Weight Training and Weight Loss Success

What Is Weight Training?

Weight or Strength training is the method of conditioning designed to increase your ability to exert or resist force. The goal is to improve musculoskeletal strength. Strength training can mean using weights, or it can mean doing sit ups, push ups and leg curls without weights.

Why Weight Train?

Since weight training leads to a stronger body, a person is able to perform aerobic exercise for longer periods of time which will burn more fat.

Weight training is a way of meeting daily physical activity needs and controlling your weight. Dieting alone will lead to weight loss but regular exercise, including weight training is important for maintaining weight loss.

Weight training helps to burn extra calories in addition to building strong muscles, bones and joints and prevent injury.

Lastly, added muscle increases your lean body mass and reduces the percentage of body fat. Extra muscle also increases your metabolism because muscle burns more calories than fat.

Who Should Weight Train?

Weight training can be done by everyone, men and women. Here are some of the different ways of weight training.

• Lifting weights (free weights or machines)
• Using resistance bands
• Using stability or medicine balls
• Traditional: push-ups, leg-raises, abdominal crunches, etc.

How Often Should I Weight Train?

Experts recommend weight training two to three days each week, with a full day of rest between workouts to let your muscles recover. With each recovery, muscles repair themselves to become stronger and bigger (with heavy weights).

Some Weight Training Tips

If you can’t do an exercise 8 times in a row, your weights are too heavy. If it is easy to do it 12 times in a row, your weights are too light.

You don’t need benches or bars to begin weight training at home. You can use a pair of hand weights, two soup cans or plastic gallon bottles filled with water.

Make sure you know the correct posture and that your movements are slow and controlled.

Before you buy a home gym, check its weight rating (the number of pounds it can support) to make sure it is safe for your size. If you want to join a fitness center where you can use weights, make sure their equipment will support your weight.