I’ve heard it time and time again … women don’t want to strength train because they don’t want big bulky muscles. The truth is, incorporating strength training into your fitness regimen will not make you look like a female bodybuilder. In fact, increasing your lean muscle mass will burn more fat and give you the sleek slender physique you’ve been working to obtain.
Here’s the truth behind strength, or resistance, training: muscle does NOT weigh more than fat. A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat. The difference is that muscle takes up less space than fat. When you start to build muscle, you will notice that you lose inches rather than pounds. This is beneficial to your health and fitness for a number of reasons. One reason is that when you increase muscle mass, you increase your metabolism (the rate at which you burn calories), so you burn fat faster and maintain the loss longer. In addition, weight training helps prevent osteoporosis because it helps prevent the loss of bone density. Finally, increased muscle mass is an effective way to reduce the body’s output of cortisol, which is a hormone that increases appetite and converts calories into abdominal fat. Increased abdominal fat has been linked to a higher risk of heart problems.
Want a great way to strength train and have FUN? Hit a kickboxing or boxing class that uses bags. When you are hitting an object, rather than just the air, it offers “resistance” and provides the strength training benefits you need for a healthy strong body!
Denise Rejent-Lee
BRICKS Kickboxing
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