iCoach Nutrition, the goal isn’t simply to give someone a meal plan or a list of exercises.

It’s to understand the entire person:

Nutrition. Training. Sleep. Stress. Recovery. Habits. Lifestyle. Goals.

Then we build a strategy that actually fits their life.

The Biggest Mistake: Trying to Be Perfect

You don’t need the perfect training program.

You don’t need the perfect gym.

You don’t need the perfect diet.

And you don’t need to wait until Monday.

You need to start doing the fundamentals consistently enough for your body to adapt.

Train.

Eat enough protein.

Eat mostly nutrient-dense foods.

Walk.

Sleep.

Recover.

Progress your training gradually.

Repeat.

That’s not nearly as exciting as the latest fitness trend.

But it works.

The Bottom Line

If your goal is to lose body fat, build muscle, improve performance, stay healthy, or maintain your physical independence as you age, strength training deserves a place in your life.

You don’t have to become a powerlifter.

You don’t have to spend two hours per day in the gym.

And you don’t need to train seven days per week.

You simply need an appropriate amount of resistance training performed consistently and progressed over time.

The goal isn’t to become the strongest person in the gym.

The goal is to build a stronger version of yourself.

And when you combine intelligent strength training with personalized nutrition, sufficient protein, daily movement, quality sleep, and sustainable lifestyle habits, you create a foundation that can improve not only how you look—but how you feel and perform for years to come.

Ready to Improve Your Nutrition and Training?

At iCoach Nutrition, we don’t believe in cookie-cutter programs.

Your nutrition and training should be built around your body, your goals, your schedule, and your lifestyle.

Whether your goal is fat loss, muscle gain, better health, improved athletic performance, or simply feeling better in your own body, we’ll help you create a sustainable plan and provide the education, accountability, and support necessary to follow through.

Apply today to work with iCoach Nutrition and start building a stronger, healthier version of yourself.