Maeve Madden: Working out with weights can create a lean, toned physique

Lifting weights - even light dumbbells - can help you get in shape just as effectively as a sweaty cardio workout, say researchers

Maeve Madden: "Transformations can occur in as little as two weeks from first picking up a dumbbell weighing just 2kg".

Hate running and aerobics? There’s good news for those who believe these sweaty, lung-busting activities are unavoidable if you want to get fit. In a slew of new studies, scientists have confirmed that weight training is just as effective for weight loss and toning as aerobic exercise. 

An unlikely convert to pumping iron is Victoria Beckham who recently was singing the virtues of lifting heavy weights five or six days a week in her pursuit of “as good a bottom as I can get” and a more feminine figure. “I’ve always been a bit scared of weights but it turns out I love them,” she told Grazia magazine. Beckham is not alone as female celebrities from Daisy Ridley and Jessica Biel to Jennifer Lawrence and Gal Gadot admit they owe their lean, toned physiques to weight training.