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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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