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Weight Lifting: More Important for Health than Sports

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.

Lifting weights allows you to convert fat tissue into muscle. Calories are burned by muscle tissue faster than in any other part of your body. While sports are a great means of keeping your cardiovascular system healthy, they rarely build muscle.

Athletes, both professional and casual, benefit from weight lifting because it increases endurance and helps to lower the fat content in your body composition. Not only that, building muscle will increase your strength and power and this cannot help but aid you in your quest to win.

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

About the author: Gwen Webcke writes exclusively for FX for Sports, there's a wealth of knowledge on the website, plus while you're there sign up for the free newsletter. If you want to read more Sports articles go to: www.fxfsports.com/articles
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