Are you one of those people (I’m speaking mostly to the women) who go for 30 minutes on the elliptical or attend spin class or other cardio, finish, shower, and pat yourself on the back for a great exercise session?  Are you avoiding the weights in your workout routine??

Why?!?

I’m quoting an old article here but the points are the same:  reasons abound for you to start lifting weights.  You can call it pumping iron, lifting, weight work, whatever you want.  I just want you to get started on a routine for yourself!

10 reasons we should all lift weights: (taken from Oxygen Magazine, February 2009)

1. Increase Strength.  Forget about relying on other people to help you lift boxes, carry groceries or piggyback your toddler because strength training makes everyday activities easier than a walk in the park.
2. Lose Fat.  Each pound of muscle you gain can burn up to 50 extra calories a day and you can gain nearly two pounds of muscle in just two months by weight training a few times a week.  Better still, you can lose 3.5 pounds of fat at the same time.
3. No Bulking.  Research shows that women do not typically gain bulk from strength training like men do because women produce 10 to 30 times less testosterone than men.  You will, however, define and tone your muscles.
4. Healthy Bones.  Research has shown that weight training can improve your bone mineral density by as much as 13 percent in just six months.  This becomes crucial as women age to minimize their risk of developing osteoporosis.
5. Improve Performance.  Hitting the weights on a regular basis can improve your overall performance in sport and decrease your risk of injury.  Extra strength can power up your drive on the golf course and reduce the risk of injury among skiers.
6. Keep Yourself Healthy. You already know that strength training builds stronger muscles, but did you also know that it increases joint stability by strengthening ligaments and tendons?  Well it does.  And a stronger join helps prevent injury and eases the pain of osteoarthritis. 
7. Strengthens Your Ticker.  Weight training can keep your heart healthy by increasing your HDL cholesterol and lowering both your LDL cholesterol and blood pressure.
8. Ward Off Type 2 Diabetes.  Research has shown that regular weight training can improve glucose utilization in the body by 23 percent in just four months.  This may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
9. Age is Irrelevant.  It doesn’t matter how old you are; strength improvements are possible at any age, even 80 years old.
10. Keeps You Smiling.  Working out with weights has been shown to improve a woman’s self-confidence and reduce the symptoms of clinical depression.

For those of us living with Type 1 diabetes or Type 2 diabetes, we know how susceptible we are to heart trouble, clinical depression, and carrying around extra weight.  Training with weights will give us that extra strength to fight some of the certain complications we face.

What do you have to lose?  Oh yeah: the flab. 

Go grab some weights.

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