You'll look great!

Lifting weights will help your clothes fit better. If you don't lift weights you can say so long to

toned muscles. Research shows that between the ages of 30 and 50, you're likely to lose 10 percent of the total muscle on your body. And that percentage will double by the time you're 60! Worst yet, that lost muscle is likely to be replaced by fat over time. According to a study done by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, scientists there found that even people who maintained their body weights for up to 38 years, lost 3 pounds of muscle and added 3 pounds of fat per decade. Not only does that make you look flabby, it increases your waist size. That's because 1 pound of fat takes up 18 percent more space on your body than 1 pound of muscle. So keep pushing those weights and you'll look great!

Burn Baby Burn!

Want to burn calories while sitting on the couch? Well, just have your self a good weight lifting session and that’s what will happen. Why you ask?

Your muscles need energy to repair and upgrade your muscle fiber after each resistance- training workout. For instance, a University of Wisconsin study found that when people performed a total-body workout comprised of just three big muscle exercises, their metabolisms were elevated for 39 hours afterward. The exercisers also burned a greater percentage of calories from fat during this time, compared with those who didn't lift.

But what about during your workout? After all, many experts say jogging burns more calories than weight training. Turns out, when scientists at the University of Southern Maine used an advanced method to estimate energy expenditure, they found that lifting burns as many as 71 percent more calories as originally thought. The researchers calculated that performing just one circuit of eight exercises-which takes about eight minutes-can expend 159 to 231 calories. That’s about the same number burned by running at a 6-minute-mile pace for the same duration.

The Weight Lifting Advantage

While using aerobic exercise to lose stomach fat is very important, weight training is much more valuable. Lifting weights will help you lose weight AND build muscle. Don't believe me? Read on.

According to an article in the Men’s Health Big Book of Exercise, Penn State University researchers put overweight people on a reduced calorie diet and divided them into three groups. One group didn’t exercise, another did aerobic exercise 3 days a week and the last group did both aerobic exercise and weight training 3 days a week. Each of the groups lost nearly the same amount of weight-around 21 pounds. The difference being those that lifted weights lost 6 more pounds of fat than those that didn’t. Why? Because the lifters’ weight loss was almost pure fat, while the other two groups lost just 15 pounds of fat and several pounds of muscle. That amounts to 40% greater fat loss. This isn’t a one time finding. According to the same article, research shows that 75% of non lifting dieters’ weight loss is from fat while 25% is from muscle. That 25% may reduce your scale weight but it doesn’t do a lot for your reflection in the mirror. It also makes you more likely to gain back the fat you lost. However, if you weight train as you diet, you’ll protect your hard-earned muscle and burn more fat instead. It’s like liposuction: The whole point is to remove unwanted fat, right? Ok. Then that’s exactly what you should demand from your workout.