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Benefit By Adding Weight Lifting to your Sports Routine

By: Gwen Webcke If you are like many people, you play in a sports league on the weekends or after work hours. You love to play your sport all the time, but forget to do any weight lifting. Weight lifting is not a priority for many, but it should be. Weight lifting has many benefits that are not realized as we don't often add weight lifting to our exercise plans.

Many falsely believe that weight lifting is only for those that are professional weight lifters, professional athletes or those who just want big, bulk muscles. This is not the case. Weight lifting is for everyone. This is especially true when you reach your 25th birthday. At this point your metabolism tends to slow down which can hinder your athletic performance.

The body begins losing lean tissue mass (muscle) in our mid twenties and continues to do so for the rest of our lives. When this happens, our body composition changes and fat begins to take on a higher percentage in our tissues. This fat can lead to all kinds of health issues and may be a precursor for Coronary Heart Disease.

By spending the time lifting weights you can alter the fat and muscle ratio. You can add muscle and lose fat. Muscle burns more calories then fat. Sports are wonderful way to keep your cardiovascular system going strong. However, you need to lift weights to actually build the most muscle.

Athletes of all levels should understand the many benefits of weight lifting. These benefits include improve endurance and lower fat ratio in their body composition. You will also become stronger which adds power to your athletic game. This can improve your chances of athletic success.

If you are passionate athlete then you should add weight lifting to your training routine. You also need to incorporate proper nutrition into your routine to see the most benefits from weight lifting. Your nutrition plan should include protein, carbohydrates, and fatty acids. If you don't have the fatty acids in your diet your are more prone to injury and decreased muscle gain.

When you weight lift you need to verify that you have enough energy to do it properly. Add 500 calories to your daily caloric intake to help supply you with the apporpriate energy. This energy helps to maintain any muscle growth and keep you going strong. If you don't eat enough your body will look to your muscles for energy.

Keep track of your gains during weight lifting and also with regards to your diet. Items to keep track of include: body fat percentage, caloric intake, and weight lifting details. The only way to properly determine your progress is to track it. You can also see if you need to modify any part of your exercise and diet routine in hopes of better results.

As stated in the beginning, everyone really should include weight lifting in their lives once they hit their mid twenties if they have not already done so. As two-thirds of Americans are considered to be overweight, the battle of the bulge is being lost. Playing sports is a great start, but weight lifting helps build muscles and they keep burning the calories. Just a simple set of dumbbells can be a great start that will put you on the road to a healthier life and ahead of the curve in the battle of the bulge.

Article Source: http://www.lifeweightloss.com

Gwen Webcke is the chief writer for, and editor of FX for Sports, it's one of the webs most up to date Sports sites, while you're there sign up for the free newsletter. Want to read more Sports articles?, just go to: www.fxfsports.com/articles
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