By Craig Ballantyne

Regular Early to Rise readers, would already know that aerobics and traditional "cardio" exercise can strain your heart and cause injury to your joints and muscles. But you don't have to put your health at risk to burn fat. A new study published in the prestigious Journal of Applied Physiology showed that strength training boosted metabolism after the exercise by 10 percent and increased fat burning by 100 percent.

The participants in the study followed a standard strength-training program, including multiple-muscle exercises that can be done at most health clubs - pull-downs, leg presses, chest presses, leg extensions, and leg curls. They did three sets of 10 repetitions of each exercise.

After strength training, your body is scrambling to recover and, therefore, uses more energy and more fat to fuel this process. So while strength training doesn't burn as many calories as traditional aerobic training during the actual workout, it continues to burn calories AND fat long after you've left the gym. This is known as the "afterburn" - the result of "turbulence" put on your muscles during the strength training itself.

In addition to the muscle- and bone-building benefits of strength training, post-exercise fat burning is one more reason to add it to your fitness regimen.

Early to Rise E-Zine  Issue #2071

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