Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Weight Training


In order to achieve optimal health and fitness, I started doing cardio, particularly Zumba a few weeks ago, and loving it.

Now I'm seriously considering weight training along with cardio, as I've been told by experts that strength/weight training is the secret to an amazing body at any age. I used to think that weight training would make me 'big & bulky'. That is actually a myth. To get big muscles you need to train a lot, very hard and with very heavy weights and you also need testosterone. This is hard enough for men and extremely difficult for women. Resistance training, strength training, weight lifting are all similar terms meaning pushing or pulling against a force which could be water resistance, body weight or dumbbells against gravity or pulleys or hydraulics on a machine.

I also learned that muscle is denser than fat, as it stores water and energy, and we should pay more attention to body measurements or clothing size than weight. Muscle is an ‘expensive’ tissue; it raises your metabolism and burns more energy (and fat) all day, which is great for weight loss. Another fact is that protein builds and repairs muscles and carbohydrates provide exercise energy, so as we train we need to eat enough quality sources of both.

I am not actually into losing weight (as I'm not overweight at all), but I do want to be healthy, fit and well. I'd love to have firm curves, toned limbs, lots of energy and high bone density and muscle tissue which otherwise decline after mid twenties.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am loving this new blog of yours Go Kitty!!
I am a bit over weight at the moment but am on a journey of both restoration and healing. I believe my over weightness is due to a few things, one over eating, but two on an emotional level, which links me to crap in my family. I am not blaming these things but, i am taking responsibility. At the beginning of the year I employed a personal trainer-1 session per week, which I totally recommend. Previous top this i have always been fit, so don't asssume like the myths about weight lifting and being bulky is true, neither is if you are over weight you can't be fit. I got this great trainer at fitness first and I have learnt so much!! I have recently started doing it myself, it is great!! I have totally changed shape and it seems my metabolism is a bit more efficient!! I have done weights before and really enjoy it. Weight bearing exercise is great for prevention and especially squats and lunges are great to increase bone density and falls in later age, they increase flexibility also. So any chicks out there-who want to start this it is more likely to be stuck at if you have someone to do it with!! So Kitty I think this is tops!!