Why Women Should Lift Weights

By Craig Ballantyne

Though most women use aerobic exercise to counter the weight gain that tends to accompany age, there is a more enjoyable and beneficial way to burn body fat.

According to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, American women aged 25 to 44 gain an average of 2.2 pounds of fat per year. The researchers divided 164 overweight women into two groups for a two-year study. To test the effect of exercise on the women, they had one group perform a twice-weekly strength-training program, and gave the "control" group brochures recommending aerobic exercise.

The resistance-trained women lost three percent of their body fat over the two-year period, while the control group had no change.

This study shows that resistance training, in addition to its well-known bone-building benefits, can be a powerful way for women to fight fat as they age.

To maximize the results from strength training, focus on multi-muscle exercises, such as squats, presses, and rows. These can be done with bodyweight, dumbbells, or machines.

[Ed. Note: Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne is the creator of the Turbulence Training for Fat Loss system.]

It's Good to Know: The World's Nastiest Storms

Hurricanes that form in the Atlantic Ocean and hit the Caribbean islands or the East or Gulf Coast regions of the U.S. get all the press - at least they do here in the States. So it will probably surprise you to learn that storms that form in the western Pacific (they're called cyclones there) and go on to devastate Asian countries are stronger, on average.

A University of California researcher who studied all hurricanes and cyclones recorded in the last 150 years found that Asia has more category 5 storms than anywhere in the world. However, 2005's Hurricane Katrina, which caused $80 billion in damages, still goes down in history as the costliest storm ever.

(Source: Discover Magazine)

Word to the Wise: Didactic

Something that's "didactic" (dye-DAK-tik) - from the Greek for "to educate" - is instructive, but inclined to lecture or moralize excessively.

Example (as used by Frances K. Conley, M.D., in Walking Out on the Boys): "In class, embarrassed girlish laughter joined the 'hee-haws' of our male classmates when centerfolds appeared in the middle of medical lectures, ostensibly to add a wake-up jolt to otherwise uninspired didactic presentations."

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These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2163, 10-03-07], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.