1) Have you been wondering how to get rid of your body fat? Well, believe it or not, strength training twice a week can reduce your overall body fat by three percent in just 10 weeks. It’s better to be losing inches – and gaining muscle – than just losing alone. Traditionally, most think of cardio when it comes to shedding the extra pounds – however muscle mass built through strength training is a calorie burning machine!
2) It does your body good. Just like a glass of milk, strength training strengthens your bones too. Regular weight lifting for six months has been shown to increase bone mineral density by 13 percent.
3) Makes you happy. Besides a boost in self confidence (from your shrinking waist-line to visibly toned muscles), strength training actually reduces your risk of depression. A small Harvard study found that 10 weeks of regular strength training reduced clinical depression symptoms at a level on par with standard counseling.
4) Refer back to #1 – you are a calorie scorching machine! Not only will your body continue to burn calories after you finish your muscle pumping workout, the long term benefits are even better. Muscle, unlike fat, is metabolically active. Replace 10 pounds of fat with 10 pounds of lean muscle and you'll burn an additional 25 to 50 calories a day without even trying.
5) Lower your risk of diabetes. As previously mentioned, muscle does a great job of burning your unwanted calories, but also gets rid of blood sugar quickly. As Type 2 diabetes is on the rise, building lean muscle mass is a great way to add to your prevention of this disease.
6) And the final, yet most obvious reason, it will make you stronger. Not only will it help in your day to day activities, but the stronger you are, the longer and more intensely you can work out. Increasing your strength also makes you less prone to injury, which is important so you don’t get sidelined.
Don't know where to begin? Visit our YouTube channel - which features a full body strength training workout!
Article adapted from: FitSugar.com, '7 Reasons to Strength Train'
All great points. Surprisingly I learned to like dumbbells while at H3. What I really like about them, is that it seems to make it easier to figure out a regimen to appropriately drive your targeted muscles to the point of near fatigue. Really reinforces what Adam and Amber taught me.
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