In my experience the majority of women  in their journey to fitness, steer clear of the weights and head straight for the cardio machines. They spend hours killing themselves in hopes of a hard lean body only to lose precious lean tissue (muscle). They tell me that they feel they can burn more fat and lose more weight with cardio, their reasons are endless. Let me tell you some reasons why you should do resistance training.

Ø      Lose Fat. This is the biggie, each pound of muscle you put on can burn up to 50 extra calories a day and you can gain nearly two pounds of muscle in just two months by weight training a few times per week. Better still, you can lose 3.5 pounds of fat at the same time.

Ø      Increase Strength. Strength training makes everyday activities easier.

Ø      Healthy bones. Research shows that weight training can improve your bone mineral density by as much as 13 percent in just six months; this minimizes the risk of Osteoporosis.

Ø      Improve performance. Extra strength can improve your golf swing or tennis swing. And reduce risk of injury.

Ø      Keeps you healthy. Strength training strengthens your joints by strengthening your ligaments and tendons.

Ø       Strengthen your heart. Resistance training can keep your heart healthy by increasing your HDL (good) cholesterol and lowering both your LDL (bad) cholesterol and blood pressure.

Ø      Ward off type 2 Diabetes. Regular weight training can improve glucose utilization (the way your body processes sugar) in the body by 23 percent in just four months.

Ø      Age is Irrelevant. It doesn't matter how old you are; strength improvements are possible at any age.

Ø      Keeps you smiling. Working out with weights has been shown to improve a woman's self confidence and reduce the symptoms of clinical depression.

Ø      Don't worry about bulking up. Research shows that women do not typically gain bulk from strength training like men do because women produce 10-30 times less testosterone than men. You will however define and tone your muscles.

Some questions I am ask by men and women:

Q:  Can you lose fat cells? According to Eric Ravussin, Ph.D., chair of diabetes and metabolism at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, " Yes, but most simply shrink when you lose weight. "95% of a fat cell is fat, which is drawn out by other cells for energy," "Sometimes the cell dies, but empty ones usually stick around for future fuel storage." That's good news: Without those empty "tanks", other fat cells can fill up and secrete toxic proteins that can lead to disease.

Q. Are fatty foods more likely to make me fat? In theory, if you are burning more calories than you consume, you can eat a diet full of fat and not store an ounce of it, says Judith S. Stern, ScD., professor of nutrition and internal medicine at the University of California at Davis. In reality, fat packs a calorie wallop of 9 calories per gram. Versus 4 calories for Carbs and protein, so eating too much fat can make it harder to maintain your weight. And focus on unsaturated fats such as those found in Avocado and olive oil. Saturated fats (in meat and dairy) can raise cholesterol levels. "All excess calories will be converted to fat," Stern says.

Q.   What is cellulite? Cellulite is ordinary fat 1. trapped between connective tissue 2. Tent pole-like fibers that help support the body's other tissues and organs, says dermatologist Jerome Z. Litt, M.D. of Beachwood, Ohio. Women whose connective tissue is less elastic tend to develop cellulite when they gain weight as fat cells bulge against skin, causing bumps and ripples 3.