Studies show that just 2 strength-training sessions per week—done with light weights at a high repetition rate—can help you burn more fat, which will help you lose weight and stay healthy. Scroll down to find the eight reasons why you should start lifting weight today.
1. You’ll Burn More Calories
While exercise burns more calories than strength training in your 30-minute sweat session lifting weights is more efficient in general.
All of it is related to the building of muscles. It requires much more energy (calories) to allow your body to sustain muscles than fat cells.
Therefore, by lifting weights to increase your muscles, you’ll increase your metabolism, and turn your body into a powerful fat burner.
2. You’ll Keep Muscle
Research suggests that between 30-70 years of age women lose on average 22% of muscle. It’s more disturbing that over time the muscle space is full of fat.
One kilogram of fat occupies an additional 18% of space than a pounds of muscle, which means that even if the scale decreases the size of your pants may be a bit bigger.
How can you ensure that you are well-packed?
Continue to work on your strength! To get the maximum performance, Tom Holland, MS, CSCS, author of Beat the Gym, recommends three to four total-body exercises for strength each week, lasting 30 minutes per session. Include 3 to 4 days of cardio in the same day as alternate days.
3. Have Stronger Bones
Weight lifting is your best defense against osteoporosis which is a condition that affects 10 million Americans and most of them women, as per the National Osteoporosis Foundation.
“When lifting weights your body engages muscles, which force muscles which, then pull on bone,” Holland says. Holland. “This additional stress strengthens bones.”
4. Healthy Heart
It’s not always obvious that lifting weights can lower blood pressure, as blood pressure is actually elevated following and shortly after your workout.
However, research suggests it could be an effective way to guard your ticker in the long-term.
“As muscles contract they push blood back towards the heart” states Irv Rubenstein, Ph.D exercise physiologist and the founder of S.T.E.P.S.
A fitness center located that is located in Nashville, TN. “The heart then circulates this replenished blood muscles, which helps keep your cardiovascular system good functioning and in top working.”
Additionally, keeping muscles that are lean allows you to work harder in general, which further enhances the effects, Rubenstein says.
5. Strengthen Your Brain
Muscles can strengthen the brain and body. According to a study, which was published in May’s issue 2012 of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, a combination of activities that stimulate the mind, such as working with a computer or exercising (which included running and other cardio, and exercises for strength and sports) aids in preserving brain function in the elderly.
Combining computer use and moderate exercise can reduce the likelihood of losing memory more than any one exercise on its own.
6. You’ll Be Happier And Less Stressed
Don’t let the runner’s high get you down! Training with weights also has the ability to create feelings of pleasure through the release of endorphins, that “feel-good” chemical that is produced in your brain.
Research has shown that resistance training can be a great way to beat blues. One Australian study found that individuals who exercised three times each week (chest presses pulling-downs of the lats, lat pull-downs, as well curls of the bicep) experienced an 18 percent reduction in depression after a period of 10 weeks.
Exercise also reduces levels of cortisol, a stress hormone which can help ease anxieties and anxiety.
7. You May Reduce Your Diabetes Risk
Weight training can improve how your body handles sugar, which could help to prevent the development of diabetes.
And, if you already suffer from diabetes, research has shown that prolonged periods of strength training can improve blood sugar control and can be beneficial when you take diabetes medication.
In reality, it is possible that using a combination of training for strength with aerobic exercise can be more effective than medications.
8. You’ll Increase Your Balance
Have you ever tried putting one sock in and stand on the opposite leg? If you don’t train your muscles This simple trick can seem more like a trick from a circus in time.
The reason is that fast-twitch muscle fiber used to build strength diminish as we the passage of time. (Aerobic exercises rely on slower-twitch muscle fibers.)
“The fibers with fast-twitch connections help in power and speed and contract rapidly and sufficiently to stop you from falling when you fall off equilibrium,” Rubenstein says.
“Resistance training helps maintain the capacity of these fibers’ to get activated.”