Long gone are the days of lifting 1kg weights and hoping for results (hopefully)
Now weight training has equal footing with cardio in gyms up and down the country for women as well as men (hopefully)
However, if you’re nervous or unsure here are some reasons why resistance training deserves your attention.
Here are 5 reasons to lift weights…
(in no particular order)
-
Muscle is amazing.
No doubt you’ve searched for similar terms to these
“Boost metabolism”
“Foods that boost metabolism”
“Make my metabolism faster”
“Is my metabolism slow”
And so on…
Pinterest is full of graphics telling you to eat hot chillies and drink cold water to boost metabolism, but you know else does that in a much more effective way?
Muscle.
The more muscle you have the more fat that you burn
Your resting calorie burn increases when you have more muscle. This, if for no other reason on this list, should be why you include it into your weight loss programme.
-
It’s good for bone health
Bone health is super important but it’s not something that we have to consider until old age…right?
Well actually, maybe not.
Our sedentary lifestyles see us not really using our bodies as much as way would have done even 50 years ago meaning that our risk of osteoporosis is increased. Diets high in caffeine and low in calcium also cause a problem.
More people are cutting out dairy now whether that’s because of Paleo, Veganism or intolerances/allergies we are consuming less calcium in the form of milk and yogurt.
(side note: if this is you here are a list of calcium rich foods to help)
All of this increases our risk. Thankfully resistance training could be just what we need!
By placing (good) stress on our muscles we are also encouraging our bones to become stronger.
-
It reduces risk of heart disease… (to a point)
We’ve all heard of the link between obesity, heart disease and early death. The link is a well known one, so much so that anyone can tell you that one is correlated with the other.
Did you know however that lean body mass (muscle) has an effect also?
It is not simply having higher fat mass that has a link to heart disease, but also low lean body mass.
*mind blown*?
Low levels of muscle within the body show an increase in risk of heart disease, and ironically enough, very high levels of lean muscle mass (and low body fat) show an increased risk also.
Showing that while some is good, more is not necessarily better.
-
It reduces your risk of type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes is becoming a more common diagnosis every year. Our sedentary, high stress lifestyles and reliance on convenience foods are all increasing this risk.
This study found that increasing resistance training, independent of aerobic training decreased the risk of type 2 diabetes.
So if cardio isn’t your thing, or you’re unable to do it regularly, lifting weights will also decrease the risk.
Winner.
5. Toning!
If I had a pound for every time I’ve heard
“I’d just like to tone up”
I wouldn’t need to work for money again.
When people say “tone up” they mean “lose fat and build muscle”.
Losing fat and building muscle at the same time is all but impossible, however, as you lose fat it’s important to focus on maintaining the muscle that you have. You may even get the boost of “newbie gains” if you’re new. Meaning that it’s easier to become stronger when you first start.
This not only helps your body to shed some more of that fat, it also means that you will have muscle definition.
You will appear “more toned” simply by lifting some weights.
Bonus.
In conclusion:
Add some weights to your training programme. Whether that’s bodyweight exercises like press ups or free weight squats, add some resistance to your moves and watch yourself become healthy, happy, sexy and strong.
Ainzlie x
p.s It can be intimidating to know where to start with weight training, even the simplest of moves can seem impossible if you’ve never been shown.
If you’re looking for an introduction into weight training, why not get in touch and discuss your goals with me?
