Muscle is the quickest way to a hot, healthy body. If you just go on a diet, or if you just
diet and do cardio, you may end up a little thinner, but unfortunately, you’d have to work
so much harder to keep your weight down. Muscle is the only think that speeds up your
metabolism so that you can consistently burn calories for hours and while resting.
For any noticeable body change, you need to develop muscle and you do that through
resistance training. This means using weights, your own body weight, or sculpting toolsI
like exercise bands in your workouts. If you push yourself with a good, intense
resistance-training program, your muscles will respond. You will completely change your
body shape for the better. Your thighs will tighten, arms become firmer and more toned
and your stomach leaner. You do essentially feel better in your own skin, it appears
firmer and your bones and ligaments become stronger as well.[spacer]
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I hear concerns from women time and again who are afraid to lift weights. Instead, they
gravitate to aerobic exercise because they are afraid they will look ‘’ thick”. Relax.
Women have less muscle mass then men because they have less testosterone and
fewer of the cells that make up muscle fiber. If you want to decrease your fat, loose
inches and increase your tone; you should be lifting those weights. Throw away all your
old conceptions about resistance training and be re-inspired to try something tried,
tested and true. Sexy tone is the hot new look for today and resistance training is the
quickest way to get you there.
Muscle matters. The more lean muscle you have on your body, the more your
metabolism rises. It is estimated that one pound of muscle requires fifty to hundred
calories a day to function. Increasing your lean muscle by as little as three to five
pounds can have a profound effect on your daily caloric burn by raising your basal
metabolic rate (BMR), which is the number of calories you expend while sitting or
sleeping. So let’s say you add three to five pounds of lean muscle to your body, your
body will begin to burn an extra 250-500 calories per day. I’d like to emphasize that
starting a resistance training program is not an excuse to overindulge with your eating.
Rewarding yourself with too much food after your workouts, will break you even and
keep you from seeing solid results.[spacer]
Resistance training also changes the hormonal environment in your body- for the better.
During your workout two major fat burning hormones (testosterone and growth
hormone) sky rocket, which assist in building lean muscle and eliminating fat. Afterward,
DHEA kicks in. DHEA is an amazing hormone, responsible for fat burning, muscle
building, mood, sex drive and immunity. Supplies dwindle with age, so do everything
you can to keep levels high, including exercise.
Strong. Sexy. Confident. Not only will developing lean muscle have you looking this way,
it will have you feeling this way too!
