Press Room

Strength training (or resistance training) is a type of exercise that causes your muscles to resist an external force, according to the definition from Penn State College of Medicine. The force can be applied by your body weight, dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, resistance bands, exercise machines, or several other tools.

Types of Strength Training

According to the Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine, there are two primary types of resistance training:

• Isometric Resistance This type involves static muscle contractions, so your muscles contract without changing length (or without movement). Examples include holding a plank (the top of a push-up) or performing a wall sit (holding your body in a seated position with your back against a wall).
• Isotonic Strength training This type involves contracting your muscles through a range of motion. Examples include bodyweight squats and push-ups.

Isotonic strength training can be divided even further into two phases of muscle contraction: concentric and eccentric. The concentric part is the portion of the exercise in which the muscle shortens, whereas the eccentric is the portion in which the muscle lengthens, according to research.

...