by calamity_hane

Article by John Diaz

Sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s true. I often hear people saying they are afraid to lift weights because they don’t want to gain weight or look bigger. The error is in their perception, they couldn’t be father from the truth and here’s why…

Generally when we say we want to lose weight what we really mean is we want to lose fat, the loose fleshy stuff hanging from arms and thighs or spilling over into a muffin top. Be honest can you pinch some? If not, why read on you’re already a god or goddess. For everyone else, that doughy stuff between your fingers are the glad bags of the body. That’s right, fat is essentially stored energy in the form of fatty acids that can also contain fat soluble chemicals some even toxic.

Basically human fat comes in two kinds, visceral fat (the stuff around your organs) and subcutaneous fat (the stuff you’re pinching). Now let me just say in fats defense, that not all fat is bad. It’s necessary for insulation, protecting the body from shock, cell membrane integrity, and that previously mentioned stored energy; you know, incase you get stranded with no food. So, unless you’re planning on getting stranded for a really long, long time, maybe we should lose some of it.

To burn off fat safely, effectively and with long term results we should tackle it three ways, 1) diet (that’s obvious), 2)cardio ( burn it now) and 3) resistance exercise ( that’s right weight training). If you lose weight alone from diet as much as 25% of weight loss can come from lean body mass; that’s a significant hit to your metabolism. That means it would take less calories to gain the weight back and when you do the majority will come back as fat, meaning you’d be fatter even at the same weight. Conversely, weight training can increase lean body mass, increasing bone density (that’s good), strengthen connective tissue (also good), and building muscle mass. Now consider that muscle is 20% denser than fat. So if you lost 5 lbs. of fat and gained 5 lbs. of muscle though you’d weigh the same, you would look smaller and all with no jiggle.

A pound of muscle burns about 50 calories a day in metabolism, though it doesn’t sound like much, add 2 pounds of it and that muscle would burn off 10 pounds of fat in a year. Not too shabby now is it? Best of all maintain that muscle and that newly svelte body you got from that great diet and cardio work will be much easier to maintain…at last no yo-yoing.

Resistance exercise should be performed 3 times per week for at least 30 minutes per session.

Cheers!

About the Author

John Diaz is a Los Angeles/Hollywood personal trainer with over 20 years of experience helping celebrity and private individuals alike get into camera ready shape. For more great tips and info visit his website at http://www.ultimatehlth.com.

Question by physical_graffiti402: To burn fat, you must do cardio and lift “light weights”.with high reps.?
What is light weights?? Like a 5 lbs dumbell?? Or 25 lbs. I dont’ know what I max at. But what is considered “light weight training”???

Best answer:

Answer by CRYSTAL
light is something u can do a lot of reps with wouldn’t be your max. cardio will burn fat alone without the weights. its the cardio that burns fat not the weights.

What do you think? Answer below!

by iluvcocacola

Article by Jared DiCarmine

A lot of people, especially women believe that they need to do a lot of cardiovascular exercise in order to lose fat and get a nice midsection. This couldn’t be further from the truth. You see, muscle tissue, is metabolically active. It needs calories to survive. If you do not provide your body with those calories, you will basically consume yourself. This is where weight lifting comes into the picture when it comes to dropping the pounds.

Lifting weights is extremely demanding on your body. It is very metabolically demanding and can really put you the overall look of your body over the top. Having very well, defined, muscles is whats going to give you that overall hard, toned, lean look. Without that, you are going to look “skinny fat.” Skinny fat is my definition of someone who has no muscle tone whatsoever, very soft, and very skinny. If you need a picture of someone, then just think of Richard Simmons.

Lifting weights, if intense enough can also burn a tremendous amount of calories in a short amount of time. Because your body is a tremendous adaptive machine, it is going to want to repair itself as fast as possible. By you throwing your body so out of whack, you essentially boost your metabolism sky high. Studies have shown that your metabolism could stay risen for hours on end if the exercise was intense enough.

This phenomenon is called elevated post oxygen consumption. Your body has an increased demand for oxygen after an intense bout of exercise. With an increased demand for oxygen, there is an increase in metabolism. These 2 factors are positively correlated. Now, here’s the funny part about this entire process. When it comes to regular steady state, slow cardiovascular exercise, such as jogging for 30 minutes, this phenomenon does not happen. But, that is for next article.

