by Byron Kramer, owner of Real Fitness Trainers, 1/01/08

There are several misconceptions that people have about weight training. Many things that many people believe about weight training are just not true. Let’s take a minute and debunk a few of these myths.

Myth 1: Weight training always makes you bigger. On the contrary, weight training is a very effective way to lose weight and especially to lose inches. Muscle is more dense than fat, so a person with more muscle mass is smaller at the same weight. Weight training effectively causes you to increase your metabolism rate so that you will burn more calories (burn more fat) all day long.

Myth 2: Weight training is not for women. Women do not have the testosterone levels that men have so therefore are more prone than men to lose muscle mass with age. Losing muscle mass causes your metabolism rate to slow down, usually resulting in weight gain. Weight training is an effective means to reverse this process. For both men and women, properly supervised weight training is the closest thing known to the fountain of youth.

Myth 3: Cardiovascular training burns more calories then weight training. If the number of calories burned during the workout is to be the only way to measure than this would be true. A well directed weight workout, however, elevates one’s metabolism rate for more that 24 hours. The weight workout will cause more calories to be burned when measured over a 24 hour or longer period. Should you stop doing cardiovascular work like running, cycling, or swimming? Of course not, cardio helps improve your cardiovascular and general health. The best training program involves weight training, cardiovascular training and a flexibility component such as stretching, pilates or yoga.

Myth 4: Weight training will have an adverse effect on my golf, tennis, basketball, or other game. This was the thinking 30 years ago, but has long since proven to be false. Tiger Woods, Michael Jordon, The Williams sisters, and countless other top professionals have risen to the pinnacle of their respective sports in part because of effective, directed weight training programs. Leaning to lift with proper form is one of the main reasons to hire a competent personal trainer.

Byron Kramer, the owner of Real Fitness Trainers has a university degree and post graduate training in human biology and physical education. He is also an accomplished distance runner and triathlete.