Looking for a zippy metabolism?
Date: 12-06-2007
Posted by: Anabolic Info TeamUnited States |
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Cardio is for weight loss and weight lifting is for building bulk, right? Wrong! It is one of the most often repeated misconceptions. Weight lifting is actually one of the most powerful weight-control tools available to you.
I think that people shy away from weights for a variety of reasons. Perhaps weight lifting's bodybuilding past scares us. After all, when muscle building goes to that extreme, it is pretty frightening! "Freakishly large" is not a goal many people have.
Then there is the venue, the equipment and the logistics of weight lifting. It can take a long time to learn how to adjust all the equipment and master all the moves, and most adults don't relish tackling a new learning curve. Meanwhile, you can feel like a quite the fool, lying on your back in a public place making the same face you do in the bathroom!
But lifting weights is as close to a magic pill as we will ever get. Challenging your musculoskeletal system on a regular basis keeps your bones strong, can reduce joint and back pain and will help you stay young in a variety of ways.
Sounds pretty good, eh? It gets better. How does eating more and not gaining weight sound? The more muscle you have, the more calories you need to ingest to maintain it. Think about those freaky bodybuilders for a moment. Did you know they eat between 4,000 and 6,000 calories a day to maintain that muscle? Keep in mind that that is 4,000 calories of lean protein, vegetables and healthy complex carbs. No empty calories for the serious bodybuilder.
Lifting weights will turn you into a calorie-burning machine two ways. For the first three hours after an intense weight lifting session, your metabolism is elevated by almost 15 percent. Then for the next 12 hours, you get a metabolic boost of around 5 percent. You will burn more calories over the 24 hours after strength training than you burn trotting on the treadmill for 30 minutes.
As a result of your training, you begin to increase the size of your muscles. This not only firms up your appearance (less cellulite, anyone?), but each pound of added muscle requires an additional 50 calories a day.
Without regular strength training, you can eat the same, but the weight creeps on. This is because after the age of 20, unless your body perceives a need to maintain those calorie-hungry muscles, they will begin to shrink. You can easily lose six to seven pounds of lean muscle every decade after the age of 20.
Sadly, this means that almost 30 percent of men and 65 percent of women over the age of 74 can't lift a 10-pound object over their head. If you are interested in remaining youthful, you need those muscles.
Cardiovascular exercise is important; it keeps the heart muscle strong and increases your endurance. But if weight loss is your goal, if you want that zippy metabolism, be sure to fit in some time in the weight room -- regardless of what kinds of faces you make!
