Could Weight Lifting Be the Key to Avoiding Obesity?
Lifting weights a few times a week might help us stave off obesity, according to an interesting new study of resistance exercise and body fat. It shows that people who regularly complete muscle-strengthening exercises of any kind are about 20 to 30 per cent less likely to become obese over time than people who do not, whether they also work out aerobically or not.
The findings indicate that weight training could be more consequential for weight control than many of us might expect, and a little lifting now may keep us lighter later. Ireland has one of the highest levels of obesity in Europe, with 60 per cent of adults and more than one in five children and young people living with overweight and obesity.
The most effective way to deal with obesity is probably to prevent it. And regular exercise can help in that regard. Many studies show that people who often walk, jog, cycle, swim or otherwise work out aerobically tend to gain less weight with age than sedentary people and are at lower risk of becoming obese.
Excepted from The Irish Times
