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Why Women Need Muscles
by Jonny Bowden, M.A., C.N.S.
When you've put off starting an exercise program for a long time, you usually feel you have a lot of weight to lose. Plus, you hate to exercise. Plus, you're intimidated by all the choices and don't want to ask "stupid" questions on how to get started (by the way, I don't think there's any such thing as a stupid question). Or you feel some combination of the above. And you wish you knew how to start.
"Just do it" isn't enough. You want to know what it is you're supposed to do.
Fear not. You're in the right place. I won't tell you what you have to do, but I'll help you find out what works for you. And you "old-timers" may get a new slant on things as well.
Today we're going to tackle weight training. It seems there's a pretty common idea floating around in conventional wisdom-land that you need to start with aerobic exercise and put the weight training off 'til later. After all, you have so much weight to lose -- you should knock some of it off before starting to build muscle. Building muscle builds bulk. Hold off with those weights.
Well, like most conventional wisdom, this thinking contains some stuff you can use and some stuff that's not so useful.
Strength is a very, very important component of weight loss. Why? Because when you exercise, you are -- among many other important things -- burning calories. Never mind if they are "fat calories" or "carb calories." You're burning calories. Now where in the body are most calories burned? Inside a little structure called the mitochondrion, kind of like the Power Central of the cell. And where are these mitochondria found?
In the muscles.
Period.
So let's do the logic. If you don't challenge your muscles, they atrophy at a rate of about a half-pound a year. Your weight may stay the same, but your body composition will change. More fat, less muscle, same weight -- and that's the best scenario, as we all know too well.
Sure, you can lose weight with aerobics alone. But all too often, you'll wind up being a "smaller" version of a flabby person. Significant muscle tone, definition, vitality and strength are rarely --- if ever -- achievable from cardio work alone.
The take-home point here is do your weights. You need 'em. They're going to give you the tools to burn calories while you're resting, watching TV, working at your desk, etc. And, let's face it -- that's where you spend most of your day. You need to train your body to be efficient at calorie burning during the other 23 hours a day when you're not in the gym. Remember that a person with muscle sitting in front of the TV is burning more calories at that moment than a flabby person.
Am I saying you shouldn't start an aerobic program until you're all set up with a weight-training program to balance it out? Of course not. Start right now, with whatever you can do. A few weeks of walking (or biking, or anything else like that) never hurt anyone and never will. I just want to plant one thing in your consciousness: You can't do it without weights. Or its equivalent, as veterans of the Shape Up Community Challenge can tell you.
Remember this: Weight training is your greatest asset in weight management and weight loss. And there's a good chance that you're going to love it. (Or at least not hate it as much as you think.)
by Jonny Bowden, M.A., C.N.S.
When you've put off starting an exercise program for a long time, you usually feel you have a lot of weight to lose. Plus, you hate to exercise. