Fitness Tip - Benefits of Weight Training

For optimal health and fitness benefits, women especially, need to do a combo of aerobic and strength training on a regular basis.

Weight training can:
-Change your body
-Boost your mood
-Keep you looking younger

Some of the benefits are, improving muscle tone, bone density, athletic performance, and strength.  Resistance training helps women fight the aging process by maintaining lean muscle tissue.  Women who regularly lift weights have better self-esteem and get sick less often.

For women who want to lose weight or prevent weight gain, strength training is key.  In our mid-30s we begin to lose 5 to 10 percent of muscle strength each decade.  since muscle burns an estimated three times more calories than fat, adding two to four pounds of muscle can translate into an extra 100 calories burned each day.  A high-intensity strength routine has been shown to bump metabolism by 20 percent for several hours post-workout.

Add weight training with your cardio and you can significantly reduce your resting heart rate, body-fat percentage, and blood pressure, and increase your strength and endurance significantly.

Finally, there's the reality that when you have more strength, many of the daily demands of life -- from picking up our children to carrying groceries -- are simply easier.  Its one reason many trainers today emphasize functional fitness.  In real life, your body acts as a whole unit, engaging multiple muscle simultaneously.

Even with all these benefits, many women still resist strength training for one reason:  fear of getting bulky.

The reality, however, is that it's nearly physically impossible to build bulky muscles like a man.  In fact, combining resistance training with regular cardio will only help you to look leaner as you become stronger.

Cedardale Personal Trainer Karen Chamberlain