lifting weights

Skipping the Weights.

Contrary to popular myth, lifting weights will not necessarily make you bulk up, an effect that many people, especially women, want to avoid. In fact, women actually lack the testosterone and often the time it takes in the gym to really get beefy.It’s true that when you start lifting weights or using a resistance training program, you generally gain a bit of weight before you start to lose it, but that’s simply because muscle weighs more than fat.If you want to get in shape, “pumping iron” will make you look trimmer and more toned, and will help you burn more calories even after your workout is done.

Lifting weights can help your heart, boost your brian, and gives you the muscles of someone 20 years younger. It soumds like some suspicious promise from late-night infomercial: feel 15 to 30 years younger by exercisiing just one hour a week!

yet that's exactly what happens when your lift weights. Strength training has been shown to decrease insulin resistance, decrease resting blood pressure, reduce arthritis pain, even improve memory.

Some experts believe it's as essential as aerobic training. Aerobic training such as walking prevents muscle loss in the legs; while weightlifting prevents muscle loss in the arms and strengthen muscles there. Tht loss of muscle - about seven pounds per decade for men and five pounds per decade for women - causes a slow down in resting metabolism that then translates into a host of health problems.

Much of that age-related decline in muscle mass can be halted - and even reversed - by strength training, Gary Hunter, a professor of human studies and nutrition sciences at the university of alabama at birmingham, found that lifting weights for 30-40 minutes three times a week increased the muscle strength of women 60-77 years old by almost 40 percent -putting them on a par with 35-year-olds. Other studies have found similar benefits from lifting just twice a week.