Benefits of Muscles

Warning! Muscle Mass Plays Key Role in Recovery from Critical Illness!

Just once, I wish someone would come to me and say, “Clance, I want to weight train because I know muscles play a central role in whole-body protein metabolism by serving as the principal reservoir for amino acids to maintain protein synthesis in vital tissues and organs!”

Instead, most people come looking for “fat loss”. They say, “I want to look good in my new suit; or look good for my wedding!” But what they are really saying is, “I want to look good naked!”

Clearly fat loss is important, and carrying excess fat is not healthy. In my experience, males should be between 10% and 14% body fat and females 16% and 20%. Do you know your own body fat percentage?

Muscles!

Here are the facts showing the importance our human muscles play in the contribution of your good health and disease prevention. Yes…muscles!

The best activity is lifting some weights in a proper, supervised gym. Yes, there’s that word again – WEIGHTS! Weight lifting will put stress on your muscles to allow growth. Then, when properly trained, you will be doing everything in your power to preserve that hard-earned pound of muscle so you can reap the benefits.

Why Weight Training?

• Your muscles play a central role in whole-body protein metabolism by serving as the principal reservoir for amino acids to maintain protein synthesis in your vital tissues and organs.
• Your muscles play a large role in response to stress.
• There is a strong association between the depletion of muscle mass and the survival of seriously ill patients.
• Depletion of muscle mass is the cause of death in human starvation.
• Loss of muscle mass is detrimental to survival of cancer.
• Muscle mass plays a key role in the recovery from critical illness or severe trauma. Muscle strength and function is critical to the recovery process.
• Sarcopenia, the progressive loss of muscle mass and function that occurs with aging, is a widespread syndrome that has a devastating effect on quality of life and ultimately your survival.
• Maintenance of large muscle mass and constant protein turn over can contribute to the prevention of obesity.
• Muscle mass aids insulin sensitivity for men and women.

Why Should Women Train With Weights?
50% of women over the age of 65, who break their hip in a fall, will never walk again, if they have low muscle mass and low strength.

Dispelling the Myth about Women’s Weight Training
There have been a few long-standing myths about women to train with weights.

“It makes you bulky and masculine.” – The fact is that women do not, and cannot, naturally produce as much testosterone (one of the main hormones responsible for increasing muscle size) as males do, it is impossible for a woman to gain huge amounts of muscle mass by merely touching some weights. Unfortunately, the image that may come to your mind is that of professional female bodybuilders. Most of these women, unfortunately, use anabolic steroids (synthetic testosterone) along with other drugs in order to achieve that high degree of muscularity.

“My muscles can turn to fat.” – NO, your muscles will not turn into fat if you stop training – but what does happen is people decide to go off their weight training programs, they start losing muscle due to inactivity and they also drop the good eating habits as well and with combined inactivity, lower degrees of muscle mass, and bad eating habits, the muscle is being lost and fat is being accumulated.

“Weight training will increase my chest size.” – Sorry ladies, women’s breasts are composed mostly of fatty tissue. It is impossible to increase breast size through weight training! However, if you go below 12% body fat, your breast size will decrease.

“Weight training will make me stiff and muscle-bound.” – This is why it is recommended you perform all exercises through their full range of motion and your flexibility will increase. By performing the exercises correctly, your stretching capabilities will increase.

What about Osteoporosis?
Body weight and weight-bearing exercises provide a direct mechanical force on bones; the largest voluntary loads on bone are proposed to come from MUSCLE contractions. Mechanical force on the bone is essential for modeling and remodeling, a process that increases bone strength and mass.

Men with the least skeletal muscle mass increased their risk of falls due to impaired static balance, also because of a decrease in muscle strength.

“Weight training is important for the prevention of muscle loss!”

At Laylor Performance Systems, I believe in the importance of weight training, not just for athletes, but especially for the Baby Boomer (1946 – 1964) executive clients! Looking at the facts above, you can see it is going well beyond the “looking good” factor, but more toward the “feeling good” factor and knowing that fact every time you lift weight and, even more, if you do just ‘one more rep’ or pound out an extra set – you know you are doing something good for your health.

You Haven’t Aged a Bit!
Everyday my clients tell me about what people inevitably say who have not seen them for many years, “How is it you haven’t aged a bit?” and “What are you doing to look so great? Lifting babies?”

You will look great, feel great, and have a new sense of confidence and good health. I’m not asking you to be a “weight lifter”, just someone who recognizes the enormous health benefits you will have from lifting weight. You will love it!

It is a good idea to start your weight training with a qualified strength coach. Give me a call at Laylor Performance Systems, and let’s talk about how you can reap the benefits of a long, healthy life! It is NEVER too late. – Clance Laylor, 49 Spadina Avenue, Toronto (416) 360-0460.