Stay Young – Lift Weights By Corry Matthews, Healthy Lifestyle Expert

It’s no secret, we are all looking for the fountain of youth – and lifting weights is ONE major key component. Before we move on…let’s set one myth straight – muscle does not become fat and fat does not become muscle. You are either burning fat and building muscle, losing muscle and gaining fat or losing both or gaining both – but they don’t turn into each other.

Here are 3 reasons why you want to lift weights!

Building muscle keeps our bones healthy

When you lift weights, you are putting additional weight on your bones, which helps to increase your bone density. Having adequate bone density is important as we age. This keeps our bones from breaking easily, and thus enjoying all our favorite activities much longer in life.

Muscle takes up less space that fat

When you look at the size of 5 pounds of muscle and 5 pounds of fat, you will see that the fat takes up much more room in the body. Ever notice that those that work out regularly seem to weigh on the scale far more than what we think? It is because muscle takes up less room in your body. Muscle also gives the body nice shape – with roundness to shoulders, glutes and thighs giving an overall smoother, firmer look under clothes and in a bathing suit.

Muscle burns fat

This one – muscle burns fat – is where the myth muscle turns to fat comes from. Muscle demands more calories, and thus, the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism. Again – ever been around your fit friend and amazed at how much they eat? This is due to individuals with more muscle having an increased basal metabolic rate which = a need for more calories. If you are trying to lose weight, building muscle, and increasing metabolism will make burning body fat, and thus losing weight much easier.