Can strength training increase resistance?

Judging from the current sports medicine research and my own practical experience of leading students and training myself for so many years, moderate and regular strength training can indeed help improve resistance, but if it falls into the pitfalls of "excessive" and "irregular", it may actually hinder immunity.

I took a student who was doing back-end development in the past two years. He had to catch colds at least three times every autumn and winter, and he also had chronic pharyngitis. Every time he coughed, he was in trouble for half a month. He usually had to wheeze even when he climbed up to the third floor. Later, according to the plan I gave, I took three days of lunch break every week, each time for 40 minutes. They were all medium-intensity basic strength training. I didn’t do heavy weights, but just squatted, pushed, pulled and core. I did about 12 times in each group and then stopped when it became difficult. After less than 8 months of training, the whole department was spreading flu last winter. He didn’t even have a sore throat. Even he felt it was amazing.

But don’t think that lifting weights is omnipotent. I once met a newbie who just applied for a card. He followed an online fitness blogger to do the “100kg deadlift challenge”. He didn’t usually move much. After that training, he was so sore that he couldn’t sleep on the day after the training, and he had a fever the next day. At 38 degrees, I thought I was positive, and I tested negative several times. Later I found out that the high-intensity exhaustive training in a short period of time caused the body to have an acute stress response, and the activity of immune cells temporarily dropped. Just in time for the temperature to drop and the wind to blow, I was immediately infected. This is not an isolated case. Many studies by exercise physiologists have mentioned that the 24 to 72 hours after a single high-intensity extreme resistance training is the immune window period. During this period, you are more likely to be targeted by pathogens than usual. If you maintain excessive strength training for a long time, your body will always be in a state of high stress, and your immune level will be lower than that of ordinary people. During the two months when I was preparing for the competition last year, I practiced for two hours a day and strictly controlled carbon dioxide. At that time, I had a headache when the slightest breeze blew, and I could obviously feel weak in my body. This is why.

In fact, the positive effect of strength training on immunity is essentially achieved by increasing muscle mass and regulating chronic inflammation. Just think about it, people with sufficient muscle mass generally have lower levels of chronic inflammation in the body. Unlike people with high body fat percentage, adipose tissue will continue to release inflammatory factors, which is equivalent to a small fire that never goes out is always smoldering in the body. The immune cells are busy dealing with these scattered inflammations every day. When they encounter foreign viruses and bacteria, they have no strength to deal with them. In addition, people with high muscle mass will recover faster after illness or injury. I once had a 72-year-old elderly student who trained his legs and upper limbs with light weights twice a week. He suffered a minor fracture last year and his recovery speed was nearly twice as fast as that of an old man in the same ward who did not exercise. Even the doctor praised him for his good foundation.

Of course, not everyone can rely on strength training to improve their resistance. Currently, there is no unified conclusion on the role of strength training for special groups such as patients with autoimmune diseases and cancer patients during radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Some patients do moderate training under the guidance of doctors, and their physical condition does improve. There are also some patients who suffer from fluctuations in their condition after exercising because of excessive physical load. Therefore, these people must not blindly follow online plans by themselves, and must first ask the attending doctor for advice.

After all, strength training is the icing on the cake. Don’t expect to be immune to all kinds of poisons by lifting irons. If you should sleep for 7 hours, don’t stay up late. Eat enough vegetable protein and don’t eat takeout. Do it two or three times a week for 40 to 50 minutes each time to practice some basic strength. You don’t have to train with heavy weights until you can’t walk. If you insist on it for half a year, you will feel that your whole person’s condition will indeed be different.