Tuesday, 13 May 2014

cardio vs strength training


This is something that took me a while to get my head around! For a long long long time, I genuinely believed the only way to shed any of my weight was to spend hours and hours pounding the treadmill. So when i first started back at the gym this is what I did. However I very soon go bored and would talk myself out of going! I then found spin, and fell in love and whilst I was really pleased I had found some cardio exercise I liked, again I found myself getting fed up in the gym!

Until I found the confidence to head into the weight room. Now, other than my warm up I maybe only do 1-2 sessions of cardio at the most and 9 times out of 10 those cardio sessions involve HIIT training.

Since I started using weights both in body pump and with my trainer my entire body composition has changed! I have muscles in places I never knew existed!

Honestly when I started I was terrified, it can be really intimidating and complicated looking. There are still certain times of the day when I avoid the weight room - you'll never catch me in there in the evening! 
Even taking all this into account I still believe the benefits of weight training (see below) outweigh the hours of boredom pounding a treadmill:

Weight Training Build Lean Muscle - Increasing muscle mass, increases your metabolism. The long and short of it - you burn calories even while resting (all good in my book)

Boost Stamina - Essentially the less tired you will be! Being able to train for longer helps burn more calories!

Decreased Risk of Osteoporosis

Builds Confidence

Makes you happy - Lets be honest any exercise lifts the happy hormone in you so get moving!

Seriously though, why not give it a try????

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