The common fear behind weight training is “getting bigger”, or being “too muscley” especially from a woman’s perspective.
This, in a sense is true, muscles do grow when you lift weights but not on a day to day weight training program. Lifting weights in the gym doesn’t have to be heavy either but the heavier the better.

Believe it or not lifting weights can have a number of weight loss benefits and more importantly a number of health benefits, especially as we age. I am going to highlight some of the more important and interesting benefits in my blog today to guide you through the do’s and don’ts of weight training:
The most interesting fact about lifting weights is the body fat loss as a result of lifting weights. As we all have that constant weight battle, and the big battle between training and eating right to keep our weight down for health and glamour reasons.

Training weights 2-3 times a week increases lean muscle and resting metabolism resulting in weights loss and a higher percentage of calorie burning over a longer period of time. Remember, Cardio is important also, for calorie burning, fitness, lungs and heart.

Weight training will also make you physically stronger; you will notice the changes in doing your daily chores, ie cleaning, working, chasing the kids. It also reduces your chance of injury and muscle strain during these tasks, such as in the kneck and lower back most commonly.
It has been studied, and proven that weight training can improve cardiovascular health in several ways also, including lowering LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, increasing HDL (“good”) cholesterol and lowering blood pressure. When cardiovascular exercise is added, these benefits are maximized as well as a nutritious and balanced diet also proving good for the control of diabetes.

Another health benefit of lifting weights as part of your gym program is the increase in mood and energy levels. A chemical hormone in the body is released, called endorphins which cheer us up, much like the feeling we get when we eat a bar of chocolate. This is turn gives us energy, and confidence in ourselves.

Due to our hormone make up woman cannot gain muscle like men do, so don’t worry about SIZE, but you will get leaner, more toned and stronger muscle definition all over, just in time for summer, And maximize your calorie burning.

With my Clients I like to mix up the workout plan between cardiovascular training, High Intensity Training and most importantly Weight Training. I feel this gives the most benefits to my clients, boost confidence and helps them reach their overall goals, whatever they may be.