Look at this list of the benefits you might gain by adding a weightlifting routine to your schedule:
In simple terms, this means you’ll look better and feel stronger. And if you need to lose weight, strength training is an absolute must. Low calorie diets lower your metabolism – it’s been known for years that trying to lose weight with a low-calorie diet alone will just put you on the yo-yo diet roller-coaster. If you want to get off the roller-coaster and lose your excess weight permanently, you need to do something different. You need to use simple strength training exercises combined with a healthy diet low in sugar and fat, because this regimen will let you lose weight fast – and keep it off for good.
You don’t need to spend tons of money on a gym membership or on fancy home exercise equipment. This routine uses light dumbbells that you can purchase at your local Kmart or Target store. You choose the weight that you feel comfortable with for each exercise, starting with light dumbbells and working up as your strength and stamina increases. For less than $30, you have all the exercise equipment you need for this weight lifting routine.
"I’m only getting started, but this is the best-illustrated, easiest-to-use weight-lifting booklet I’ve ever found. The fact that it’s female-centric really, really *made* the decision to purchase it for me."
The fat-burning benefits of weight lifting exercises actually go on working even when you’re at rest. How can that happen?
Because muscle cells burn more energy than fat cells, and strong muscles burn more calories than flabby muscles. They also store sugar as a source of energy for the next time they’re used.
The sugar stored in muscle cells doesn’t turn into fat. And the improved metabolism means that you don’t have to worry as much about dieting. If you’ve been dieting for years, weight lifting exercises are even more important, because they allow you to correct the metabolic damage caused by your low-cal diets.
"I just started the program and I enjoy it! The book is very easy to understand and the pictures are great! I go to be at night looking forward to waking up to lift weights to challenge myself. I feel a small difference in the way my clothes fit and a huge difference about how my muscles feel (tight). Feeling the difference in the way my clothes fit really makes me yearn to lift weights and exercise. I’m very pleased with the book and have recommended it to some friends."
Eat right, practice a simple weight lifting program three times a week. Walk a few more blocks to work. That’s all it takes to get the improved metabolism that helps you lose weight even when you’re resting and having fun.
Wayne Wescott, Ph.D., fitness director at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Mass, conducted a study that put 70 people on a low-fat diet while also testing the effects of exercise. One group did both endurance and strength training, or weight lifting, and lost twice as much weight as the group that only used endurance exercises. What’s more, the group that didn’t lift weights lost half a pound of muscle in two months, while the weight lifting group gained two pounds of muscle.
Evidently, dieting and exercising without strength training can cause you to lose muscle mass, which will slow your metabolism. That means you won’t be able to maintain your weight loss, and will slowly regain your lost weight when the diet is over.
If you’re still in your teens a weight lifting program will quickly tone your body and help you look fantastic in your new two-piece swimsuit. It will even help you stand taller and move more gracefully. These are all wonderful reasons to start a simple weight lifting program, and I encourage you to do so.
If you’re older, say 35 or more, weight lifting exercises offer even more. Some people have found a reduction in their arthritis symptoms, and many doctors insist that their patients with high blood pressure need to begin lifting light weights. It has also been shown that we begin to lose muscles by about a half pound per year after the age of 35 – and replace that muscle with about 1 1/2 pounds of fat! This does more than make you look pudgy – the reduced muscle mass will lead to feeling fatigued and weaker as you get older. Lifting light weights three or four times a week, and getting out of the house to do some walking, will help to reverse this natural trend.
But perhaps the most important reason to take the time to lift weights a few times each week is the threat of bone loss, or osteoporosis. As we age our bones begin to lose calcium, causing them to become brittle and easily broken. We don’t have to sit back and just wait for it to happen – we can actually reduce the calcium loss, and even reverse it, with simple strength training exercises.
Research at Tufts University found that post-menopausal women who lifted light weights at least twice a week actually gained bone mass at about 1% a year, while their more sedentary counterparts lost bone mass at the rate of about 2% a year. By strengthening the bones, older women can stay active, involved and independent throughout heir lives.
If you prefer to start with a less expensive alternative, we highly recommend that you start with our eBook – Weight Lifting for Absolute Beginners. Jessie and I, the author and illustrator of this book, have been involved in the health and fitness world for years.
We know the importance of presenting the material in a way that is easy to use, so that you can begin your weight lifting program today.
Jessie’s clear illustrations show you how all the exercises are done so that you can see how easy they are do. Even for ordinary people, like us. We even collected all the… Read more…
