New Study Reveals The Side Effect Of Lifting Weights Just 2 Times Per Week

We already knew strength training is king. It’s amazing for overall fitness, strength, bone density and looking toned. By increasing muscle mass, our clients also have an easier time burning fat (yippee!). This article also confirms that using the BMI is a sham of true health estimates, which is why we prefer to go by waist measurements!

The benefits to strength training are almost too numerous to name. For starters, stronger muscles mean stronger bones, stronger and more flexible joints, better balance, and—yes—a leaner figure. "As you gain muscle, your body begins to burn calories more easily, making it easier to control your weight," explain the folks at the American Cancer Society. After all, having less muscle means your body will have less mitochondria, the tiny energy burners in your cells, which will result in a weakened metabolism. Now, a new study published in the June issue of PLOS Medicine reveals how weight training as little as twice-per-week can benefit your body (and, specifically, your waistline) for the long-term.

Boiling it down, the researchers discovered that people who weight train several times per week were at "20-30 percent" less risk of becoming obese later on. The study notes that the link between weightlifting and obesity was "consistent among various subgroups," which include both genders and participants of all ages. Compared with no resistance training at all, those who lifted for 1 to 2 hours per week enjoyed the "lowest risk of developing obesity"—"suggesting that additional amounts of [weightlifting] might not be necessary to help prevent obesity."

It notes that their criteria for measuring obesity is more "nuanced" than other studies, as it doesn't rely entirely on simply BMI, or body-mass index, as the sole data point. The researchers also factored in their actual waist size and their body-fat percentage. In doing so, they discovered that, for instance, exercisers who lifted weights a lot—roughly 3 hours a week, or 5 days a week—did not have a reduced risk of obesity "as defined by BMI." "However, these same high amounts of [resistance training] were significantly associated with a reduced risk of obesity defined by [waist circumference] or [body fat percentage]."

In other words, BMI alone isn't the best measure of obesity—which is something obesity researchers have lamented in the past. "The main flaw [with using BMI as a marker of obesity is because] it's an indirect measure of body fat that doesn't take into account important details about age, sex, bone structure, and fat distribution," explains this helpful article by Vox. "[BMI is] just two numbers: weight divided by height squared."