When counseling people on healthy living, most details are negotiable. What kind of veggies they eat and how they prepare them, what kind of cardio they do and when, whether they cut back or eliminate an item – you get the picture.
One thing that is not negotiable is resistance training (weight training). Every adult should train with weights. No cardio in the world will give you the multitude of benefits that resistance training provides.
Aside from the obvious benefit of getting stronger, here are some of the other benefits of throwing the iron around.Burn More Fat
Putting on and/or saving muscle has both short-term and long term benefits when it comes to burning the blubber. In the short term, it burns calories while you do it (about 100 calories in a half hour). The real effect, however comes post workout when your body is in a state of shock (good shock) and has to work to get back to a normal state. This burns a good number of extra calories.
Even better, though is the long term benefit of having energy-costly muscle. In other words, the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn even when you are doing nothing.
Look Better
This goes beyond an aesthetic appreciation. Men and women just plain look better when they strength train. Weight training provides a more defined look. Even those who are thin can carry a higher percentage of body fat, so please don’t tell me that you “don’t want to look big and bulky” because if you are female, this is extremely unlikely to happen.
Makes Daily Life Easier
Getting stronger through weight training will make daily tasks easier. Grocery shopping, housework, moving furniture, getting in and out of cars, on and off toilets – things we don’t give much thought to will be improved through weight training.
Weight training also serves as a dress rehearsal for averting potential hazards such the ability to move out of the way quickly or lift heavy objects unexpectedly. Increases bone density Weight bearing exercise stimulates bone-building production.
Women are especially prone to losing bone density as they age. Once menopause hits, women lose about 3% of bone mass per year for about 4-8 years, after which bone loss slows down but continues to deteriorate. Weight training exercise then, becomes especially important in this stage of life.
Reduce Injuries
Certain types of weight training help prevent joint injuries. By strengthening the muscles that surround joints, and by strengthening weaker opposing muscles – you can greatly reduce the risk of injuring joints. Muscles are also a key player when it comes to posture. By strengthening relatively weak muscle groups, you can help improve your posture which in turn helps your body function more efficiently. It also helps you appear taller, thinner and more confident!
Lengthen Life
Many studies show that people die from inactivity, not just from aging. As people age, they lose muscle, when this happens, their immunities weaken and because of this they are more likely to die of cancer and infectious diseases. Our ability to kill germs is often the result of low levels of muscle tissue. Larger muscles have readily available antibodies to fight off infections.
“Alright, I’m convinced – how do I get started?”
Not only does having more muscle increase one’s metabolic drive, but having to build muscle does even more so. Think about it: You tear your body apart, and it has to rebuild itself, stronger than before. Nothing is more energy demanding. Nothing.
…adding extra muscle (active) tissue does not make you burn more Calories?
Because there are a LOT of studies that say otherwise.
Quito – sorry for the delayed response… I think it was a matter of finding the study interesting at the time. I think that it helps many people under many circumstances (yourself included) and it certainly wouldn’t hurt to practice it. That said, if you had time to do either cardiovascular or resistance exercise – I would certainly choose these over meditation.
Hope that answers your question. Thanks for asking.
Thanks ofelia. Do you have a reference to those studies? I know there are conflicting reports of how MUCH increasing muscle tissue boosts metabolism, but the consunsus THAT it does is irrefutable.
Good stuff except…latest studies say that muscle does not increase metabolism and thus does not help your body burn extra calories.
One of the main thing people should understand when thinking about resistance training is that you can do it anywhere. You can lift reams of paper at work, soup cans, squeeze your butt and ab muscles during your commute. I train with free weights after dinner. My 3 kids (3,6,8) will come in my room and watch TV or “workout” with me. I have 1 and 2 lb weights for them. My 8 year old daughter can do 15 pull-ups. Dear old mom can finally do 1!!
Heather – yep, except that both of them use weight stacks in their equipment. Curves uses hydraulics. I looked at the ACE study and that was about hydraulics.
Mike, allow me to push a tiny bit. I’ve read your newsletters (the latest one is linked above), and I think the services you and Tracy are great.
I was wondering why you felt it important to include an article implying that meditation has no health benifits.
I practice pranayama, which is a form of meditation, and would encourage anyone to try it. It’s not kinky stuff. Many performers use kinds of pranayama to calm stage fright as well, for example. And, if it doesn’t have a positive effect with someone, it’s no big deal.
I’m all for spearing sacred cows, but trying to tear down the benifits of meditation seems at best pointless, and at worst an attempt to triangulate.
My take on tje research on the effects of meditation is: we know that it has some value. It’s worthwhile to try to figure out exactly what benefits it gives and why they accrue. But, it’s a huge and messy topic. Like trying to figure out what makes a good diet by looking at nutrition, it can take you only so far, and at some point a reductionistic approach breaks down.
Mike, I think you’re spot on in your comment response. Most people think weight training means weights like dumbbells and barbells. While those are the most common method, there are plenty of other ways like yoga, bands, body weight exercises and more to train.
