The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recently carried out a research in order to establish what is the rate of adults that exercise in order to preserve their health intact. They particularly investigated strength training forms, among which weight lifting.

Even if the American health objective for the year 2010 was to attain a 30% of exercising adults, the reports showed that only 20% of US population is involved in strength training exercises twice a week. As compared with the almost 18% percent of adults that used to lift weights in 1998, the rate has slightly gone up.

But this is due to the increasing number of women that start out pumping up iron, because the percent of men doing it has remained steady at 21.5 %. Instead, women involved in weight lifting have taken a step ahead - from 14.5% to 17.5% in 2004.

The study also showed that almost 1 in 5 women pump iron twice a week. The interviews carried out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also showed what is the reason behind their determination to do weightlifting: to have an attractive body and stay in shape and also to prevent bone loss.

Older adults do less strength and muscular exercising that younger one, but a slight increase in the rate of elders that pump up iron has also been noticed. In 1998, out of 65 aged or older individuals, 11% men and 7% women were doing weight lifting twice or more weekly. The percentage rose to 14% men and 11% women in 2004.

"Additional opportunities for adults to engage in strength training (e.g. in places where adults already pursue leisure-time activity, such as schools and community centers) could increase the prevalence of strength training. The findings in this report also underscore the need to increase education on the benefits of strength training among targeted adult populations," the research team pointed out.