Despite all the misinformation about weight training -- that it is unsafe, that it is only for body builders, or that it creates a muscle-bound and inflexible physique -- physiologists, trainers, and practitioners of sports' medicine continue to agree that weight training exercise is the best and most efficient way to improve and maintain fitness over a person's lifetime.

A weight lifting program that focuses on compound lifts such as squats and deadlifts, overhead and bench presses, dips and chin-ups, rows, lunges, and other supplementary exercises can be pursued safely by people of any age, gender, or experience level. Such a program will rapidly improve not only functional strength -- the sort of strength needed to carry out day-to-day tasks and resist fatigue -- but also body composition, energy levels, and overall fitness.

Women worried about becoming over-muscled, or men that prefer a more streamlined appearance, need not fear transformation into a bodybuilder when pursuing such a program -- such Herculean physiques are the results of extreme levels of dedication, supplementation, and food intake over many years.

Proper nutrition is important when undergoing a weight lifting routine, and with care such a program can be used to achieve dramatic weight loss results. It has been shown in many studies that weight training is the most efficient way to lose excess fat and transform one's body.

In addition to the considerable calorie burning effect of a session of weight training -- muscles, after all, demand energy in the form of calories when performing weight lifting routines -- the growth of new muscle begins a metabolic cycle of fat loss that transfers over to the rest of the day.

Even while passive, muscles demand energy, so with every gain in muscle a person will convert their body into burning more calories over the course of an average day. A stronger, more energetic person is also a more active one -- and the changes initiated by new program of weight training rapidly spread to all aspects of a person's life.

Changes in body composition extend beyond simple fat loss as well. Improved posture, stronger joints, increased ability to heal, and a healthier cardio-vascular system can all be achieved through weight training. In addition to looking and feeling good, the strength improvements from weight training are incalculable as we age.

So many injuries in old age result from atrophied muscles and weakened joints, processes that can be at least partially countered with a sensible, tailored weight training routine.