Ever catch yourself staring in the mirror making a mental note of what you wish you could tone up on your body? Maybe you’re a runner and decide you’ll go on an extra jog that week. Maybe you’re an elliptical girl. Maybe you just hate anything that has to do with working out. Exercising is important for that summer bod, but in the long run, it’s all about your happiness. Of course running is healthy and burns calories, which is all we girls are concerned about whenever it comes down to it, but allow me to let you in on a little secret: running isn’t the most efficient way to burn calories, lifting is. Why? Well, when you do aerobic workouts such as running or working out on the elliptical, your body burns calories during and for a short time afterwards. When you do strength training exercises, you lastingly boost your calorie-burning capacity by increasing your body’s supply of muscle tissue. Basically, where running burns calories for up to an hour after finishing, weight lifting can burn up to 1000 calories in an hour and will continue to burn for up to 24 hours.
Now, take it from a tiny blonde girl, weight rooms can be intimidating. You just have to remember why you’re there and that the embarrassment of lifting Barbie weights next to the macho boys makes it worth the benefits you’ll reap from your hard work. So where to begin? Well, below I’ve attached an excellent link to a website that will allow you to scroll over the body part that you would like to work out, and name 1-3 strength training exercises that will directly work that part of your body. We all have trouble areas, and for the most part that consists of four different body areas on women: arms, thighs, stomach, and butt. It takes one time to feel sore, two weeks to feel easy and move your weight up, and three weeks to start seeing a physical difference. Shakespeare had it right whenever he said “All glory comes from daring to begin”. Just think, in the time you took to read this article you could’ve already started, and in 3 months from now when the sun is hot and you want to break out that new Victoria’s Secret swimsuit, you’ll be happy you started today.
http://www.divine.ca/en/health/exercise-finder/c_266/
Photo Credit:
http://www.missfitnesslife.com/strong-is-the-new-skinny-your-free-friday-workout/