When you've put off starting an exercise program for a long time, you usually feel you have a lot of weight to lose. Plus, you hate to exercise. Plus, you're intimidated by all the choices and don't want to ask "stupid" questions on how to get started (by the way, I don't think there's any such thing as a stupid question). Or you feel some combination of the above. And you wish you knew how to start.

"Just do it" isn't enough. You want to know what it is you're supposed to do.

Fear not. You're in the right place. I won't tell you what you have to do, but I'll help you find out what works for you. And you "old-timers" may get a new slant on things as well.

Today we're going to tackle weight training. It seems there's a pretty common idea floating around in conventional wisdom-land that you need to start with aerobic exercise and put the weight training off 'til later. After all, you have so much weight to lose -- you should knock some of it off before starting to build muscle. Building muscle builds bulk. Hold off with those weights.

Well, like most conventional wisdom, this thinking contains some stuff you can use and some stuff that's not so useful.

Strength is a very, very important component of weight loss. Why? Because when you exercise, you are -- among many other important things -- burning calories. Never mind if they are "fat calories" or "carb calories." You're burning calories. Now where in the body are most calories burned? Inside a little structure called the mitochondrion, kind of like the Power Central of the cell. And where are these mitochondria found?