Self- efficacy Development: Building Character through Strength Training programs

It has been said that training builds character. As a matter of fact, lots of people opt to take up strength training primarily because it helps to strengthen and tone their muscles and overall ensures that they are healthier physically. While this is the easily seen effects of strength training, many people also often receive the added benefit of becoming better people in the process.

Strength training does far more than physically improving a person. It is also more than capable of allowing a person to mature and improve mentally as well. For a better understanding of how this is accomplished, it is important to first have better knowledge regarding what strength training entails. Strength training, for the most part, involves the use of weights to help tone and introduce more muscles and reduce fat over a designated period of time. By using repetitions and certain sets and tempos, a desired increase in strength can occur. The benefits one could acquire from the use of strength-based training depend on the type of exercise routine that is being used. People who perform fewer repetitions, but with greater force exerted, can gain strength faster but have lesser endurance, while those who perform more repetitions using lesser weights will have the opposite effect.

By having stronger muscles and greater endurance, a person is able to compete or participate in a wider variety of sports with lesser chances of accidentally injuring themselves from overstrain. Many people who choose weight training also do so to improve their physical attractiveness. Men can gain more muscles easily. Women do not acquire muscles as easily as men do, but strength training contributes to overall natural muscle toning that visibly improves their physique.

Through strength training, people determine what muscles and what strengths to improve on themselves. For people who would like to take up long distance running, for example, they would prefer improving on their endurance by doing more repetitions with lesser weights. For those who are more interested in overpowering their opponents, strength would be favored over endurance. Strength building is a way for people to determine what kind of person they can be, and what aspects about themselves they can improve. By improving themselves physically, they are also able to improve themselves mentally.

For instance, a person who is seeking to build up on his endurance will undoubtedly take a much longer time for this to manifest than a person who would choose to build up his strength instead. Endurance is not something that happens overnight, and it takes weeks and even months before any marked improvement is noticeable. Throughout this process, the person also learns the values of patience and determination. They learn that it is by working hard and working continuously, they will be able to reach their goals. This is not just an important value to learn for physical exercise, they can learn to incorporate this method in their own personal lives as well.

In the same way, people who opt to build up on their strength first can find results faster than those who choose to work on their endurance, but they must follow a daily regimen in order to maintain their muscles. Lapsing by binging or drinking too often can lead to faster weight gain again, so they must learn to overcome temptation in order t achieve their ideal body weight and shape. In the same way, this attitude of not indulging themselves at the cost of their physical or mental health can be very beneficial when learning to limit or get ride of any vices that they may have in their lives.

~ by writer on February 28, 2008.