Keep Your Machine Rolling: Weight-Training and Your Muscles

Resistance training improves strength, energy, posture, and endurance. Did you know it also increases balance and coordination, and reduces your risk of injury? Additionally, resistance training increases muscle mass. When you have more muscle, you burn more calories, resulting in a lower body fat weight and better weight management. In this interactivity, you will learn what happens to your muscles when you are active. Click the player button to begin.

View a printable version of this interactivity.

Rate of Perceived Exertion

You already know ways to scientifically measure your level of exertion during physical activity, for example, by taking your heart rate. However, determining your rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is also important. This specifically means that you are able to subjectively recognize how hard you feel your body is working based on increased heart rate, increased breathing rate, sweating, and muscle exhaustion.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests using the Borg Scale to determine your RPE. This scale goes from six (no exertion at all) to twenty (maximal exertion). Most experts say that a moderate level of RPE falls between twelve and fourteen.

Take a moment to explore the RPE scale below. Then, when you perform resistance training for this topic's application, identify where you fall on the scale during each exercise. You can use this information to modify the intensity of your workout to hit your target range.

Number	Level of Exertion
6	No exertion at all
7
7.5	Extremely light exertion
8
9	Very light exertion
10
11	Light exertion
12
13	Somewhat hard exertion
14
15	Hard exertion (heavy)
16
17	Very hard exertion
18
19	Extremely hard exertion
20	Maximal exertion

Aerobic and Anaerobic Respiration

During physical activity, your body produces energy through aerobic respiration and anaerobic respiration. These processes give your body the energy it needs to move. In this interactivity, you will examine both of these types of respiration. Click the player button to being.

View a printable version of the interactivity.

Weight Training and Your Muscles Review

Now that you have learned about impacts weight training has on your muscles, review your knowledge in this non-graded activity. Click the player button to get started.