Happy Monday!
When I start working with most of my female clients, one of the top things that they say is that they want to lose weight and reduce body fat and they automatically assume that they need more cardio. While cardiovascular training is important, if you want to burn fat and tone up the body, you will need to add strength training at least 3 times a week. Most of the time their mouths fly open and they immediately protest stating that they simply want to tone and that they will get too bulky. However, after 6 weeks of a strength training program with me, that focuses on body fat reduction and body toning, they are happy that they listened and trusted me to add weight lifting to their regimen.
Here are the 3 reasons that I share and that my clients experience:
Muscles Burn Fat: When you create a regimen of weight training and cardiovascular training, you have the ability to lose 40% more fat, than if you just did cardiovascular training! I'm not saying skip the cardio, I'm simply saying that cardio alone is not the only answer. Adding weight training will turn you into a fat burning machine!
Muscles Burn Calories: One pound of muscle uses more than twice the amount of energy than one pound of fat, which means that you could be burning more calories by simply sitting at your desk, just because you have more muscle mass. More muscles means burning more calories throughout the day, which means a great opportunity for weight loss, especially when you add in a healthy and balanced diet.
Muscles are key for Toning: If you have areas that you want to tone, adding muscle mass to those areas will help firm and tighten those areas - think bye bye love handles and the under arm jiggle. Not only will you burn that fat away, but you will be able to tone that area. Cardio, can't do that for you.
As you can see, adding weight lifting to your fitness regimen, can be a great way to burn more calories, burn more fat, and tone your body, all without bulking up! They key is to focus on using light to moderate weights and doing 12 - 15 reps of the exercises. For starters, grab a pair of dumbbells and hold one in each hand, do a set of squats, lunges, shoulder presses, and chest presses. Add in a set of crunches and a plank hold and you have a full body workout that uses weights.
Keep it simple, but definitely make sure to add in the weights! #StrongIsTheNewSkinny
If you want to start adding more weight lifting to your current fitness routine, send me an email and I can share with you some resources to help you!
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