Exercise Article Index >> Firm and Burn! To keep your metabolism chugging in high gear, you need strength training. If you work your major muscle groups twice a week, you can expect to replace 5 to 10 years' worth of muscle loss in just a few months. Lifting weights can literally reverse the aging process, so you look and feel years, maybe decades, younger. Lifting weights increases your calorie burn in other ways too. In one study, 15 sedentary people in their 60s and 70s who strength trained 3 days a week for 6 months increased their daily calorie burn by more than 230 calories. Almost 1/3 of the increase was from a boost in their metabolism due to the muscle they gained. The remaining calories were burned as a result of their workouts, their increased daily activity and something called "afterburn," which is an added attraction of strength training exercise. Depending on how hard you work out, explains study author Gary R. Hunter, Ph.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, your metabolism can stay elevated for up to 48 hours after you've finished lifting. "As a bonus, strength training builds bone," says Dr. Farrell. "Though we tend to think of bones as 'dead,' they are very alive and highly active. Strong bones use more nutrients and ultimately burn more calories than weak bones do!" Exercise Article Index >> News I Health I Wellness I Exercise I Profiles I Business I Links I Women ROCK! Product Review I To the Point I Contact I Home Created by: Art Street Design Studio. © Concerning Women Communications, Inc. all rights reserved.