Is weight training for over 50 year old men a good idea? There are many ways to exercise from walking, biking and swimming to golf, tennis and basketball. Gardening and yard work can be a good workout and so can playing with the kids. So why lift weights? You’ll probably just hurt yourself. This doesn't have to be true.

First of all, the general term weight training really means resistance training. That is, moving your body through its normal range of motion against a resistance. The resistance could be a weight, an elastic band, your body weight or even a rock. So you don’t need a gym membership or a lot of fancy equipment at home to start a weight training program. A bodyweight exercise program is all you need to reap the benefits of weight training. And weight training is the key to fast fitness results.

Why is weight training for over 50 year old men the way to go?

There are three main reasons to make resistance training a part of your exercise regimen.

• Weight training builds muscle and burns fat simultaneously.
• Resistance training provides the most efficient use of your workout time.
• Weight training stimulates your body to produce testosterone and human growth hormone (HGH).

Why should you care?

Resistance training provides short, high intensity bursts of energy throughout the workout. This facilitates both muscle breakdown and aerobic endurance training. Fat is burned during the workout and muscles grow in the following recovery phase. As this cycle repeats, the ratio of muscle to fat increases. And since muscle burns more energy naturally than fat does, the furnace or engine of the body gets cranked up over time.

So the cycle of resistance training is a favorable one. Fat is burned during the workout and muscle is broken down which results is muscle growth. The increased muscle mass requires more energy for fuel so the body becomes an ever-increasing fat burning machine.

Weight training provides the biggest energy burn for the time invested providing you are training diligently and not just standing around chatting. The beauty of resistance training is that not only do you burn a lot of energy during the workout but your body stays at an elevated energy consumption rate for a few hours after the workout. This after burn occurs due to the muscle repair that occurs post workout.

The main reason weight training for over 50 year old men is necessary is the anti aging effects that increased testosterone and HGH production provides. High intensity workouts like resistance training or sprinting at ¾ to all out effort are the only way to get your body to naturally produce more testosterone and HGH hormones. Low intensity distance running, playing golf or riding a bike will not produce the same effect. Maintaining a healthy level of hormones is key to slowing the effects of aging.

Make weight training a part of your exercise program. Make your body a fat burning machine by building muscle and torching fat simultaneously. Don’t waste time on long, boring runs when you can get far more for your time invested by resistance training. Weight training for over 50 year old men will also stimulate testosterone and human growth hormone production. Maintaining healthy hormones levels will keep the effects of aging at bay.