Fitness

What's New: Pumping Iron
Not long ago, pumping iron was seen as something done by Men With No Necks. Now increasing numbers of women - and men with necks - are realising that a combination of regular aerobic exercise and weight training can make radical changes to their bodies. Lifting weights helps sculpt and tone your shape. Besides toning and defining individual muscles, it also helps you lose weight. Unlike fat, muscle is busy, active tissue which burns up food even while you're sitting around doing nothing (ie on your computer). This means the more lean muscle you have, the more fat you can burn.

GENETICS It plays a role
There are some things about your body, of course, that are genetically determined - if you're pear-shaped, for instance, you'll stay that way. No amount of exercise, points out Sydney fitness educator Lisa Chivers, will change a pear shape. You might lose weight and become much slimmer, but you'll be a slim pear shape. Her advice is to be happy with your curves, and stop wishing your body looked as if it belonged in the pages of a magazine - models, she says, are genetic freaks.

MORE GENETICS Work with it!
But if you feel very out of proportion, you can help compensate for a pear shape by working on your upper body. Exercises such as lunges and squats done with a barbell or hand weights can help tone hips, thighs and buttocks. But developing your shoulder muscles as well will add balance to your shape. It's also a part of the body where you get results fast - because the shoulders carry little fat it doesn't take long for muscles to show.

READY TO START? Here's how
Start doing two sessions of weight training now, shys Chivers, and in two months you'll see real changes in your body. After one month you'll be able to lift double the weight you started with. Muscles adapt very quickly to heavier weights, and you won't see any improvement unless you're prepared to move on to heavier weight.

The idea that weight training always builds big muscles is a myth. If you want big muscles you get them by lifting heavy weights for relatively few repetitions. Lifting lighter weights for more repetitions simply adds definition and muscle endurance, which comes in handy for doing everyday things like lifting up kids and carring boxes.

BENEFITS There are more than you think
Cosmetic benefits aside, weight training creates a stronger body and if you think muscle strength is less important than tone, think again. A 60-year-old woman has about two thirds of the strength she had at 20 and is on the track to frail old ladyhood. Weight training can slow the process, keeping muscles stronger for longer and that's an asset worth having. After all, the odds are she'll outlive her male partner and she'll be left alone to do the lifting.

No one is too old to pump iron. Even people in their 90's can grow stronger by using weights. There is a library full of information, both on the net and at your local library. A couple of tins of food in each hand can even substitute for dumbells. After all weight is weight, no matter whether its barbells, dumbells, or a couple of cans of dog food.