Personal trainer Phil Day shares with us some tips that will have your body burning fat for up to 48-hours after you leave the
gym. What’s the secret? Strength training.
One of the best training principles for women to lose body fat is to take up strength training. Most females are afraid of lifting weights for the fear of getting too big. So, they believe that the only way to lose weight is to wear themselves down mentally and physically with hours and hours on the treadmill.
Just like anything in life, getting started and keeping a routine in the gym needs a positive approach. A strength training program for women is the method that is most likely to bring about sustainable results for weight loss. It may not show on the scales, but your body will
burn more calories and increase your metabolism after lifting weights.
Strength training burns fat for 24–48 hours afterwards
Many females only do cardio exercises for weight loss as they think they will burn more calories. Yes, you are burning calories while you are actually doing it, but you aren’t necessarily creating a situation where your body is going to burn more calories around the clock.
Strength training, on the other hand, builds lean muscle that burns calories at a higher rate even while you are resting. You might technically burn fewer calories during a 60-minute strength training routine than you do running for an hour, but the lean muscle that you build when training for strength is going to get you a higher net expenditure because of the elevated burn that lasts up to 24–48 hours after you finish.
Cardio routines are harder to maintain
Most types of cardiovascular training typically do not build significant amounts of muscle. Long duration cardio workouts can even end up breaking down muscle tissue, which would further slow your baseline metabolic rate and may cause injury.
If you drop weight using solely cardio routines, you are going to find yourself having to eat like a bird just to maintain that weight. It will be a struggle and you are setting yourself up for failure, especially if you are following a yo-yo dieting plan and feel like you are starving all of the time.
Strength training has many other benefits
Aside from the fact that weight lifting helps you lose fat, it also has a very long list of health benefits, including increased bone density; improved coordination; stronger ligaments and tendons; better balance; improved mood; and lessened likelihood of diabetes, heart disease, obesity and other life-threatening illnesses and injuries.
How often should I do it?
I have always been an advocate of aiming for 2–3 strength-training sessions per week. To achieve best results, target all large muscle groups incorporating compound exercises.
More is not necessarily more beneficial, so make sure you are giving your muscles ample rest in between demanding workouts. Generally speaking, if a muscle group is still sore from your last workout, it likely needs a longer rest period.
Make sure that you are always warming up and cooling down—these are the things that protect you from injury and allow you to stay active.
You won’t look like a bodybuilder
Women should not be afraid of bulking up. They don’t have the same hormones as men that lend themselves to faster mass building and it takes a lot of work, a lot of weight and often supplementation to start looking like a bodybuilder. Instead of becoming massive, you are going to reshape your body and find it easier to stay lean because your body burns through calories faster than someone who sticks to just cardio for exercise.
The bottom line
Building muscle is an investment in a higher metabolism and it’s necessary if you want to burn off body fat and make it much easier to stay slim.
Train hard or stay home –
Phil Day
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