Ladies, if losing body fat is one of your priorities, then gaining muscle is a must. There are many benefits to building up your muscle strength. You’ll get stronger – unload all those groceries from the car! Don’t worry, you won’t get BIG muscles or become bulky; you’ll mostly become stronger, gaining some lean muscle tissue and lose body fat. Physiologically it is impossible for women to gain muscle in the same way as a man.
These body composition changes will not only empower you, but your body will also look fantastic. AND the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism will be! You will be burning more calories just to fuel your muscles – this helps you get rid of body fat.
It is possible to lose body fat without weight training but you’ll have to maintain an extremely clean diet and do some interval training. However, low muscle mass is linked to accelerated aging and other health problems: diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, greater risk of breaking a bone(s), poor posture, tendency to catch colds and become prone low mood issues. What fun is that??
Another good thing about resistance (strength) training for females of all ages is that training hard elevates the level of the hormone (Growth Hormone) that burns fat in the body. By training with weights women will build some muscle, lose fat, look fit and strong, have better balance and flexibility, while maintaining an advantage in the battle against the fat gain that happens with age. Women who have more muscle mass tend to live longer. Now, that is fun!
Nancy L. Fitness 