Guest post by Louise Rush
Weight training is a fitness option that many people often disregard, as it is seen as an option for bodybuilders and people aiming for a particular physique. Weight training, however, is beneficial for everyone, regardless of your physique goals. Weight training has additional health benefits over simply doing cardio and eating healthier.
Weight training improves your metabolism
This is a fact many people are not aware of. Muscles burn more calories than fat. By replacing fat with muscle, not only are you losing that fat, you will make it easier for your body to burn calories and prevent fat from making a comeback. Muscles are metabolically active tissue, so weight training is highly beneficial for fat loss.
For the women – weight training will not automatically mean you begin to bulk up
Your muscles will become toned, and gain strength and definition, but a common misconception of weight training is that it will result in a bulkier figure. This is simply not the case. Woman do not produce as much testosterone as men, which is one of the hormones primarily responsible for muscle growth. Adding weight training to your fitness regime will not result in a sudden bulk up of your muscles.
If you already take part in a sport, weight training can improve your performance
Muscle training improves your core strength and allows you to work harder for longer before muscle fatigue begins to kick in, giving you a competitive edge. It can also improve your stability, as stronger muscles improve your balance. This means weight training is worth considering even if you already consider yourself fairly active.
Weight training can help lower your blood pressure
As your muscles increase in strength, they will not need to work as hard to contract. This means your heart will not have to work so hard to get the blood flowing around them. This can also be beneficial to your resting heart rate—as your overall body tone improves, your heart has less work to do to get the blood around all the muscles.
Bone density is another key benefit of weight training that is so often overlooked
Bone density is improved by weight training. This can be extremely beneficial in later life for combating issues such as Osteoporosis, or Osteopenia. Working your muscles and results in stronger connective tissue and bones.
These key benefits are sometimes overlooked, or people simply do not understand the impact of weight training. Weight training has many more advantages not listed here, such as improved mental health and wellbeing, and can help improve your self-esteem, making you feel better about yourself. For this reason, weight training is a great addition whatever your fitness goals, whether it is simply to lose fat, tone up or improve sports performance. Weight training improves all these things as well as the other health benefits listed. Combined with a balanced diet, weight training can help you feel good, look good and perform to the best of your abilities.
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