When many people begin to work out for the first time they think that they need to do as much cardio as humanly possible and that will be enough. However after just a few short months they might have lost some weight they won’t actually look any better in the mirror. Frustration begins to set in and they look at buying expensive supplements because they believe that is the solution. Fast forward a few months more and still they have lost weight but look like a skinnier version of their former selves. What has gone wrong here? Unfortunately most people don’t realize that to get a six pack or more muscle tone in their bodies they need to do more than just cardiovascular exercise.
Strength training plays a very important role in getting that six pack or muscle definition that you really want from your body. Incorporating strength training into your weekly exercise regiment will allow your body to become stronger and muscles to grow enabling you to get that definition you so rightly deserve. Once you have your nutrition completely dialed in it will become important to create a good balance between cardio and weight lifting. Depending on how many times a week you workout will determine just how much strength training to include. If for example you only work out three times per week you will want to include at least one strength training unit.
Women often worry about building muscle and what it might do to their overall body tone but they really do not have anything to worry about. In fact the more that they complete some light weight lifting the better their overall body will look. What we see lots of people doing is simply making smaller pears of themselves and thus they look no better than when they started dieting. Obviously people then become discouraged and go back to their unhealthy ways and this is what many people call the cycle of losing weight.
You don’t have to try and become a massive behemoth at lifting weights either because you can start out slow and progress from there. Muscle weighs more than fat so at first the scale might begin to lie to you just a little bit which can cause some people to become upset. I suggest ignoring the scale entirely and merely focusing on what the mirror tells you. This might seem a little narcissistic but if you are truly working on changing your appearance, a common scale is not going to tell you much. Focus on what type of body image you want to achieve and then do simple strength training on your trouble areas.
While most people rely on simple cardio routines and 300 crunches per night they never get the results they think they deserve. Part of the frustration comes from a lack of proper strength training and thus they end up quitting before they see success. Working out and creating a healthier body image is all about strength training and cardio combined. By lifting weights one or two times per week supplementary to your cardio your results will become more pronounced and your overall physique will certainly improve.
