Introduction

Is your goal to look leaner and more toned? Where to start? Focus on strength training workouts. Stop focusing on cardio! Now I didn’t say not to do cardio. Cardio and strength are both important for overall health and fitness.

Benefits of Strength Training

With strength training we not only strengthen our heart, increase our endurance, strength, bone density, and lean muscle mass, but we also decrease fat mass. Increasing muscle mass and decreasing fat mass equals more definition and tone, we look leaner, we are leaner.

Strength Training as Cardio

Strength training can be cardio. When we are strength training, we have increased blood flow which increases the heart rate, and we burn more calories. Strength training is key to increasing lean muscle mass as well as preserving the muscle we already have. We want to make sure the weight we are losing is fat, not muscle or water.

More Muscle, More Calories Burned

Strength training requires more calories to maintain muscle which means just by having more muscle our bodies will expend more calories, even at rest. Overdoing the cardio is catabolic to muscle mass. Remember strength training programs include heavy enough weights to break down muscle fibers. 5 pound, even 10 pound dumbbells may not be enough to do the trick. The weight must be challenging, we must get out of our comfort zone.

Conclusion

If you are interested in starting or improving your strength training program talk to one of our certified trainers or call Shapes (941) 341-9276.