Weight Lifting Can Help You Lose Weight.

If you've noticed, weight bearing exercises are considered a great part of a good overall healthy routine.  Many people associate lifting weights in the gym with weight bearing exercises but that is not always correct.  The term weight bearing actually covers a variety of exercises but for today's column, I'm addressing the use of dumbbells because they are used by so many people from grandmothers to weight lifters.

Unfortunately, the use of weights brings with it some misconceptions like lifting weights adds bulk, or doing cardiovascular exercise burns fat, or only men lift weights, or only women do cardio.  The idea that using weights will cause women to bulk up is not true and adding weights to workouts improves the body's ability to lose weight.

Weight lifting can refer to several different types of exercise but this article is focusing on on using weights during an exercise session such as incorporating dumbbells during an aerobic routine.  It is incorporating strength training to improve the overall session.  

Research indicates that people who incorporate weights into their workout routine increase lose of body mass and fat mass while improving lean mass.  Furthermore, it helps people keep the weight off once they reach their ideal weight because the use of weights help improve Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). The RMR is when your body continues to burn calories when you are reading a book or watching television.  

The idea is to decrease the amount of fat your body has while increasing the muscle so your body burns more calories and you look slimmer.  It is known that muscles burns calories faster than fat which is one reason why you want to increase the amount of muscle on your body.  So by incorporating weights into your exercise routine, you build muscle, increase your metabolism, and loose weight.

The nice thing is that you do not have to join a gym and spend hours lifting weights.  The best way to use weights is to use them in every way your body moves by squatting, lunging, twisting, pushing, pulling, and bending.   This means combining dumbbells with certain movements to get maximum benefits.  

Although cardio has a reputation for burning calories, weights is what takes it up a level.  It is recommended by both the American College of Sports Medicine and The American Heart Association, for people to do eight to ten strength exercises with eight to 12 repetitions each about two times a week if you are under 65 and increasing repetitions to between 10 and 15 for each exercise for two to three times per week if you are over 65.  Furthermore, one should never do strength exercises two days in a row because the body needs the down time to rebuild muscle.

There is one other point concerning the use of weights during a workout.  As people workout, their muscles become used to the weight used and it is important to change things up.  If one wants to increase strength, one needs to increase the amount of weight used but if the end goal is to increase endurance, one needs to do more repetitions for each exercise.  

When doing the workout, work the larger group of muscles first before doing smaller groups for best results. Remember to switch up weights and aerobics, combine them sometimes, but work on keeping your muscles in good shape. Since I do not have a gym anywhere near me and I have to rely on the use of DVD's during bad weather, I make sure I have some that combine weights with workout routines for maximum benefit. Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.