Building strength involves working your muscles against some degree of resistance, such as lifting a weight. But it isn’t just sufficient to lift a weight only once, instead, you need to work the muscles to their maximum capacity, and this does mean performing each movement several times, or in other words, repetitions. This is known as challenging the muscles. By raising the weight or the number of repetition, you actually increase the challenge.

Weight lifting isn’t the only form of resistance training. In fact, every time you sit down or stand up, you work by carrying your body weight against gravity. Other examples include tensile resistance, such as the pull you feel walking in an ocean or in a deep mud.

Water offers considerable resistance and swimming is an ideal form of strength exercise as well as improving stamina.

Although muscles grow larger in response to strength training, it doesn’t mean that you will gain a body builder’s physique, which in fact takes many hours of specialized training and dedicated effort. You will however, be helping yourself to a fitter, stronger body with firmer muscles and less body fat.