My "why I love lifting".

I love the look of my muscles after a really good wieght lifting sesion in the gym. Makes me feel powerful:)))

Shortly ater I had my 3rd baby I tried to brace my 35lb oldest child for the fact that I couldn't pick her up for very much longer. It was already getting pretty hard. Two years later she weighs 50lbs and picking her up is no problem at all. I can even shoulder press her.

This is awesome! I have found that lifting makes me more functional and gives me a better quality of life. I don't normally do pullups but a few years ago I could barely do one (and I have been lifting for awhile). I changed my routine and after a year I was visiting a Golds Gym with some friends and we had finished working out and one of the guys was showing us some stuff and jumped up to do a bunch of pullups. I decided to jump up and do some and whipped out 20 to my own surprise.

Lifting weights is KEY. I recently had my DXA scan done and at 51.5 years of age I have the bone density of a super athletic 30 year old. That is a direct result of lifting for over 30 years. Now if that is not scientific proof that lifting weights keeps you younger I don't know what is! Also I believe it is why most people think I look much younger than I really am.

Start lifting now, lift heavy and change it up often, find a lot of weight routines with free weights, make it fun, embrace it, make it part of your life. Only 3 days a week is all it would take. Crank up your tunes and learn to love it, because your body will love it and it will make your quality of life better in many ways, especially when you get older like me.

Because of this I don't have to worry about osteoporosis. If you wait until you are older and your bones start to deteriorate it's a bit too late, you can't get back what you lost, and you can only start a resistance routine that will prevent further damage.

If you are female you don't have the hormones to get big naturally. I lift heavy and I'm still really tiny. My lean body mass is only 104 lbs and that is fairly heavy for a 5'1" female, and quite a bit of this is due to my having very dense bones from 30 years of lifting, not all muscle, and I'm still quite tiny.

My muscles really are not that big, but they show a lot of definition because I'm quite lean. If I gained some fat then I would have a softer more toned look (which is OKAY too!). Then if I gained more fat I would look bulky and hefty like I did most of my life until last year. YOU CAN HAVE WHATEVER YOU WANT. Lean and ripped, soft and toned, or hefty, it all depends on how much fat you leave on your body. Calories are the only thing that changes fat. Exercise is for changing or maintaining your lean body mass only. Lifting weights will give you the best bang for your buck for shaping your body. I finally changed my shape by putting lifting first and cardio 2nd. You cannot out exercise too many calories.

I would encourage anyone to start lifting now if you aren't. It doesn't have to be much, just some dumbbells and a good all body workout. Start at your own pace, with weights best for you. Most beginner programs have you do approximated 10 reps. You want to do enough weight that you have proper form and you are pushing hard the last few reps and NEED the 60 second or so break before the next set. If you can keep going after the 10 reps then it's pretty much too easy.