Search:  

Home | Sport


Weight Lifting: More Important for Health than Sports

By: Gwen Webcke

If you are like most people, you engage in a sports games on the weekends or after work days. You enjoy play ingyour 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 regime.

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.

In your mid twenties your lean muscle tissue tends to decline. This trend continues for the rest of your life years. Our body then turns to a higher fat ratio then muscle. A higher fat ratio can cause a host of problems. These health problems can be minor or major like the potential for Coronary Heart Disease.

By taking the time lifting weights you can alter the fat and muscle ratio. You can add more muscle to 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, 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 make sure 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 deteriorate 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.superpublisher.com

About The Author:

About the author: Gwen Webcke writes exclusively for FX for Sports, visit there today for the latest Sports advice, and why not sign up for the free Sports newsletter. Read many more interesting articles on Sports at: www.fxfsports.com/articles
Don't reprint this article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version.

Please Rate this Article

 

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Sport Articles Via RSS!




©2001-2008. Superpublisher.com. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by Article Dashboard