26 Jan Step Away From The Treadmill!

Step Away From The Treadmill!

I’ve never understood the people in the gym who bring a book and park, or I guess I should say “walk” themselves for an hour on a treadmill. What exactly are they doing? Why not just go for a walk outside in the fresh air, AFTER you have had a good workout which challenges your muscles. I DO understand a quick 10 minute warm-up on the treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike, stair master, etc. prior to a weight training session. Now THAT I get.

Ladies, if you spend an hour walking on a treadmill, and then go home and eat a bagel, you’ve just put all of those calories back into your body. And let’s face it, the bagel most likely will settle… guess where? You got it…
YOUR ASS!

However, if you spend that same amount of time lifting weights, the benefits just keep on giving… and giving… and giving. Here is why.

When you weight train, you actually create tiny tears in your muscle fiber. Tears that need to be repaired by your body. It takes time and energy to fix those tears. These muscles can take 3-5 days to recover. So, long after you’ve take off your weight lifting gloves, your body is still hard at work repairing the damage you’ve created.

Repairing the muscle takes energy.
Energy = Calories Burned.
Time+Energy = Bigger and longer calorie burn throughout the day.

As we age, we lose muscle mass. Yep. Sad, but true. At some point in our 30s, we begin to lose muscle, a condition known as “age related sarcopenia.” That’s why, especially after the age of 30, we need to add resistance training into our exercise regime. Muscle is difficult to maintain, yet fat is so easy. It just sits there, gaining size with each fast food burger. For muscle to grow, it actually takes a lot of effort. In addition, it takes far more calories to maintain muscle. Muscle is a calorie eating machine. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you will burn throughout the day. So start lifting weights!

Side note: often women worry about getting too big. Stop worrying. We are women. Genetically, we are incapable of looking like a man, unless, of course, you are taking steroids to be a professional body builder (not recommended).

No matter what your current exercise regime, after 30, you NEED to add weight training. Questions?

Live Young,

Darnell 🙂

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