Did you know that muscle naturally decreases with age? And unless that muscle is replaced with more muscle, fat will naturally replace it! Strength training should be a part of any good weight loss program in order to maintain lean body muscle.

Your body will burn fat more efficiently with more lean muscle! Now you don’t necessarily have to be Mr. muscle in order to burn fat, but training the muscles you already have is always a good idea.

5 Reasons to strength train

• Develops your bones – Training your bones while you are still young will prevent osteoporosis later on in life. Even if you are older, strength training will help prevent the risk of developing osteoporosis

• Less chance of injury – Having more muscle on your body will better protect your joints from injury, which is especially important if you do a lot of cardio!

• Increase your stamina – as your muscles grow stronger, you will tire less quickly and will be able to train for longer during your workout sessions.

• Look better – Lean muscle weighs less and takes up less space than fat, so the more you train, the better your body will begin to look!

• Get better rest – Because you are expending more energy in your workouts you will be more tired and will rest better at night!

Your options

If you are a complete newbie to strength training (like I was) then the best place to start would be with hand weights. In fact, you if you wanted to start strength training you wouldn’t even have to step foot inside a gym. You can always workout from home using resistance bands or even your own body weight!

Start slowly

If you are new to strength training don’t try to be the ‘hulk’ on your first day, start off slow and only what is comfortable for you. Remember to do at least 10 minutes of stretching or brisk walking before you start your strength training session.

When more comfortable with strength training and feel that you would like to move on to heavier weights always remember the rule of 10%. A good rule of thumb to increasing your weights is to increase them by 10% at a time. But only increase you weights once you can do 10 reps comfortably!

About 3 training session a week of 25 minutes each will be good enough for the average person to lose weight. But remember to give your muscles time to recover! Slight muscle pain is normal when you are strength training, but stop if you are ever experiencing sharp pain.