Gal
Alice, I’m not a trainer, but I think that compared with many other activities (running,waking, treadmill, yoga), weight training has the most immediate positive results. But, I agree with you in that it’s important to set someone’s expectations.
From my experience, though, the biggest impediment in getting someone to do this kind of training is fear of gyms, and the second is preconcieved notions.
B Holmes— Contours is a Curves knockoff right?
It is definitely good for a lot of women who aren’t used to weights. However, if you look at an ACE study on the topic, the hydraulic equipment they use provide minimal strength increases.
Very good post on resistance training.
I like natural stuff to control and reduce weight.
Something we have to work on first is to have the correct mindset for weight training. People must have the firm belief that it is going to help them and not wasting their time.
Otherwise, it is very difficult to bring up the subject again.
Do you agree?
Strength training with weights is so vitally important that sometimes I can not believe how many people forget about it. If you are not using weights I serious encourage you to begin.
I use resistance bands and have no problem building muscle tone. It’s like having a home gym in my drawer. I also like how the resistance feels, as opposed to the feel of free weights.
This is what Contours Express and Butterfly Life have been preaching forever for women. Perhaps people will take a closer look at these gyms.
I know a lot of women who have always done just cardio throughout their 20′s and then when they hit their 30′s…BAM! They start gaining weight because their metabolisms slow down and they start losing muscle mass. I used to be a cardio queen and I never did weights, but once I started lifting weights, I liked my body SO much better than I ever had before. I got a lot of definition and strength, but I did not get huge or bulky.
My grandmother, who’s in her 70′s, had a total hip replacement a few years ago and started walking regularly after that and has slimmed down considerably. She just recently started lifting weights and she started with lighter weights and moved up to heavier ones. She said it REALLY has helped her with doing things like getting out of cars, doing her housework, etc. And resistance bands are a really good substitute for weights because instead of working against gravity, you’re working against the spring constant of the band…so it will take the same amount of work, but the bands just provide a different range of motion and challenge different muscle groups.
Thanks, Quito. Working with seniors and seeing them achieve substantial progress is one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do. I have to add too that I take no credit for this. It is their dedication to being healthier in their later stages of life. They don’t want to just whither away and they are doing something about it. So while it’s nice if one of my clients loses some body fat, it is far more exciting to see somebody reduce years spent in a nursing home.
Hi Heather,
Your point is well taken – thank you for addressing it… I think “Flying Trapeze” hit the nail on the head when he/she mentioned that it doesn’t have to be “iron”. I think the perception of resistance training is that it is dumbbells, barbells, machines. But as pointed out by another poster, resistance bands work very well and are cheap and versatile to boot.
In terms of the conditions you mentioned – absolutely there needs to be very strict limitations. I do feel though that regardless of the condition, one can do isolation-type resistance training such as low load core activation and other postural exercises that use either gravity or a very light resistance. I completely agree that anyone with a condition such as the ones you mentioned need specific guidance from a physician or other exercise-oriented health care specialists such as a physiotherapist.
Thanks for bringing this up.
Strength training is necessary, for sure – but you don’t need iron! Lifting a dumbbell up and down without end makes me, personally, feel like a goon (I’ve tried it) but I do love yoga – it provides all the weight-bearing exercise a body could want. Handstand, anyone?
Weight training does make a difference…even for girls. It tones the body better. I ran into a natural solution for weight loss that lot of people told me about and just wanted to pass it on. Its a new method, you can check it out here http://www.fatlosshelpplan.blogspot.com
Move over osteoporosis, here comes sarcopenia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcopenia. Dr. Fuhrman is a big advocate of some level of weight or resistance training for everyone. The concerns about osteoporosis run parallel with sarcopenia–we need to consider both as we age.
Heather, I think that the recommendation for folks with serious health considerations would be to use their own body for resistance, using a method like Super-Slow.
Courtney, I am no expert, but I have heard resistance bands advocated for weight-training. The bands can provide quite a lot of resistance and are so versatile!
I’m a returned fan of weight-training. It’s been about two months now that I’ve been doing High Intensity-type training after being reminded of how important working with resistance and weights are, though really my immediate concern is physique and calorie-burning–it promises so much more “bang for my buck” than cardio work alone!
Good article, Mike.
Maybe it’s because I have several elderly friends, but I’m especially motivated in encouraging older people to do resistance training. Countering decreasing bone density, maintaining or increasing flexibility, and increasing core strength for balance are all very important as we age.
The CDC has an excellent set of exercises to get started. I like to point friends to it because it doesn’t require going to a gym (which is a huge barrier for all but the most slender minority of people).
Would resistance bands be a good alternative? I have endometriosis, and I don’t want to strain myself to the point where I get pains. Or would starting out with light weights be better?
I mostly agree… though, not “every” adult. If you have some type of unstable heart disease like angine, congestive heart failure, or uncontrolled high blood pressure– you should stick to aerobics. Picky, and people should know that by asking their doctor before starting something, but I have issues with the words “every,” “all,” “always,” “never,” and all other matter of all-inclusive words.