A person's body is a remarkable thing. It conditions itself to suit its environment. A farmer who hauls hay in a field has a strong, lean body build. A person who sits and eats all day has a more relaxed and "lazy"ÃÂ body build. A body becomes complacent with the amount of exertion it is forced to undergo. Increasing this exertion does many things for the body. Working out can help a person gain strength, lose weight, and improve their confidence.
Lifting weights and a cardio workout increases the body's strength. When a person lifts weight, he or she exerts strain on his or her muscles. These muscles are damaged from the work and need to heal. While healing, the muscles grow new tissue and fibers, thus enlarging the body's muscle mass. The new fibers and tissues are stronger and more resilient than the older fibers and tissues. Cardio workouts put a steady amount of stress on the entire body, particularly the heart and lungs.
Collage of varius Gray's muscle pictures by Mikael...
English: Glucose metabolism and various forms of i...
Types of muscle (shown at different magnifications...With this stress, the lungs become conditioned and take in more oxygen. The heart increases its pace and blood flow. Since the heart is another muscle, it gains in size due to the new fibers and tissues. These new and old tissues work together, giving the body more force to act against an object. The heart forces blood more efficiently. Other muscle groups force larger objects in motion than they did before. People perceive this increased force as an increased in one's strength.
Every person has a daily need of calories, based on their metabolism and on the labor their body inures. Larger amounts of lean muscle mass help increase the body's metabolism. The increased physical exertion on the body burns more calories than a body that does not regularly work out. Putting these two...