Losing Fat & Building Lean, Long, Strong Muscles From Head To Toe

The SECRET is out…Cardio is the best way to lose weight. WRONG!!! This is one of the most common exercise myth’s that I have heard over and over in my 17 years in this industry.

The more muscle you have on your body the fat you will burn – period.

You will even be burning fat while you sleep and for up to 16-36 hours post-exercise, depending on the type, intensity and current state of your own well-being plus how you feed yourself before and after; this is a phenomenon called EPOC Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption.

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LADIES, load-bearing exercise is not an option if you truly want to maintain strong bones and healthy joints in addition to changing the shape of your body. Cardio will never change your shape, you may lose weight, but you will not firm up.

Thyroid hormones regulate our metabolism and organ function and directly affect heart rate, cholesterol levels, body weight, energy, muscle contraction and relaxation, skin and hair texture, bowel function, fertility, menstrual regularity, memory, mood and other body processes. However many times I see clients & students who are unknowingly lowering their thyroid – with TOO MUCH exercise!

Researchers at the University of North Carolina have also linked strenuous, fatiguing, lengthy exercise to higher cortisol and lower thyroid hormones. Remember, thyroid hormones stimulate your metabolism, so depletion is definitely not a desired effect of exercise! The same study found thyroid hormones remained suppressed, even 24 hours after recovery, while cortisol levels remained high throughout the same period.

Unless you are training for a specific sport or event, training sessions that last longer then 45 minutes of intense activity are most likely working against you and may be harmful. When you train too long, too hard, too often you keep your cortisol levels elevated for longer periods of time. This stress hormone cortisol is quite destructive to your lean muscle tissue and prevent you from healing properly from your training.

Remember, roughly 1/3 of your results come from your direct physical training, 1/3 from your nutrition and 1/3 from your rest, supplementation, hydration, consistency and stress management.

I generally recommend 20-30 minutes (no more than 40) of intense, circuit style weight or load-bearing training sessions 2-3 weekly, that work a number of muscle groups. While the amount of time you train for is important so too are the types of exercises that you choose. I am a huge fan of functional strength training as well as offering progressive overload training to your accessory/stabilizing muscles, however when you are short on time you need a combination of both to create optimal results.

Choose compound exercises that train 2 or muscles group simultaneously to increase your body’s metabolic response and to increase the amount of muscle fibers you are recruiting plus calories that you are burning. Also choose a few exercises that have you isolating stabilizing muscles specifically those of the abdominals, glutes and hips.

If you are taking part of a group training class enjoy the pace of a longer 45-60 minute class but no more than 2x week at most. For at home training try this routine below.

You should perform roughly 8-10 exercises per workout moving quickly from one to the next with very little rest between sets. Do as many as you can with good form. Repeat 2-3 times.

Workout A

Squats into a Standing Shoulder Press

Reverse Lunges into Single Leg Bent Row

Step Ups into Bicep Curls

Pushups into Side Plank

Kneeling Side Leg Lift into Bent Knee Lift with Kick and Kneeling Clam

Medicine or Pilates Ball side to side Oblique Twist

For an added bonus try adding 30-60 second burst of cardio such as running on the spot, skipping, jump squats or jump lunges to amp up your training.

To fully round out your training be sure to add at least 2 x weekly yoga sessions and 1x Pilates/core style practice.

Stay tuned tomorrow as I chat about cardio training specific to those of you wanting to shed excess weight without losing too much of your hard earned lean muscle tissue.

Jenn

www.simplicityyoga.ca

Look for my new book The Simplicity Project at www.amazon.com