Most doctors now recommend alternating aerobic exercise with weight lifting, or strength training. Aerobic exercise conditions your heart, lungs and blood vessels, and strength training conditions your muscles.

The benefits of strength training include better strength, an improved metabolic rate (which helps you lose weight by burning calories faster) and improved bone density. Strength training can help reduce the effects of aging by improving muscle tone and balance.

Strength training involves exercising muscle groups to the point of fatigue, and then resting them so that they have time to heal and recover. That’s why people usually alternate strength training with aerobic exercise; the aerobic days are rest days for your muscles.

It’s recommended that you do strength training two or three times a week. You need to do exercises that use your arms, shoulders, chest, abdomen, back, hips and legs. You can lift free weights, use a machine, use elastic bands or just use your body, as in sit-ups and push-ups to exercise muscle groups.

Before you start strength training, it’s best to warm up with 5-10 minutes of light aerobic exercise to get your blood flowing. Warm muscles are less prone to injury. Use enough weight or resistance so that 8-10 reps produces muscle fatigue. Too much weight can lead to injury.

A minimum strength training routine is one set of 8-12 reps of each exercise. As you get more fit you can either increase the amount of weight or resistance, or you can do more sets of each exercise, with a brief rest between sets.

Strength training is an important part of overall fitness. It complements aerobic exercise and helps you lose weight, while making you stronger and healthier.

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