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Why weight train

P

pak

Guest
Why Every Adult Should Weight Train

Avoid Muscle Loss
Every decade you loose up to 2 - 3 kilos of muscle if you do no strength training. You may not notice this because the size of your arms and legs remain about the same size as when you were young. The reason they are the same size is because fat has replaced muscle. Muscle burns calories, so the less of it you have the less you can eat without getting fat .The American college of sports medicine now recommends weight training for every adult .The sooner you start weight training the more muscle you will keep into old age.


Muscle Can Keep You Young
No matter what your age weight training can wind back the years and give you power you had at 18.The older you are the benefits are even greater. Good gains in muscle mass can be made until the age of 100. If you look at the regeneration rate of muscle you will find our body completely rebuilds muscle several times a year. Even at age 80 well trained muscle is really young.


Speeds Up Your Metabolism
Metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories. Calories are made up of carbohydrates protein and fat and are the energy source for the body. Your metabolism is always burning calories everyday just to give you energy you do your normal daily activities. When you just sit in a chair or sleep, these actions require a certain amount of energy which must be obtained by burning a certain number of calories. Your metabolic rate drops2-5 percent each decade starting at age 20.This means you cannot eat as much as you used to without getting fat. Because muscles shrink as you age they don’t burn as many calories as they used to.
A strong toned muscle [the result of regular weight training] even at rest burns more calories all day long reducing the likelihood of fat accumulation. For every pound of muscle you put on the body burns an extra 50 calories a day to keep that pound of muscle supplied with energy. So muscle reverses the natural aging process by speeding up the metabolism and allowing you to eat more food without getting fat.


Lower Blood Sugar Levels

As muscle mass shrinks blood sugar levels can increase even without diabetes. These high levels of blood sugar may lead to an attack on the connective tissue in our joints, ligaments, and bones. Connective tissue can be thought of as the glue that holds us together. A joint is formed by two or more bones coming together and are held together by ligaments, sometimes tendons and muscles. Tendon connects muscle to bone and Ligament connects bone to bone. Muscle is the primary place the body puts the sugar you eat. If you are active that sugar is burned by muscle immediately or stored as reserve fuel in the muscle. If you are sedentary [never exercise] sugar is circulated back to the liver and converted into fat. As a person becomes fatter and less muscular , insulin the hormone that regulates blood sugar does not work as well and blood sugar levels may rise. Weight training can increase the uptake of sugar by at least 23 percent.

Stronger Bones
Weight training increases bone weight and density more than swimming or running. Since it stresses most major bones in the body it protects bone from thinning thus preventing osteoporosis.

Better Posture
People who weight train stand taller, have more self confidence and better posture.

Better Outlook On Life
In 1996 the US surgeon general came out with a report on Physical Activity and Health. The report determined that a sedentary lifestyle had the same adverse effects as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, however as little as 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a few days a week had positive effects on lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, cutting the risk of death by heart attack by 60 percent, dramatically reducing the risk of getting certain types of cancer, such as colon, prostate, and breast cancer. It also stated that exercisers cut the risks of developing diabetes, and are 3 times less likely to experience depression.

Aerobic Exercise Is Not Enough
Aerobic exercise is needed and contributes to all of the positive things mentioned in the previous point. However if you want to look and feel your best you must train with weights. You will have firmer and tighter muscles, stronger bones, thicker more shock absorbent joints, and tendons able to handle much greater stress. No matter what your age you will see big changes to your body in only a few weeks. Start gently and don’t try to lift too much too early. Learn to do the exercises the right way with good form and technique before you start worrying about how much weight you are lifting. Remember what you don’t know about weight training will hurt you!
 
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