You look down at the timer on the treadmill and it says 20 mins. You feel like you\u2019ve been running for an hour. And you have another 30 mins to go. It feels like such a drag and the thought of another 30 mins seems so tedious. But you know you have to do it, as you need to burn fat and lose the belly. You do \u2018cardio\u2019 4 to 5 times a week, you\u2019re bored, your joints hurt, it takes so much time, and you haven\u2019t seen ANY results.<\/p>\n
I used to fall into this cardio trap. Anytime I wanted to shed fat or burn off what I ate, I thought I had to run it off. I would run miles, in hope of scorching body fat. I did this for years, and over time, my joints started to hurt, I was bored out of my mind and didn\u2019t see any changes in my body. It\u2019s not until I discovered resistance training that real results started to happen. I spent less time in the gym, I varied my workouts which made it more fun and saw real changes in the shape of my body.<\/p>\n
Being \u2018toned\u2019 and wanting more \u2018shape\u2019 are things I often hear from clients. And people are surprised when I tell them that resistance training is the most effective way to transform their body. Unfortunately, the majority of people think that lifting weights will make them bulky. Which it will not.\u00a0 Over consuming food and sitting around make us bulky.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s have a look at why cardio isn\u2019t effective.\u00a0Excessive cardio eats into muscle tissue.\u00a0It stresses out our central nervous system, metabolism, adrenals and hormones.\u00a0Which doesn\u2019t put us in the best position to repair and rebuild our bodies.\u00a0Have you ever seen a marathon runner with a nice booty and legs?
\nResistance training pretty much does the reverse. It releases hormones that helps build muscle and stimulate metabolism. Muscle is metabolically taxing, in that our body needs more calories to keep it, and this raises our metabolism at rest. When we build more muscle, we burn more calories.<\/p>\n
There are a host of other advantages to resistance training that are not linked to improved body composition. Such as improvement in bone mass, it helps improve our posture, aids against age related muscle loss and strengthens our ligaments and tendons which protect our joints.
\nThere are a few other factors to consider when it comes to Resistance training and fat loss.<\/p>\n
This is how efficiently the body uses food as fuel.\u00a0Especially carbohydrates.\u00a0Regular resistance training allows the body\u00a0to store carbohydrates into the muscle cells instead of body fat.\u00a0This rebuilds tissue, and is easily stored as muscle fuel helping you train harder in your next session.<\/p>\n
Cardio doesn\u2019t really elicit a fat burn effect until the 45min to 1 hour mark.\u00a0And even then it isn\u2019t an efficient way to burn body fat.\u00a0Resistance training demands the body to pull in more oxygen, and you continue to keep pulling in oxygen after training. This is known as EPOC (excess post exercise oxygen consumption) where the body oxidises fat, and cranks up the metabolism which can last for up to 36 hours after training.<\/p>\n
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Resistance training improves sleep.\u00a0The body undergoes physical changes when you\u00a0train which helps the body sleep better at night. Resistance training has been shown to help people fall asleep faster and sleep deeper which aids in balancing the bodies natural hormonal balance.\u00a0This helps the body repair and rebuild muscle tissue, become more insulin resistant (which we know is a good thing) and regulates the metabolism. Which all helps you burn more body fat.<\/p>\n
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Body composition refers to the ratio of lean muscle to body fat.\u00a0Lifting weights helps build lean muscle tissue which eats into body fat and gives the shaped and toned look that people talk about.\u00a0You want to balance the ratio of lean muscle to fat and resistance training has been shown to be the most effective. Growing and maintaining muscle isn\u2019t easy as muscle breakdown is constantly occurring, which is why regular resistance training and good nutrition is key in maintaining the positive balance of more muscle and less body fat.<\/p>\n
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Muscle requires more energy than body fat to keep it on your frame. The raises metabolism and you\u2019ll naturally burn more calories at rest than someone who doesn\u2019t resistance train. This spike in metabolism will raise your total caloric intake and will have an array of positive effects on hormone production such as increased energy levels, better mood and quality sleep.<\/p>\n
Cardio does have its place in a training programme, but it should not be the main focus if fat loss is the goal. Swap the treadmill or cross trainer for some dumbbells and a bench and start igniting the body to be an efficient fat burning machine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You look down at the timer on the treadmill and it says 20 mins. You feel like you\u2019ve been running for an hour. And you have another 30 mins to go. It feels like such a drag and the thought of another 30 mins seems so tedious. But you know you have to do it, as you need to burn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2656,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n