Back to the day I decided to join a gym and put an end to my laziness and get healthy, my goal was to look good in my clothes–let me remind you I was 18 years old when I started at the gym, no judging my goals here. I had no idea what I was doing, just did a lot of cardio and did some biceps curls and abs. Everyday I was there I worked out like a donkey and beat the sweat out of myself on the treadmill and left my arms so sore from doing so many darn bicep curls over and over again.
I did so much working out on the treadmill and elliptical I thought for sure I would have lost some inches or weight, but I didn’t! My weight had stalled. Who knew that working out and doing too much cardio would not improve my body. I did this for a few years, even started running 10 miles everyday and nothing–I know what a waste of time!
What I didn’t know then, that I know now, is that YOU have to change up your workouts and HAVE to keep up with resistance training–resistance training is the only thing that can shape your body. You can burn calories with both cardio and resistance training but you can only shape your body (fat-loss-inches loss) with resistance training.
A tip: Your body needs change, your body craves change and you will see a difference with change.
On Wednesday I spoke about about the misconceptions of weight loss and cardio, on AM WJON. Look I love cardio, I was called the CARDIO QUEEN in my day, but I want to share some advice because this is something I see and hear and I was one of them.
Before I go into this topic let clear one thing up, cardio DOES help burn calories and fat and helps with many diseases. But if you are looking to lose some fat, and see some of those hard earned muscles in 2015 you may want to keep reading. I will be mentioning some misconceptions that I have learned in the process from training myself and my clients that one big mistake I see quite often is doing an excessive amount of cardio while trying to lose weight or doing the same cardio day-in and day-out. It can derail your weight loss process, can lead to injuries by doing the same thing every day, and can lead to burn out.
Why when you do primarily cardio, you can’t lose weight? There are two primary reasons for your body to stop losing weight by doing too much cardio and not enough other things:
Number 1 reason is: Over-training (if we are just doing cardio): and how we experience overt-training happens in several ways: #1 would be “burnout,” or AKA general fatigue, #2 depression #3 decreased immunity, you find yourself more sick and recovery is slower and lastly, you find yourself not having fun with your workouts. Research has shown that intense, prolonged endurance training is a particularly effective way to induce over-training. So if instance if you are a runner, and you are training for a race the most effective way to train would be switching up your workouts, with weights and running, and giving yourself a break when your body needs it. Always listen to your body.
Number 2 reasons is: When you do too much. Your body will more likely experience an excessive metabolism slowdown, which can persist long after weight loss is stopped. This is something I had experienced. This happens.
With this being said the reduction in the metabolic rate are one of the things that makes it hard for many people to maintain their new weight after losing a significant amount of fat.
Because their metabolisms have slowed down, and sometimes by quite a bit, they can no longer eat as much as they were used to eating before they started their weight loss.
So, while cardio is an effective tool for “aiding” weight loss, doing a lot of long-duration, steady-state cardio is not the best way of going about it.
Much better is to focus on “high-intensity interval training,” which has you perform shorter, higher-intensity exercise. It’s not only more effective than steady-state cardio for losing fat, but also for preserving muscle.
Personally, I never do more than 3, 20-40 minute sessions of HIIT per week–depending on my time and how much I have to sit on my rear that day. Along with my 3 strength training workouts. Whether it being sprints on treadmill or outside, I will use my DVD series workouts, or some HIIT workouts on my program mixed with some sprints on my treadmill. But I make my workouts HARD, that it what makes you get the results.
Some misconceptions I hear from woman when first start working out:
“I don’t want to lift heavy and get bulky” Anyone else think this way?
Most of the time when I hear this statement it is from women who are trying to lose weight and they are scared they are going to get bigger (aka bulk up). Trust me, before I started my fitness journey I had the same thought, but lifting heavy and doing strength training does NOT make anyone bigger. It does however shave off some inches and clothes feel loser.
Here are 3 reasons why you will not get bulky and huge:
1. Women do not have nearly as much testosterone as men. In fact, we have about 15 – 20 percent less testosterone than men. More testosterone = more muscle. I’ve been lifting for 6 years and have fought for every ounce of muscle I have on my body. You will not look like a guy….seriously.
2. Lifting HEAVY weights will promote strength, but not increased size. This is proven over and over again. When you lift heavy weights the primary stress in on your nervous system, not your muscles. That is why you get stronger, but not BIGGER.
3. Bulking up is completely calorie dependent. This means if you eat more than you are burning, you will gain weight. If you eat less than you are burning, you will lose weight. Those are basic laws of thermodynamics. Unfortunately, most females perceive any weight gain as “bulking up” and do not give attention to the fact that they are simply gaining fat. If you are lifting and have started to get bigger, take a look at your nutrition first!
Trust me ladies you are NOT going to get bulky. We have women squatting more than their body weight and are losing inches and getting leaner every week! Trust the process and keep track of your nutrition.
“I like the longer more cardio based workouts”
Cardio is incredibly important for overall health and should not be neglected in your fitness program. However, most women believe they only need long-duration cardio workouts to lose weight and get results. If that is what you think, you’ve got it all wrong! I will be honest a decade ago I thought that this was true, which is why I ran 2 hours on the treadmill and yet see no results. Been there, done that, it didn’t work.
So the great formula for GUARANTEED results equals SHORT DURATION, HIGH INTENSITY, and STRENGTH BASED WORKOUTS!
Some women believe the longer cardio workouts are better because they are only concerned with burning a certain amount of calories. If you are only concerned with burning a certain amount of calories in a workout be prepared for fighting the weight loss battle every single day.
High intensity workouts not only burn calories while you are working out, but also cause so much metabolic distress that you are burning calories for 24 hours after your workout. Let me add this…When you do steady state cardio, you only burn the calories at the time of doing the cardio workout.
I don’t know about you, but I would rather workout for a hard 30 minutes and burn calories for the rest of the day that get a lousy 230 calories from 30 minutes on the arc trainer.
The next time you see a 10-30 minute cardio workout, get your mind in the game, go to that uncomfortable place and push the intensity. I guarantee when you’re done you’ll be thanking yourself for a great workout!
“I want to tone, aka same thing as gaining lean body mass”
The idea that you can ‘tone your muscles’ is one of the biggest lies out there. I can’t handle hearing when I hear diet programs, or even better another fitness professional telling women their product or system will help them “tone” up. I would rather hear “Get Strong, Kick Some Ass, I’m a WOMAN, Hear me ROAR.”
Women, here is the truth: This may burst your bubble ladies. “Toning” is really about increasing muscle mass (strength training) and losing excess body fat (calories). Same thing as gaining lean body mass by lifting weights. It is just a pretty word for the it…
Trust me if you want to get ‘toned’, put down those light weights, do some heavier strength training making sure you use proper form and take a look at your nutrition.
I know for some of you what I had mentioned may sounds a bit upside down, but I wouldn’t be doing my job as fitness professional if I didn’t keep it real. This is the real deal…