Remember, you need to lift weights to increase your metabolism and your fat burning ability. If you ignore this rule, you are only hurting yourself for the long run.

If you want a whole fat loss program absolutely free with more tips like this, then click the link below now.

About the Author

Grab your free Blowtorch Belly Fat fat loss manual for more workouts and tips to help you finally lose belly fat

by The U.S. Army

Article by Daren Hugh

Many say that if you will lift weight slower, your muscle will be under greater stress due to the slower and high intense workout which will lead to faster progress and bigger muscles and gains.

The truth is that very slow lifting only makes your routine and gym time longer, but does not help you with any progress whatsoever. Research was made where two groups of people were under supervision. They both trained for 30 minutes, first group made slow lifts, in positive direction for 5 seconds and in negative direction, when muscle stretches, 10 seconds. Second group lifted as usual at the normal pace: one second in positive and one second in negative direction.

The results were:

The results showed that second group spend around 71 percent more calories and lifted 250 percent more weight than the first group, due to the faster pace. Strength and muscle gain was obviously outdone by the second group.

How should you lift? – when trying to gain muscle mass and strength the positive movement must be explosive and fast. Movement in negative direction (when muscle stretches) should be done with caution: slowly and in control to avoid any risk of injury. Try different routines with different repetitions, because your body quickly adapts to the weight and movement thus the progress slows down. If you make 3 or 20 repetitions always take a break which takes from 40 seconds to 90 seconds but no more than the 90 seconds for maximum progress. You will also stimulate different layers of muscle tissue with different weight/repetition ratios.

Daren Hugh, long time fitness instructor and administrator of http://fitnessmyths.net, has heard it all! Read among the 100′s of stupid, old and new fitness myths and get FREE E-BOOK which may help you with your problem at FitnessMyths.net!

About the Author

By the way, do you have problem with understanding fitness, nutrition and you want knowledge?

If so, I suggest you check this out: Fitness Myths!

by gonz1601

Getting kids in shape is a totally different ball game than allowing them to overstep their fitness boundaries too soon. With parents becoming even more competitive with their kids and with which sports they are involved in it is no surprise to hear that many parents are permitting their children to lift weights when they are simply too young.

Weight lifting may sound barbaric to some mothers and even fathers of young children, but believe it or not there are quite a few parents that permit their children to engage in lifting. Some parents feel it will increase their performance in any sports they are active in and it will also add to their size which is a benefit for those in contact sports such as basketball and football. The bigger the child is the less they will be injured in a face off situation and they can play more defensive positions as well. However, it is not always safe to allow your children to begin weight lifting before their bodies are fully developed.

Weight lifting for kids should not truly begin until hey are in high school. There are some modifications you can make to get your child involved in this type of routine to add bulk and strength to their frames. For example, you can allow your child to lift gallons of water instead of weights, it may seem very elementary but that is getting back to basics and keeping it simple for the kids. A child does not need to be concerned going to a health club or lifting heavy amounts of weight as they should start off with very little weights and do more repetitions of the exercises. When the child becomes more adapt to the gallon jugs, you can remove the water and place other items inside the containers to make them gradually heavier such as oil, paper clips or even small rocks. They can use the containers to do lunges, curls, front arm raises and calf raises. For an adult this would never be enough weight to provide any real results, but for a child with a developing body this could build muscles for a fit frame for a lifetime.

Children are not to lift weights until they are in high school or at the very least fifteen yeas of age. Some experts believe they should be at least sixteen or seventeen but this will be up to the parent to decide. Think of all the other exercises your child can participate in for additional fitness road work such as push ups, sit ups, squats and running. Jump roping for any child is a fantastic calorie burner and they enjoy doing it. If your son or daughter is involved in any sports, inquire with their coaches or any additional tips or drills they could be focusing on at home and during the off season. Provide your child with a healthy diet to further increase their healthy growing bodies and encourage them to get lots of sleep.

This is what I eat after I weight lift: 1 whey protein shake with soymilk and a baked/boiled potato. I sometimes add some fat free sour cream and/or some low fat shredded cheese.
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