The Health Benefits

Consistent training at 20 Minutes to Fitness delivers proven health benefits, enabling you to:

Build Strength – By age 40, muscle loss accelerates, slowing our metabolism as we gain more fat. Strength training helps to stop or reverse this decline. Our approach is especially efficient in building the lean muscle mass you need to support an active lifestyle. (Contrary to popular belief, strength training does not build new muscle cells. Your muscle gets stronger when the existing fibers become thicker.)

Burn Fat – Your body’s metabolic rate will spike for about an hour after you finish your workout as your body tries to help your muscles recover. That means you’ll burn more calories when you are finished exercising than you would otherwise. Lean muscle mass requires more energy to sustain than fat. In fact, for every three pounds of muscle you build with us, you’ll burn an additional 120 calories a day with no additional exercise.

Improve Cardio Health – Most people associate cardio exercise with running, aerobics and other high-impact activities. Over time, these activities can damage joints and wear out aging body parts. Our workout not only builds strength but also benefits your cardio health as well. By taking your muscles to the point of exhaustion, we are increasing blood flow and stimulating the heart – a muscular organ – to work harder.  Our workout also helps lower the risk of heart disease by reducing body fat, decreasing LDL (the “bad” cholesterol), raising HDL, increasing lung capacity and decreasing blood pressure.

Prevent Osteoporosis – Our medically based, load-bearing workouts  help reduce bone loss and increase bone density, both of which help prevent osteoporosis. By stimulating the growth of certain cells (osteoblasts), our workout lowers the risk of bone fractures, especially in menopausal and post-menopausal women.

Control Arthritis – By stimulating the manufacture of synovial fluid — a lubricant for our joints — our workouts help control arthritis.  Synovial fluid is distributed over the cartilage and circulates throughout the joint spaces.

Control Diabetes – Whether you are at risk for diabetes or already have it, our training regimen can help you control your condition. Our workout depletes your muscles of stored sugar, increasing your muscles’ appetite for sugar. When done in conjunction with a low-carb diet, our workout will suppress your insulin levels and help you shed fat efficiently.

Enhance overall health – Our workout can also:

• Enhance emotional wellbeing and memory function by increasing the flow of oxygen and the release of positive, mood altering chemicals in the brain that combat anxiety and depression.
• Prevent injuries by strengthening the muscles and joints.
• Help control blood pressure by lowering the resting heart rate and reducing the level of stress-related chemicals in the blood stream.
• Help prevent angina by dilating blood vessels and increasing blood flow, improving the body’s ability to extract oxygen from blood.
• Reduce back pain by strengthening abdominal, hamstring and lower back extensor muscles.
• Improve flexibility and balance by building stronger and more resilient muscles.