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Weight Training

Enjoy Lifting Weights

If you groan at the thought of weight training , you’re probably thinking of big, muscled men pumping iron. It doesn’t look appealing to everyone to spend hours doing dumbbell curls and lifting barbells. And not everyone gets into bodybuilding . We don’t all want bulging muscles, after all. But weight training, as you might be surprised to find out, isn’t always about building big muscles.

More often than not these days, it’s not even called weight lifting, but is instead called strength training . Unless you’re a body building fan aimed toward building bigger muscles, strength training is actually the more accurate term. While it will affect your muscles, you’ll notice progress more through your growing strength rather than a jump in muscle size. In fact, for most people who lift weights , the muscles actually get smaller.

If you read bodybuilding books, the exercise tips included are vastly different than what most people need to do. Loading up on protein and doing lots of reps with heavy weights will certainly help you build muscle. But if just fitness and strength - and maybe toning up the muscles you already have - are your goals, then you’ll want exercise tips designed to help you do those things instead.

Many repetitions with lighter weights will exercise the muscles, and stronger muscles take up less room than out of shape muscles. So the size of your muscles will actually decrease, even though the scales might show a slight gain in weight—toned muscles take up less room, but weigh a little more. Circuit training , which is moving from one exercise to the next, is especially effective during strength training, because you get to work several different muscle groups all in one session.

Strength training with weights (or sometimes without) also works your torso, otherwise known in exercise circles as your core. Core strength exercises are especially designed to work these muscles in your abdomen and your lower back. Those muscles help support your entire posture as well as your internal organs, so core strength exercises should be included in any weight lifting or strength training plan.

Working on your core can help your overall strength, as well as help to lessen or even eliminate back pain . Because the muscles that support the spine will be getting stronger all the time, it’s easier to sit and stand with good posture, which eliminates pressure in a lot of areas that could be causing pain.

Weight training can help with these issues, but it can also help you lose weight or maintain your weight while you’re getting toned. Active muscle tissue uses much more fuel, even in a resting state, than fat tissue does. So the more you strength train, the more active, healthy muscle tissue you have. This muscle tissue uses fuel much faster than fat, so just by toning your muscles you actually boost your metabolism. This makes you burn fat faster. So weight training helps you tone your muscles and lose weight, and should be alternated with some sort of aerobic exercise for optimum health.