Did you know that at about age 35 the average person gains roughly one-and-a-half pounds of fat each year? And while we are gaining that fat we are also losing (on average) half-a-pound of muscle per year? If that doesn’t motivate you to get moving consider that a pound of muscle burns 35 calories per day—just to stay alive, while a pound of fat burns just two calories per day.
Doctors say it’s one of the downfalls of aging. Most people lose muscle and increase the fat layer in their bodies. Fat tends to move in because muscle moves out, mainly because we move less as we age. But it doesn’t have to be that way. By ramping up your strength training (or adding some strength training exercises to your fitness routine) you can build more muscle and drop the dead weight (fat). Remember: muscle never sleeps. It is an extremely active, hungry tissue, which burns calories even when you are sleeping.
If you are over the age of 35 fitness experts recommend adding more muscle mass to your body. The best way to preserve add more muscle (or preserve existing muscle mass) is to make weight training an essential component of your fitness regime.
Studies show a person burns extra calories while lifting weights. Plus, you get the bonus of having tissue that burns more calories around the clock. Weight lifting also helps bone tissue, which helps in the fight against osteoporosis (a disease that many people face as they grow older). According to doctors, one in two women over the age of 50 (and one in four men) will suffer from osteoporosis in their lifetime. Studies prove that those who walk at least a mile a day lose bone tissue slower than non-walkers, but only those who participate in weight training increases bone mass–at any age.
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