Weight Lifting is the new Running for age 40. If preventing middle-aged spread is a priority, strength training is key. Each decade after 30, muscle declines by 3-8% and because it has a higher metabolic rate than fat, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn not only during exercise but also at rest. Muscle requires more blood and oxygen to be supplied to it than fat and that increases the energy expenditure the body has to do to maintain it. As you lift weights you put micro tears in the muscle, you burn calories as you do that, then you heal that muscle and rebuild. You burn calories while rebuilding, and last you maintain that muscle and yet again burn calories while maintaining.
Muscle loss is the single greatest contributor to age-related decline in metabolism, 2-4 pounds of muscle to your body you could burn 100 extra calories a day at rest (that’s 3000 calories in a month, technically enough to lose a pound). Strength workouts such as circuit training may burn about 200 calories while you’re doing them but unlike cardio bunny exercise such as running, they burn 25% more calories in the first hour following your workout and may keep your resting metabolic rate elevated by 100 calories a day for up to 72 hours afterwards.
Previously it was thought only aerobic exercise could deliver positive mood benefits, but we now know that resistance and weight training can have the same effect on the brain by increasing the production of serotonin, the brain hormone that makes us feel good. We know all forms of exercise improve depression. Strength training taps into the brain’s reward system quickly by stimulating the neural mechanisms that make people feel better which involve brain (feel good) chemicals such as serotonin, dopamine and endorphins. So lift weights and join our Ladies Lift 90 Day Bootcamp. www.astaisora.com