4. Increases muscle fibers

Although many people believe that lifting weights builds the bulk that slows you down, this is not the case. Having stronger and thicker muscle fiber will help you to perform better in endurance sports. Lifting weights helps to build this type of fiber. There are three types of muscle fibers: slow oxidative fibers, fast oxidative fibers, and fast glycolytic fibers.

Slow oxidative fibers have another name: Type I muscle fibers. These types of fibers have a lot of capillaries and mitochondria that allow them to fatigue at a slower pace. They also have low glycogen levels and use aerobic glycolysis for energy synthesis. Type IIa muscle fibers have more glycogen content than type I, so they fatigue at somewhat of a faster pace. Type IIb muscle fibers, or fast glycolytic muscle fibers, don’t use oxygen at all for energy. Instead, they depend on glycogen and fatigue at the fastest rate. This type of muscle fiber is best used when doing short but intense movements, such as lifting weights. Having stronger muscle fibers will slow down the process of overall body fatigue when performing endurance activities.