5 Reasons to lift weights (ladies...you too!!)

1. Increase Functional Strength

Muscles help us to perform functional everyday activities. By doing resistance training in a functional way you will increase the strength of these muscles and be able to perform daily activities with less effort on your part! The upshot - more energy throughout the day.

2. Increase or Maintain Lean Body Mass

As we age our muscles waste away (called atrophy) at a rate of around 0.5Kg per year after the age of twenty. Strength training can stop or indeed reverse this process.

3. Burn Fat 

For every 0.5Kg of muscle you put on you can burn an extra 50-100 calories per day. Without doing anything! Speed up your metabolism by hitting those weights!

4. Decrease Risk of Injury

The joints of the body are supported by your muscles - acting much like the strapping that athletes use around their limbs. Increasing the functional strength of your muscles will increase the support they give to your joints and therefore decrease the possibility of injury.

5. Decrease the risk of Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease that breaks down bone. Approximately 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men will suffer from this condition. Strength training will cause the bone to lay down more minerals increasing the mineral density due to the stresses placed on the bone by lifting weights. This leads to replacing the bone minerals and thus slowing down bone degeneration. 

So there you have it, just five of the many reasons that lifting weights is good for you. Just a quick note; to cause hypertrophy (muscle growth) you need to lift heavier weights with fewer reps. This mainly goes out to the ladies - don't be scared to lift heavy. You will never bulk up like a man...you don't have the testosterone levels for that to happen.