I saw this article on another website and really think it's a worthwhile read..
This is why I include resistance exercises in my circuits classes. It's also worth mentioning, you can get lean muscle from body resistance exercises (without equipment) like push ups, squats, lunges, etc.
Also, you don't have to lift really heavy weights to get muscle tone, beginners should start with 1-2 lbs dumbbells. Definitely put them on your wish list from Santa if you haven't got them at home!
Finally, it has to be said that cardio is also a critical factor in any exercise programme and cannot be ignored!! In terms of calories, cardio obviously does burn a lot of calories as mentioned below, (e.g. look at the low body fat that runners, etc. have) along with all the other health benefits, they being too long to mention! Personally, I love my cardio as much as resistance training, I will always be a cardio junkie at heart!!:)
For my new spinners, you get the benefits of both a cardio workout, and those hill climbs up Harry Smith's are fantastic for leg muscle (and don't worry, we won't get legs like Arnies, women just don't have enough testosterone to build that much muscle! )
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"The number one thing I hear from women is that they want to lose body fat. But when I tell them that they need to start lifting weights, they’re surprised. While most of them understand that lifting weights and building muscle will lead to better health and a better body, almost all of them think that building muscle is something you do after you lose the fat. The fact is that nothing could be further from the truth.
Why Wait to Reshape Your Body?
Ladies, if you have excess body fat to lose, building muscle is your best strategy. It’s not something you do to shape up what’s left over after you lose the weight. It’s what you do now to speed that weight loss and end up with a fabulously reshaped body once you hit your fat loss goals. Why make transforming your body a two-step process that takes twice as long?
I’ve seen so many women diet until they’re miserable and reach their fat loss goals only to end up with bodies that are thinner, but no more attractive. They have no shape, no muscle tone and no energy and once they go back to eating normally, they gain the fat right back. That’s a terribly sad and frustrating thing after suffering through a deprivation diet and hours and hours of cardio classes.
In this post, I’m going to explain:
* how building muscle will speed up your fat loss
* how building muscle will keep you from gaining the fat back again
* how you can start reshaping your body now, not later
* how you can do all this without starving yourself or ruining your health
Building Muscle Boosts Metabolism and Burns More Calories
Too many women make the mistake of thinking that they have to cut their calories to the bone in order to lose fat. In truth, cutting your calories too low will cause your metabolism to slow dramatically and also play games with your hormones that will cause your body to store even more fat (more about that later).
If you’ve ever plugged in your height and weight to a calorie calculator to see how many calories your body needs each day, you may have assumed that where calories are concerned, a pound is a pound. But that’s not true. Muscle works hard and therefore requires calories. Fat does not. The only thing your fat tissue contributes to your daily calorie requirement is the few extra calories needed by your heart and other muscles to support that fat.
Every pound of muscle you add to your body increases the number of calories you need each day. At the same time, by working out to build that muscle, you’re increasing your calorie needs even more. Yes, creating a calorie deficit will speed your fat loss, but the more calories you need to begin with, the easier it is to cut a few without going hungry or harming your health.
The workouts you’ll do to gain that lean muscle are also going to help you burn fat. For years, women were told that they had to go to endless cardio classes in order to burn fat, but most cardio workouts only burn carbs. Few of them last long enough to prompt your body to start burning fat for energy. You’ll burn some calories during your workout, but they’ll come from whatever you ate earlier in the day, because cardio is an aerobic workout. In other words, the work you’re demanding of your body can be accomplished through oxygen and carb stores.
On the other hand, weight training requires explosive bursts of strength and energy that are anaerobic. This means that your body can’t do the work simply by converting oxygen into energy. Once it burns through the energy you have on board, it will have to start burning stored fat as its fuel.
Not only that, but your metabolism will be increased for several hours after your workout, as your body replenishes the oxygen stores in your muscles.
Building Muscle Repairs Hormonal Imbalances that Keep You Fat
Excess fat and cutting calories to lose that fat have a negative impact on several hormones. That impact will actually stimulate your body to store more fat, not shed it.
First, the excess fat you’re carrying leads to insulin resistance. Your body’s cells become less sensitive to insulin, which is charged with carrying glycogen (the form of glucose your cells use as energy) across the cell membranes. When your cells become less sensitive to insulin, your body is left with glycogen that it can’t use, so it converts it back to glucose and stores it as fat, usually around your abdomen, hips, butt and thighs. Of course, this creates a cycle. You store more fat, so you become even less responsive to insulin.
Second, cutting your calories too low in order to lose fat actually stimulates the release of cortisol into your bloodstream. Too little food is a stressor and cortisol is a stress hormone. What cortisol does is prompt your body to take more of the calories you are eating and store them as fat, because your body thinks food is scarce. So you’re eating less, but actually storing more calories as fat and burning fewer for energy. This is one of the reasons that extreme calorie restrictions cause fatigue.
Building lean muscle while eating a sane diet will help you to reset your hormones. Less cortisol will be released, so your body will then start converting fat back into glycogen so you can burn it as energy. This helps to improve your insulin sensitivity as well, which will further spur your body to burn stored fat.
Building Muscle Allows You to Look Great Once You Lose the Fat
Women who think they need to lose fat before they start building muscle are shooting themselves in the foot. First, they’re probably going to cut their calories too low and rely on cardio to burn the fat. IF they make it to the magic weight loss goal that they’ve set, they’ll find that they weigh less, but they don’t look much better. We’ve all seen those women who are thin, but have no curves, no shape and no muscle tone.
When you build muscle as you’re losing fat, you’re creating a new body beneath that layer of fat. Once the fat comes off, all of the hard work that you’ve put into building muscle is suddenly revealed. Now you can see the strong abs, the curvy backside, the defined back and everything else you’ve been designing underneath that stored fat.
If you’ve ever been to New York City, you’ve probably seen the construction sites where they place a huge façade over the front of the building while the work is being done. The remodeling is happening beneath that cover, you just can’t see it. Once the façade is removed, suddenly you see the results of all of that work. Stored fat is like that façade. Building muscle helps you to pull a little bit of that away each week, and at the same time, reshapes what’s behind the façade. Once the fat is gone, you’re left with a redesigned, healthier, and shapelier you, not a thin, unhealthy shell.
You may have been thinking that you’d spend four or five months losing twenty pounds of fat and then another four or five months building muscle to reshape your body. But what I’m telling you is that you can do both at once and have your new body in half the time or less.
Which Would You Rather Do?
What it comes down to is this: would you rather starve yourself to lose water and muscle and then spend months trying to get that muscle back? Or would you rather start building your new body today; while eating plenty of healthy food and still losing fat?
I’m betting I know the answer and I have good news for you. Losing fat by building muscle is faster, healthier, more effective, more fun and a lot more satisfying than dieting and cardio alone. When you’ve reached your fat loss goals, you’ll not only wear smaller jeans, you’ll make those jeans look good"
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