In November 2019, after months of feeling sluggish and overweight, I decided to begin my fitness and health journey. Although I’ve lost around thirty-five pounds, my fitness journey isn’t even close to over, but has improved dramatically. When I started, I dedicated five days a week to working out and continue to do so for around forty-five minutes to an hour. When I first began to get in shape, I thought doing cardio was the only way to burn calories and lose weight. With my apple watch, I would spend hours doing cardio to burn a certain number of calories. I definitely developed an issue with working out and treated exercise as a punishment. I would search on YouTube for crazy intense workouts only to be burnt out in the end. One of my goals for 2021 is to do exercises I enjoy, instead of worrying about how many calories I’m going to burn. After a year of doing cardio, I’ve lost weight, but I haven’t gained any muscle or tone.
After searching online, I learned that although doing cardio is good for your cardiovascular health, it doesn’t build muscle. According to healthline.com, although doing a cardio workout burns more calories than a weight-training workout, gaining muscle burns more calories in the long run. Strength training tones your body and gives you definition. To help me achieve this, I dedicate three-days a week to strength training and two to cardio. I also do a version of cardio on my strength-training days to get my heart rate up and I’m enjoying my workouts. On my strength training days, I focus on lower body and arms/abs and use around ten-to-twenty-pound dumbbells.
If you’re in the same position, try adding strength days to your workout routine to improve your muscle definition. Although I still enjoy cardio, adding weight training has made me stronger. I highly recommend!