The Benefits of Weight Lifting

Weight lifting does not appeal to everyone, especially women, in fact the number of women who include weights in their work out routine is very low.  This is a unfortunate as weight lifting has numerous benefits some of which I have listed below:

• Research has shown that regular training with weights can increase your basal metabolic rate by up to 15% which means that you will burn significantly more calories in a day.
• Weight lifting strengthens the bones and decreases the risk of developing osteoporosis.  It is especially good for older adults who typically suffer from reduced bone density.
• It helps in increasing the mineral density of the spinal bone by at least 13% within approximately 6 months.
• Weight lifting improves your overall health regardless of your age.  It actually helps to preserve your muscle mass as you age, which otherwise would naturally decrease.
• It helps reduce the risk of diabetes by improving the bodies method of processing sugar.

Many women avoid weight training as they believe that it will make them bulky when they would rather the long and lean look.  However there is no need to worry about bulking up as a high level of testosterone is needed to do this. Women have significantly lower levels of testosterone in comparison to men, which means that weight training will not lead to a very muscular bulky physique.

One important fact to remember is that weight lifting helps to lose fat.  A big mistake that people often make is doing cardio exercises and cutting their calories without doing and weight training.  This is not good because it can mean that you lose muscle along with fat, and when you lose muscle your body cannot burn fat efficiently.  When you weight train your body continues to burn fat whilst you sleep and the following day.

I hope to have convinced you to give weight lifting a try if you have not already.  A good way to start could be by joining a class at the gym, they are usually called 'Body' or 'Power' Pump classes.  This will give you the opportunity to learn the correct way to lift weights once you know this you can continue to lift weights in the comfort of your own home or at the gym.

Lastly, when you begin to lift weights try not to concentrate too much on what the scales say that you weigh.  Muscle weighs more per square inch than fat, so it may seem as though your weight is not decreasing as quickly as it should.  It will be more than likely that you are actually losing inches and  you should begin to feel more toned. 

With all of the above benefits I know that you will want to give it a try!