WHY WEIGHT?

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I don’t like the idea of weight training…I don’t want big muscles and anyway they only turn to fat if you ever stop training in the future. These are just a couple of the many misconceptions that exist regarding the use of weights as a means of training.

Let’s look at the benefits of working with weights. It is widely recognised that we need to partake in weight-bearing exercise if we are to have healthy bones that will support us into the old age that is becoming even longer with advancements in medical care. It had been thought that walking is enough to create the stimulus necessary to cause the body to lay down more calcium. More recently however evidence has shown that the body must work with more than its own weight to cause these changes to occur.

Weight resistance exercises develop strong, healthy muscles. The extra load placed on the muscles during weight bearing activities bring about a hormonal response, as does everything else we do. In men, testosterone causes the muscles to grow bigger to be able to cope with the new load in the future. This response does not occur to the same degree in women because of the lower testosterone levels. What does occur is a compacting of the muscle fibres to give a strong healthy physique leaving women toned and sculpted. The other hormonal response enjoyed by both men and women is the release of the ‘feel good’ hormones, endorphins.

Free weight exercise burns enormous amounts of calories since many muscles work as stabilisers even when they are not being targeted directly, as well as the muscle group being worked at that particular time. Because of the tempo and type of exercise performed the body tends to burn fat in free weight training. When the fat layer is stripped away the lean muscle underneath is exposed. If we stop training and do not eat properly we simply reintroduce the fat layer.

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