Reasons To Get Friendly With Dumb-Bells

In the corner of your gym there’s a free-weights section. It’s generally full of men. We asked the experts for five more reasons to go there

1. It’ll shrink your pot belly
A general weight-training regime reduces fat beneath the skin, particularly around the stomach. ‘Abdominal fat is more mobile than fat in the hips and thighs, and seems particularly affected by weight training,’ says fitness expert Sam Murphy.

2. It’ll make you look slimmer
Weight training swaps fat for muscle, which is denser, firmer and fits better into clothes.

3. It burns calories even when you’re not working out
Because strength training is intense, your metabolism stays high long after exercising. ‘You keep burning calories while your body cleans out the by-products of exercise and restores itself to a pre-exercise state,’ says Murphy.

4. Your body will look younger than it really is
After 30, it’s all downhill in terms of muscle mass – with your bum, breasts and upper arms joining the slump. Weight training tightens the age-related decline in metabolism and muscle mass.

5. If you can lift a 10kg barbell, lugging a weekend bag becomes effortless
‘Strength makes us resilient and less likely to become tired from life’s physical demands.’

Convinced?
‘Start two 30-minute sessions a week and you’ll soon see the difference,’ says Murphy. Join a circuit training or weights class, or work out a programme with a trainer.

WORK OUT AT WORK
Call the posture police – slumping at your desk all day can make you look awful. Try these three moves to straighten yourself out. ‘If you don’t counteract the “desk slump”, you’ll end up with round shoulders, a sticking out stomach and backache,’ says Joanna Peyton-Jones from Stretch Therapy. Try these three easy fixes:
BACK
‘Sit in your chair, lean right forward between your knees, reach through your legs and grab the chair legs. Pull for two seconds, sit up. Repeat 10 times. This will lengthen your spine and counteract compression from sitting down.’
SHOULDERS
‘Stand or sit beside a wall and put your arm out at a 90-degree angle so your hand is flat against the wall (fingers facing backwards). Lean forwards for two seconds, feeling the stretch across your shoulder. Repeat 10 times.’
ABDOMEN
Bad desk posture can equal bad sex because it creates slack abdominal and pelvic-floor muscles. Combat this by using an exercise ball as a desk chair. In a normal chair? Sit upright with both feet flat on the floor. ‘It enhances the muscles and sensory function around the vagina,’ says Dr Laura Berman, director of the Berman Center for women’s sexual health in Chicago.

Author: Kate Rew