Increased bone density and joint strength, improved muscular strength, decreased risk of osteoporosis, staving off age related degeneration, Improved neuro-muscular coordination and reduced risk of injury.

Men and women look different due to hormonal factors. The predominant male hormone is testosterone (It is an anabolic hormone responsible for muscle build up.) and the predominant female hormone is Estrogen (Actually promotes fat build up.) Women have very low levels of testosterone and men have very low levels of estrogen. This is the main reason why women carry more fat and less muscle than men. Nothing short of hormonal intervention can make a woman develop muscles like a man. No activity can make a woman look like a man.

There is no such thing as the right age for weight training. Ideally the child should want to exercise and not be forced into exercising as this forcing will only result in a lifelong hatred for exercise. The need to look better or get stronger generally starts at the age of about 13…this is a good age to start. Pre teens should be put into some kind of sport to increase general activity levels…from the age of 13 to 16 yrs, the child must be given light resistance as the bones are still soft and still in the formative stages. Very young kids also have the problem of short attention spans and thus are much uncoordinated in their movements and must workout under personal training supervision.

In a sense this is true. The heavier the resistance the greater the breakdown of muscle and thus the greater the potential for building muscle. But this requires certain considerations. First and foremost is the fact that the heavy weight has no meaning if form and technique or range of motion gets compromised (If this happens it will only result in a layoff due to injury). Secondly heavy weights do not mean that you load up the bar and take excessive assistance from the trainer or your workout buddy. Last but not the least…please understand that the heavy weights only cause breakdown thus causing a need in the body for more muscle. This need will translate into more muscle only if the hard training is accompanied with adequate protein from your diet and adequate rest and recovery from your workouts. In the absence of these two factors…heavy weights will simply mean a loss of muscle.

Intense weight training stimulates muscular growth in the body thereby increasing the BMR. Muscle tissue has definite shape and is toned and occupies less space on the body. Adipose tissue or body fat is abstract, shapeless and does not have tone and occupies a lot more space on the body. A body would look bulky if it carries more amount of fat and less muscle. Intense weight training coupled with correct nutrition and adequate rest results in improving body composition by increasing muscle mass and reducing body fat thereby giving one the desired lean, sculpted, defined or toned look.

There is no scientific evidence to suggest that you are more prone to fat gain once you stop working out than what you were before you started. This is just a lame excuse given by people who have let themselves go or by people who are lazy to embark on an exercise plan.

But if weight training is not accompanied by proper nutrition (especially adequate protein) then what is achieved is a reduction in muscle rather than an increase in muscle. This obviously results in a drop in BMR instead of an increase obviously leading to future fat gain once the weight training is stopped. Since BMR through such an approach that gives no importance to diet will lead to greater fat gain than before the person starting weight training.

This needs to be emphasized that this is not the fault of weight training but rather the fault of the individual who indulges in intense weight training without paying attention to adequate protein intake.

The hormonal balance of a woman which is an abundance of Estrogen and a deficiency of the male hormone testosterone (which is responsible for muscular growth) will ensure that a woman cannot look manly through weight training even if she tried to.

If the body lacks muscle (The toned tissue) and has a lot of body fat (Un-toned tissue), then overall the body will be Un-toned. So in order to tone the body we need to increase muscle and reduce fat. So there is no way of toning the body without an increase of muscle. There is only one way to do that and that is to weight train. Hence the sentence I just want to tone and not build muscle does not make sense.

The fact that you need to gain weight means that you have a very fast BMR and you need intense weight training and a lot of rest and recovery. You need to conserve calories at all costs and training 6 days a week will ensure zero recovery and consequently zero growth. Hence you should only train with weights, training each body part once a week and training no more than thrice a week.