Weight training is also known as resistance training or even more simply – lifting weights. And lifting weights will help you lose weight, fight off diseases, slow the aging process and help you look and feel better.
For any weight loss program, or just for anyone trying to stay healthy, weight training is an important part of the equation. There’s eating right, doing some form of aerobic exercise and then there’s weight training. Building some muscle is important to overall fitness, but that doesn’t mean you have to become a body builder, just someone trying to add what is called lean muscle mass to your body will help keep your health, in general, in tip top shape.
If you were to sit on your couch or in your favorite chair and do nothing, not even watch TV, all day long, your body would still burn calories. That’s because your body burns calories while it is working to stay alive and working to keep all your organs and body parts functioning correctly. When you add some muscle, even just three to five pounds of muscle to your body, you’ll burn even more calories – even just sitting around. That’s because your body needs more nutrients and more work to feed that muscle. If you’re eating healthy, your body will use fat stores to keep the muscle. That means less fat on your body – and eventually less weight.
Adding some muscle to your body from weight training also helps you prevent cardiovascular disease, which means helping avoid heart attacks, strokes, heart disease and more. Resistance training can also sometimes help prevent the onset of adult diabetes, and some studies have also shown weight training helps to treat breast and prostate cancer too.
As we get older, our bones start to lose mass and can become brittle. But do some weight training and you can slow this process greatly. Adding some muscle to your body will help prevent you from getting osteoporosis by increasing your bone mass.
Many women hesitate to start weight training for fear that they’ll become too muscular and look too masculine. But that isn’t the case. What happens is women who are not competitive bodybuilders add a little muscle and end up looking sleek and toned.
Men can do the same thing. Weight training doesn’t have to be about continuously adding more and more muscle, as little as three to five pounds of muscle can make a difference. All you need is some dumb bells and a workout program. There are plenty available via the Internet, or you can join you local gym and have a personal trainer help you design a weight training program that’s tailored made for your goals.