Health Benefits of Lifting Weights

And if this seems impossible because you have such a distaste for the whole exercise thing or you just don't have an extra 30 minutes twice a week, lift the weights very slowly and your muscles will tire in 1/3 the time.  It's called "slow motion" strength training.(I train using it) 

Instead of doing the usual 8-10 repetitions for 3 sets, you can do 1 set with 8 repetitions and just move the weight very slowly.  It will have the same effect and you won't spend as much time doing it.  We should do the least amount of exercise to get the job done(get stronger).  There are, however, some people who just love to work out but most of us would admit, we are not part of that group.

Judy Forman(Boston Globe) wrote about the "Unsung Benefits of Lifting Weights":

Not only is strength training important as you get older to prevent injury but it can potentially reduce the risk of developing heart disease, relieving neck pain, improving balance, and keeping your body weight and waist size in a healthy range. The evidence for the value of strength training has grown so much that last year, the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association issued new recommendations for healthy adults 65 and older that stressed the importance of weight lifting.

The groups now recommend that all older Americans do eight to 10 repetitions for each of the major muscle groups (biceps, quadriceps, hamstrings, etc.). Resistance exercises should be done on two or more nonconsecutive days of the week.

The idea is to lift a weight that's heavy enough to work each muscle group until it is fatigued, so the amount you lift will increase as your strength grows. Weight-bearing exercise, like walking or running, does not count as weight lifting – that means you really have to lift weights or work out on a resistance machine.

One of the biggest benefits of strength training is that it dramatically increases muscle mass, which aerobic exercise does not, noted William J. Evans, director of the Nutrition, Metabolism, and Exercise Laboratory at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. More muscle mass is good not just because it makes you stronger but because it increases basal metabolic rate – muscle cells even at rest burn more calories than fat cells.

Moreover, while aerobic exercise can significantly, although temporarily, increase blood pressure, a potential concern for some heart patients, resistance training does so only minimally, Evans said. Weight training also gets results fast – it only takes resistance training twice a week for a few weeks to begin to see a significant effect, compared with three days a week with aerobics.

Indeed, the more researchers probe the benefits of weight training for specific conditions, the stronger the case they can make, said Miriam Nelson, director of the John Hancock Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition at Tufts University.

Although studies have not yet proven that strength training lowers the risk of osteoporosis, Nelson said, they do show it lowers the risk of fractures by improving balance, bone density, and muscle mass. Weight training is also good for people with arthritis, she said, because stronger muscles can take the pressure off inflamed joints.

Read more of Judy Forman's report in the Boston Globe on why we should all do strength training, especially seniors starting as early as fifty.

Technorati Tags: osteoporosis, weight bearing, resistance training, exercise, osteopenia, bone density, skeletal, fitness, health, how to