6 Major Health and Fitness Benefits of Lifting Weights

 Wonder what really happens when you add strength training to your routine? All these perks.

No disrespect to cardio, but if you want to blast fat, get in shape, and jump every hurdle that comes your way — both in and out of the gym — strength training is where it's at. And experts agree: Heavy lifting has some incredible benefits! You can't open any social media feed without some fitness pro, or athlete telling you to get on board with not only lifting weights but lifting heavier weights.

But what are the real deal benefits of lifting weights? And should you try it if you're already happy with your current workout routine? Here, nearly a dozen reasons that'll convince you to pick up those heavy dumbbells.

The Benefits of Lifting Weights

1. You'll Torch More Body Fat

Build more muscle and you'll keep your body burning fat all day long — that's the science behind why lifting weights burns more fat than many other fitness modalities. (Here's all the science behind why muscle helps you burn fat and calories.)

"Lifting weights can increase your lean body mass, which increases the number of overall calories you burn during the day," says Jacque Crockford, C.S.C.S. and spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise. Burning extra calories post-workout plus building muscle? That's the surefire way to get the body you want.

In recent research on overweight or obese adults (age 60 and over), the combination of a low-calorie diet and weight training resulted in greater fat loss than a combination of a low-calorie diet and walking workouts, according to a 2017 study published in the journal Obesity. The adults who walked instead of weight trained did lose a comparable amount of weight—but a significant portion of the weight loss included lean body mass. Meanwhile, the adults who did strength training maintained muscle mass while losing fat. This suggests that strength training is better at helping people lose belly fat compared with cardio because while aerobic exercise burns both fat and muscle, weight lifting burns almost exclusively fat.

2. ...And You'll Especially Lose Belly Fat

While it is true that you can't spot reduce — your body is born with pre-conceived places it wants to store fat based on a slew of factors — a University of Alabama study found that the women who lifted weights lost more intra-abdominal fat (deep belly fat) than those who just did cardio. Burning more belly fat may also contribute to general weight loss from lifting weights. And the benefits of lifting weights don't stop there. You'll build a more defined muscular physique, but it also lessens your risk of diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and some cancers. (Not to mention, lifting heavy weights recruits your core, giving you an abs workout without even trying.)

Strength training may have a reputation of making women "bulk up," but it's not true. The more your weight comes from muscle (rather than fat) the leaner you'll be. "In fact, bodyweight often goes up with strength training, but dress size goes down one or two sizes," says Holly Perkins, C.S.C.S. founder of Women's Strength Nation. Plus, it's difficult for women to get body-builder huge. "Women produce about 5 to 10 percent the number of testosterone men does, limiting our muscle-building potential when compared to men," says Jen Sinkler, an Olympic lifting coach, kettlebell instructor, and author of Lift Weights Faster. To seriously gain size, you'd pretty much need to live in the weight room.

3. Your Muscles Will Look More Defined

Love the lean, defined muscles on super-fit ladies? "If women want more definition, they should lift heavier since they cannot get bigger muscles because of low testosterone levels," says Jason Karp, an exercise physiologist, and author. "So, lifting heavier has the potential to make women more defined." 

4. You'll Burn More Calories Than Cardio 

Simply sitting on your butt understanding this, you're consuming calories — assuming you lift loads, that is. (See: The Science Behind the Afterburn Effect) 

You might consume more calories during your 1-hour cardio class than you would lifting loads for 60 minutes, yet a review distributed in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that ladies who lifted loads consumed a normal of 100 more complete calories during the 24 hours after their instructional course finished. One more review distributed in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Metabolism found that, following a 100-minute strength instructional meeting, young ladies' basal metabolic rate spiked by 4.2 percent for 16 hours after the exercise—consuming around 60 additional calories.

5. You'll Increase Your Flexibility

Ignore that super ripped guy fumbling in a yoga class for just a minute. Researchers from the University of North Dakota pitted static stretches against strength-training exercises and found that full-range resistance training workouts can improve flexibility just as well as your typical static stretching regimen.

The keyword here is "full-range," notes Sinkler. If you can't complete the full motion — going all the way up and all the way down — with a given weight, you may need to use a lighter dumbbell and work up to it.

6. You'll Feel Empowered

Throwing around some serious iron doesn't just empower people in the movies. Lifting heavier weights — and building strength as a result — comes with a big self-esteem boost, and this might just be the biggest benefit of lifting weights above all other aesthetic factors. Your strength will not only show in your lean, toned body but also in your attitude. 

"Strength has a funny way of bleeding into all areas of your life, in the gym and out," says Sinkler. By constantly challenging yourself to do things you never thought possible, your confidence grows. "Weight lifting empowers you," she says.