Psst…I have the secret to losing weight. Want to hear it?
You need to lift weights. Yes, that is what I said, “Lift Weights”.
Lifting weights means pumping iron or using your body as your barbell. The goal of either method is to grow stronger and build more muscle. With more muscle, your metabolism increases and if you are eating properly, you will burn more fat. In order to build muscle, you need to challenge your muscles by repeatedly contracting and lengthening them under a load – thus, weight lifting.
Using time and repetitions, we challenge our muscles, making them stronger and bigger. There are 3 basic “methods” for lifting weights:
- Use heavier weights and lower numbers of reps (6 or less reps) for strength gain.
- Use lighter weights and higher number of reps (15 or more reps) for muscle endurance.
- Or go in between with something called hypertrophy (8-12 reps) for muscle growth. This is where most of us want to operate the majority of the time. It is the quickest way to create change. Though it is a good idea to mix it up some.
Lifting the right amount of weight is important as well. Too little and we won’t make much progress and too heavy can impact our form resulting in a potential injury.
So, choose a weight that will allow you to complete not only all of the repetitions in the set, but also all of the sets of the exercise. Though those last couple reps in each set should be difficult. Once those reps become easy, it is time to increase the weight even if it is only 2.5 pounds.
Still not convinced you want to add weight lifting to your workouts? How about these additional reasons to lift weights?
- Maintain bone mass as we age.
- Improved balance.
- Stronger joint
- Lowering your risk of heart disease
So, go pump some iron!