Resistance is NOT futile! When it comes to changing your body
for the better quickly and
permanently, nothing comes
close to good old-fashioned
weight training.
The shape of your body
is determined by three things:
muscle, bone and fat. While
there's really nothing you
can do about changing your
bone structure, there is a
whole lot you can do about
muscle and fat. This ratio
of muscle to fat is commonly
known as your body
composition.
And what is the fastest way
to change your body
composition? Weight training.
Why is it so effective? Because
it builds muscle.
Muscle is the key to changing
your body. While fat certainly
gives your body shape,
muscle is what gives you the
shape you actually WANT!
One of the greatest things
about muscle is that it burns
calories all day long, even
when you're lying on the couch.
What this means is that the
more muscle you have, the
more calories you'll burn
during the day and the more
you'll be able to eat without
gaining weight. Sound interesting?
There's more.
Weight training stimulates
your metabolism more than
aerobic training such
as cycling or walking. This
means that you'll continue
to burn calories long AFTER
you've completed your weight
training session. The
calorie-burning effect of
aerobic training generally
declines rapidly once you
stop the exercise.
Beginning trainers, who are
just starting with exercise,
are often under the impression
that they should stay away
from weight training
because they might gain weight
before they start losing it.
I like to use a car as an
analogy. Imagine your body
is a car, your muscles are
the cylinders in the engine,
and your bodyfat is the gas.
With a four-cylinder car,
you only burn a minimum amount
of gas/fat. Weight training
and building more muscle is
the equivalent of putting
more cylinders into your engine.
As you can imagine, you'll
burn a whole lot more gas
even while idling! And, just
like a car with more cylinders,
you'll be a lot more powerful
too!
The bottom line to you is
this...with more muscle, you'll
get greater fat loss with
less effort.
While it certainly is a possibility
that you could gain weight
before losing it, if you gauge
your success solely by numbers
on a scale then you're not
getting an accurate picture
of yourself. Measure your
progress by how you feel,
how you look and how well
your clothes are fitting,
not by which direction the
needle on a measuring device
is moving.
At the end of the day, I'm
not suggesting for a moment
that you should eliminate
cardiovascular training
from your exercise routine,
but, if you are struggling
to lose fat and keep it off,
weight training
may be just the thing you
need to lose that fat and
keep it off for good!
For more information on resistance
exercises you can do at home,
go to:
http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Begin/exercises.htm
For more information on weight
training exercises
you can do at the gym, including
optimized exercise technique,
tricks for improving the exercise
and common errors, go to:
http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Exercises/Exercises.htm
If you are interested in having
a personal trainer set up
a personalized weight
training program for
you based on your goals and
designed around your life,
go to: http://www.fitstep.com/Personal-training/Training/Training.htm
About The Author
Nick Nilsson is Vice President
of BetterU, Inc., an online
exercise, fitness, and personal
training company. Check
out his latest eBook "The
Best Exercises You've Never
Heard Of" at http://www.thebestexercises.com
or visit http://www.fitstep.com.
You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com
or subscribe to BetterU News,
his fitness newsletter at
betterunews@fitstep.com.
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