Well, you do not have to break up with cardio altogether. But when it comes to fat loss and whipping your body back into shape, strength training works great. And, yes, most experts agree to this. Heavy lifting is what makes the most difference to body composition and also improves health parameters!
If you are a woman and worried about getting too bulky, well, it is time to change your notion about strength training. It is time to pick up those heavy dumbbells to change the way you look and feel. You can also use it as a way of treatment option to treat chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Get Rid of Body Fat
The one way of getting rid of fat is building more muscles. Lifting more weights can help build more lean body mass and enhances calorie burn. Burning extra calories post your workout is a sure-shot way to get the kind of body you want—a recent study on overweight and obese adults who were above the age of 60.
A low-calorie diet combined with weight training works in a miraculous way to improve your lean body mass. Adults who strength trained gained more muscle mass and lost more fat. People who struggle with belly fat will also benefit from a strength training routine. Weight training preserves muscles while losing fat, while cardio exercises can burn both fat and muscles.
Get Rid of the Dreaded Belly Fat
Spot reducing is not possible, but when you lift heavy, you can certainly get rid of the extra layer of fat holding on for dear life on your belly. Of course, you may be pre-conceived to store fat in certain places. A University of Alabama research showed that women who lifted weights got rid of the intra-abdominal fat, the harmful visceral fat that causes the most damage. This helps you get a more toned body, but it also improves your metabolic syndrome, and in some cases, cancers too.
Heavy lifting engages your core without trying too hard. Don’t worry about bulking up, if you are a woman. The more weight that comes from muscle, the smaller waistline you will have. Women have lower amounts of testosterone levels and hence unlikely to bulk up. Also, in some cases, your weight may go up, in the initial stages of strength training, but you will certainly drop dress sizes.
Make Your Bones Stronger
Weight lifting isn’t only great for your muscles, but also great for your bones. When you perform exercises such as a curl, your muscles can tug on your arm’s bones. The cells in those bones can then react and create more cells. This makes your bones go stronger with time.
However, you have to be consistent with your efforts. And with time, you will grow more bone mass and even build a new bone. This is particularly true of women in a high-risk zone, postmenopausal women.
Your Heart Will Thank You
To get the most cardio-protective benefits of exercise, you may have to look beyond only cardiovascular exercise. Strength training is great for your heart health, too. In a study by the Appalachian State University study, people who exercised for over 45 minutes of moderate-intensity resistance exercise brought down their blood pressure levels a notch down by more than 20 percent. They work better than blood pressure-reducing pills.
Better Management of Blood Sugar Levels
Strength training is dependant primarily on the body’s glycolytic, or the glucose-using, metabolic system for energy. When we strength train, we use the stored muscle glycogen for additional fuel.
As the muscle glycogen runs out, we start to mobilize the extra glycogen from the liver and the blood. This also helps decrease the blood glucose to lower the stored muscle and glycogen stores. It gives the blood glucose a place to go to the next time we put an extra morsel in your mouth.
No wonder strength training works as a great treatment option to improve most of your metabolic markers. Start with a day or two of strength training into your regular regime and gradually increase the time. And do not forget to get help from a professional fitness trainer before embracing a strength training routine. That way, you could make sure that you are working out the right way and won’t end up accidentally injuring yourself.
