Cardio Craze Busted!

Good Morning! It has been questioned time and time again, what is the best thing to do for fat loss? I’ve heard, “I run every day” or “do the elliptical multiple times a week but I don’t seem to lose weight or change my body into what I’m looking for, what I am doing wrong?” Well, to be honest I had the same issue until I started working with Brenda and quickly became addicted to her workouts. She let me know what I was doing wrong for the goals I had. The solution was even better than I had hoped. The idea is to spend less time in my basement doing cardio and more time doing weights and circuits. Strength training through circuit workouts and high intensity training works by building muscle and allows little to no rest between sets. By training with little to no rest breaks you are getting your body into cardio mode while building muscle, the best of both worlds! Muscle burns more calories than fat at rest, so for you to increase your metabolism and burn more calories while you sit at work all day, the answer is to build your muscles. Strength training is an important component of any exercise routine that emphasizes fat loss. I, like most women don’t want to “bulk up” so don’t worry, you won’t! Women can build muscle which will be long and lean due to the low level of testosterone we have compared to men. Don’t be afraid to lift weights or do your regular cardio routine because you think you will gain weight. Brenda also taught me that switching your workout routine every few weeks is very important to confuse your muscles so they change. If you do the same thing every day, your body adapts to it and won’t change. I was in the mindset that if I wasn’t sweating for an hour on the elliptical everyday while watching Game of Thrones then I wasn’t “Getting Fit.” Okay, so I did lose 30 lbs. Yeah I know, totally impressive right? Ha-ha, Wrong! I lost 30 lbs. of Muscle! So sad really, I made myself “skinny fat.” I looked better fully dressed but like comedian Jeff Foxworthy so eloquently put it, when the clothes came off I looked like a wet blood hound, nothing was in the right place! Of course he was referring to his 90 year old grandmother, but the image works just as well here. Anyway, the point is if your workout no longer leaves you sore or tired, it’s time to change so you are actually benefiting from it instead of wasting your time. Remember, if it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you. Get out there and start adding circuit workouts with weights to your routine and you can do it right here with Brenda and Michelle at Brenda’s BootCamp! Enjoy your day! Talk to you soon, Melissa