Studies of several different groups including nursing home residents, AIDS patients and older women have shown that increased strength leads to spontaneous increases in physical activity. High energy levels also help improve and maintain mental health. A leaner, more muscular person will have a higher metabolic rate. The reason for this is that muscle is active tissue and consumes calories. On the other hand, stored fat uses very little energy.
Strength training provides a metabolic boost without the troubling side effects of medication.
In addition, as strength training helps overweight people become stronger, they begin to enjoy aerobic exercise and burn additional calories through increased physical activity. At Tufts University, we recently completed a home-based strength training program with older men and women with moderate to severe knee osteoarthritis. The results of the sixteen week program showed that strength training decreased muscle pain by 40 percent, increased muscle strength and general physical performance, improved the clinical signs and symptoms of the disease, and decreased disability. The effectiveness of the strength training to ease the pain of osteoarthritis was just a potent, if not more potent, as medications, but instead of having negative side effects, the participants had the positive side effect of becoming fitter. We have also seen similar affects of strength training with individuals with rheumatoid arthritis.