That's why you should gain more muscle mass!
Exercising to increase muscle mass may at first glance seem relevant primarily for bodybuilders, but there are actually several health benefits to having good muscle mass.
Muscles shape the body
There are many people who exercise and eat with the aim of shaping their bodies. The main key to getting a tight and athletic body shape is strength training. Even if the goal is not to become a bodybuilder, but to just tighten up a little here and there, it is heavy strength training that applies!
Increase muscle mass to become stronger
Powerlifters and others who train to become as strong as possible in maximum lifting often train at a high intensity, that is heavy weights and few repetitions. But it is important to remember that, generally speaking, a larger muscle is also a stronger muscle. Increasing the muscle cross-section through targeted training to increase muscle mass can be smart, despite the fact that the goal is to become strong in maximum lifting.
More muscle increases combustion
Your muscle mass is involved in various processes in the body that have to do with metabolism, or combustion. Your basal metabolism is the amount of energy your body uses at rest every day on vital processes. What you burn through exercise, everyday activities and movements is added.
How much basal metabolism you have depends on your genes, but also on how much muscle mass you have on your body. If you increase your muscle mass by a few kilos, it will potentially also increase your resting metabolic rate, which means that you can (or must) eat more food to maintain your body weight. In today's society, where most people struggle to lose weight, it can be experienced as a luxury!
Prevents serious diseases
It turns out that the risk of diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some forms of cancer can be significantly reduced by regular exercise. Exercising so that you have plenty of muscle mass on your body will mean that everyday tasks and movements are not perceived as tiring, and there is much less risk of both acute injuries and overuse injuries.
When you exercise and use your muscles, the muscles will become sensitive to sugar in the blood from the components of the food you eat, and will easily handle this and use the sugar as energy. With an inactive lifestyle, the body will work much harder to help with blood sugar regulation, which in the long run can predispose to type 2 diabetes.
Having a body composition with a lot of muscle mass and moderate fat mass will also help to reduce the risk of obesity.
Immune system
When you are ill or the body has to fight an infection, the immune system needs much more protein than usual. In severe illness, the body needs more than twice as much as a normal high intake of protein, and to meet this need, muscle mass is broken down.
If you have muscle mass to lose, your body will have a good buffer of protein, and you also have a good starting point to get back in shape when you recover.