Any woman who works out with weights will likely wax lyrical about it.

Weight-lifting brings tangible results and is hugely satisfying. It’s becoming increasingly popular amongst women, but many still fear they’ll soon resemble body-builders, rather than create the lean physique they desire.

Gradually, general consensus is shifting though, with more and more women trying resistance training - be that with weights or just their own bodies - and never looking back.

One female personal trainer even told The Independent she can eat eight times as much as she used to when doing purely cardio. But if that’s not incentive enough, we spoke to personal trainer Tom Mans to find out exactly why lifting weights is such a good idea for women.

1. Weight training is key to losing fat

“When it comes to fat loss, the single most important factor is making sure you burn off more calories than you consume on a day-to-day basis,” Mans explained to The Independent

By weight training, you build lean muscle, and muscle is a metabolically active tissue where carbohydrates and body fat are burned and used as energy. The more muscle you have, the higher your basal metabolic rate, so the more calories you’ll burn over the course of a day. 

2. It's more effective than cardio

Many people think slogging it out on a cardio machine or pounding the pavements are the keys to fat loss, but cardio like running or cycling puts strain on your muscles (which can lead to injuries) and won’t build muscle, according to Mans.

Plus with weight training, there are practically endless exercises you can do, so unlike with cardio you’ll never get bored.

3. Lifting weights doesn't mean you'll become big and bulky

“I completely understand why women think weight training makes you bulky and muscly,” says Mans, adding that it can make you bulky, but only if you do specific training with a strict diet to match.

Plus women are built differently to men, and Mans says we won’t become bulky because of our basic biology: “On average, testosterone levels in men are about seven to eight times as great as in women. And testosterone is the main hormone that builds muscles.”

4. It has a positive impact on bone density

“When our bones are put under stress from the force of resistance training over a long period of time, they grow stronger and increase in density to withstand the extra load and force,” Mans says.

“Resistance training increases bone density and therefore decreases the chances of women and men developing osteoporosis later on in life.”

Studies have shown that both aerobic exercise and resistance training help strengthen our bones’ ability to bear weight, but resistance training is more effective.

5.  It will improve your strength and boost your confidence

Every time your work out with weights, you become stronger, and so next time you’ll be able to lift more, which is both incredibly satisfying and motivating.

“Unlike fat loss, which takes a lot of time and patience, strength in the gym can increase on a week-by-week basis,” Mans says, “Especially in the first five to six months of training.”

Plus, it just feels awesome to feel strong: “My female clients get a massive confidence boost when they know they are can lift more than most men of the same age in the gym,” Mans says.

6. It makes you more athletic

Everyone wants to look toned and sculpted, and weight training is the way to achieve this. But it’ll also improve your abilities in other sports.

“I have trained a range of athletes in the past - from professional rugby players to tri-athletes to motorcycle racing drivers,” Mans says. “Having a solid strength base helps improve many other elements of athleticism, including power, speed, agility, endurance and muscle mass gains. 

“Strength training and weight training will help the body adapt to the forces it will face during sport and through everyday life.”

Weights machines can be daunting so put people off. But all you have to do is ask someone how to use them once, and then you’ll be good to go.

And if you don’t have access to a gym, it’s easy to find at-home resistance-based workouts using stretchy bands, dumbbells or even cans of beans (or bottles of alcohol, depending on your priorities).

Once you start working out with weights, chances are you’ll never look back. And then you’ll be one of the ones waxing lyrical (and smashing the men at arm-wrestling).

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/why-women-should-lift-weights-6-reasons-exercise-fitness-confidence-strength-fat-loss-a7829436.html

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Do Vibration Plates Really Work?

Vibration Plates are becoming increasingly popular in gyms around the nation. Praised by celebrities and even tested by NASA, the idea behind vibration plates is that you can tone and define muscles faster by using vibration. NASA has studied vibration plates as a possible antidote to the muscle atrophy and bone loss that astronauts suffer while in space. Advocates of vibration plates also love them because they claim to reduce workout time by two thirds, a welcome concept to folks who struggle to fit workouts into already-busy days. But is all this just hype? Do vibration plates really work?

What Is a Vibration Plate?

Power Plate, one brand of vibration plate, vibrates in 3 directions, 20 to 50 times per second. It increases G-forces on the body, and its manufacturer claims that its use increases the effectiveness of exercises performed while standing on it.

Vibration plate workouts are not aerobic. They are similar to weightlifting without using weights.

Study Says: Yes

A 2009 study by the University of Antwerp in Belgium and Artesis University College seems to show that vibration plates do work. In the study, obese women who followed a healthy diet and exercised using vibration plates lost more weight long-term, including more hard-to-lose belly fat, than women who followed a healthy diet and conventional exercise.

The group who used vibration plates performed basic moves such as squats, push-ups, calf rises, lunges and ab crunches on the machines. They performed each type of 10 exercises for 30 seconds each, and gradually built up to 60 seconds each.

They followed this program for 6 months. The group using vibration plates lost an average of 11% of their body weight, compared with a 7% body weight loss for the group using conventional exercise methods. The group using vibration plates also lost the most belly fat. Additionally, the group using vibration plates maintained their weight loss 6 months after the initial 6-month study ended.

Supervision Needed

After reading these results, you may be ready to try out vibration plates. However, Dirk Vissers, who helped run the study, cautions that for maximum effectiveness, the vibration plate machines must be used properly. "If it's easy, you're not doing it correctly," he says.

Lesson: if you decide to use vibration plates, work with a trainer in the beginning so that you can utilize proper techniques.

Vibration Plates: Not a Sure Bet?

Despite the 2009 study results, not all researchers are sold on vibration plate machines. Injuries ranging from back pain and cartilage damage to possible brain damage from the shaking have been reported and warned of. Some scientists feel that more research is necessary before the machines can be safely recommended.

Additionally, vibration plates aren't a panacea. You still need to eat healthy foods and exercise regularly in order to achieve and maintain weight loss, regardless of the exercise method you choose.

Discuss using vibration plates with your trainer and/or physician so you can make an informed decision. Regardless of whether or not you decide to use vibration plates, continue to eat well and exercise, and you won't go wrong.

Source: http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/equipment/do-vibration-plates-really-work.html

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