Start Lifting Weights Now!

Women need to be lifting weights, it's as simple as that. I know many of you out there are thinking but I don't want to get bulky. Well no need to worry, you won't! You need muscle mass and lifting weights is the fastest way to get that while burning fat and effectively losing those stubborn pounds that your body is hanging on to. Here are three great reasons to get in the gym today and pick up those weights!

Post-workout benefits: When you add weights to your workout your body recruits energy. Lucky for you most of that energy comes from stored fat, just like in a steady cardio workout. The difference though is that weight lifting requires double the energy! It will feel like you are working less but even after you leave the gym you will be burning more calories. Every time you lift weights you are challenging and "damaging" your muscles and it takes extra energy to repair them. This is called the EPOC effect. Weight lifting not only burns fat, but it maintains and builds muscle mass whereas in steady cardio training, you’re losing fat and muscle together.

Strong muscles equals strong bones: Women who lift weights have a higher bone density. Any time you add stress to your body it has to respond by adapting. Surprisingly bones are not perfectly rigid structures,  they grow and adapt to your physical activities. When you are building up skeletal muscle you are also building up bone strength which is critical for women, especially those over 50.

Power up your weight loss: We all get to that dreaded point where we hit a plateau and those pounds just won't budge. If this happens to you, or to avoid this happening, add in weight lifting once or twice a week. This will change the way your body utilizes fat and calories, it is almost like it shocks your system. An important thing to remember is that you shouldn't rely on the scale to show progress, it's smarter to break out that tape measure instead! Muscle is denser but leaner than fat. So the number on the scale may not be moving but the inches will be coming off.

Source: Skinnymom.com