Best Fitness Blog

By... Karli Taylor

In recent years, many studies have been published showing the benefits of weight training for women. Still, the number of women who take this recommendation to heart is still quite low. Most women who exercise are spending most of their gym time on cardiovascular exercise because they are afraid weight training will make the look bulky or they feel that walking on the treadmill is sufficient. Whatever your reasons for avoiding the weights, if you are a woman, here are some less obvious reasons reasons why you need to take strength training seriously.

In addition to getting stronger and leaner, adding weight training to your routine will help to decrease your risk of osteoporosis. Weight training can increase spinal bone density by up to 13 percent in just six months. This, coupled with an adequate amount of dietary calcium, can be a women's best defense against osteoporosis.

Did you know that heart disease is one of the leading causes of death among women in the U.S?: Weight training can improve cardiovascular health in several ways, including lowering LDL ("bad") cholesterol, increasing HDL ("good") cholesterol and lowering blood pressure. When cardiovascular exercise is added, these benefits are maximized, and your risk of heart disease is lowered!

If those reasons still aren’t enough to convince you to pump some iron, weight training will reduce your risk of diabetes. Weight training has been shown to improve the way the body processes sugar, which may reduce the risk of diabetes. Adult-onset diabetes is a growing problem for both women and men. Research indicates that weight training can increase glucose utilization in the body by 23 percent in four months.

Don’t you think that the benefits are worth the work?

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...By Karli Taylor

Just in case you don’t have enough motivation to hit the gym today, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has released an official statement regarding yet another benefit of exercising regularly. According to recent studies, people who engage in regular physical activity can reduce their risk for developing type 2 diabetes mellitus, and people who already suffer from the disease may reduce symptoms and complications and increase quality of life.

According to the statement, a combination of regular exercise and weight loss can lower the risk for type 2 diabetes by 58 percent in high-risk populations. For those already diagnosed with the disease, exercise can improve blood glucose, lipid profiles, and blood pressure while reducing cardiovascular complications and lowering the rate of mortality.

What is meant by “regular exercise”? According to the ACSM, anyone participating in 30 minutes or more of continuous exercise on most days of the week would satisfy the requirements of being a “regular exerciser”.

Though it is true that shorter bouts of exercise throughout the day do add up to help with both weight loss and cardiovascular health, the benefits of 2 or 3 ten minute exercise sessions have not been proven to be as great as those that are associated with 30 minutes of continuous work.