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We've all heard that resistance training, such as free weights and nautilus, is important for muscular strength and bone and joint health, as well as for overall fitness. Also, previous research has shown that the more muscle mass a person has, the more efficient he or she is at burning calories while in a state of inactivity, either sleeping or sitting. Even though these facts are well known, a large percentage of us still remain unmotivated to incorporate weight-lifting or any other type of resistance training into our workout regimen. Recently, Prof. Kyle McInnis of the Department of Human Performance and Fitness, along with his colleague Gary Balady from Boston University, has given us another compelling reason to consider hitting the weights at the gym. Their research shows that resistance training, and the added muscle mass that results from it, helps to boost metabolism (calorie-burning efficiency) during any type of physical activity such as walking or jogging. Their study, "Effect of body composition on oxygen uptake during treadmill exercise: Body builders versus weight matched men" indicates that the more muscle a person has, the more calories he or she burns during exercise independent of body weight. McInnis uses the following analogy, "Its like going from a car with a V6 to a V8 engine; the bigger your engine, the more gas you burn. Well, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn." Most exercise machines that calculate calories expended are based on body weight and level of work being performed. This calculation, however, does not take body composition, or the amount of body fat vs. muscle, into account when deducing the amount of calories burned. The key to this study was comparing the caloric expenditure of highly muscular body-builders to subjects who weighed the same, but had higher levels fat and lower levels of lean muscle. In this way, the variables of weight and workload could be held constant, making body composition the only significant varying factor. According to McInnis, "This is the first study that really looked at the effect of body composition on energy expenditure independent of what you weigh." The findings of the study are compelling. They show that "a greater number of calories are expended both at rest and during various matched levels of treadmill walking for highly muscular men verse their weight-matched counterparts. The differences between the groups were as much as 100 calories while walking at the same speed and inclination for 30 minutes at a moderate intensity." This shows that the current method used to estimate caloric expenditure for a person of a given weight during exercise is most likely underestimated for highly muscular people and overestimated for those with greater levels of body fat. This has important implications for weight management. "One of the major problems with dieting is a reduction in fat free weight, which almost always accompanies rapid weight loss. This also reduces resting metabolism and makes the dieter more prone to rapid regain of lost weight after the diet ends. Therefore, preventing a loss of muscle, or even gaining muscle, is important in proper weight control and during periods of weight loss." Professor McInnis states that even though he used highly muscular men as subjects in his study, there is no reason why his findings couldn't be extrapolated to persons of a more normal muscle amount, male or female."You don't have to look like Arnold Schwartzenegger" says McInnis. "Any amount of muscle will help you burn more calories." &emdash;Stefanie Lacey-Loya
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