Pounding The Weights vs. Pounding Your Joints
We all have different goals in reference to becoming a healthier version of ourselves. Some of us may want to get stronger and bulk up, while some of us may be more motivated to shed unwanted pounds. Who would have thought both of these goals use the same strategy?
Whether you wish to drop those pesky pounds keeping you from feeling like the best you that you can be or if you wish to increase your muscle mass and bulk up, weight training is the way to go! Many of us have followed this misnomer that running on the treadmill and focusing all our efforts on cardio is the only way to lose pounds and get in better shape. While some cardio in your routine does have some benefit, just as anything in life balance is good. In some cases, the pounding of the joints on a hard surface can do much more harm than good.
Studies have shown that weight training can be the ultimate stimulus your body’s metabolism needs. After a solid workout in the gym with weight training exercises, your body can continue burning calories for hours and hours after completion. In comparison, a cardio exercise may burn calories more rapidly in the short term, but quickly stops the process around 30 minutes after completion of the exercise.
You may not see the pounds fall right away but as your begin to build muscle, which consumes more calories compared to fat, you will start to see an amazing transformation. Your body jump starts its metabolism because it has to work much harder to maintain muscle rather than fat.
This is extremely important for women as society has often labeled weight lifting for women as something unwanted or taboo. The idea that women lifting weights will cause them to “bulk up” and lose their feminine figure. Breaking this thought process could be the missing link for you to get those pounds off and all you need to do is to start lifting! Women contain about 1/10th of the testosterone men have, so their body make-up alone prevents them from becoming too bulky. A simple balanced weight exercise program can be just what your metabolism needs to start burning at its optimal level.
Both men and women can benefit from finding themselves lifting more weights and in the process avoid debilitating injuries to their joints and muscles that most cardio activities can cause over time. As stated before, balance is key but just remember that it all starts in the weight room. Building your joint stability and muscle strength can allow the body to take more of a pounding. A good rule to follow is always to spend more time building muscle than cardio, allowing your metabolism to help as much in this journey as possible. Boosting your metabolism with weight training just might be the key to fitness success!