Anaerobic Movement
Weight lifting, or strength training is the most popular form of anaerobic training that has the greatest impact on health, body shaping and metabolism. Keep in mind when we are talking about weight lifting, we are not talking about body building. We are talking about overloading the muscles to improve muscle strength and muscle endurance, like we do at Curves. Let’s talk about strength training and you.
First, we know that strong muscles can improve your posture and help maintain your equilibrium or balance. As we age, balance can be a daily challenge and the risk of a fall can delay or limit your daily fitness regime. We also know that if we do weight bearing activities we can reduce the risk of osteoporosis and other bone deficiencies.
Second, having muscle mass that is tight and tone can change the shape of our bodies. While there is no such thing as “spot reducing,” there is “spot training.” Weight training allows us to focus on our specific problem areas. For example, whereas weight training cannot change the elasticity of the skin, it can tighten and tone muscles that are sagging around the under arms and around the upper leg.
Third, stronger muscles can also make everyday activities easier and more efficient such as mowing the lawn, lifting the children, carrying groceries and doing laundry.
Finally, one of the most important benefits of weight training is the impact it has on resting metabolism. Many studies support the fact that if you can increase your muscle mass, you can burn more calories at rest. We know that metabolism is the rate at which energy is being burned in the body. So keep in mind the more muscle mass you have compared to fat mass, increases the rate at which energy/calories is burned.
In addition, studies continue to suggest that vigorous strength training can elevate calorie burning above usual values for several hours after you finish working out. This is a huge benefit. There is nothing like burning extra calories while you are sitting in your car on the way home from Curves. This is called the after burn and we weight lifters love this special perk!
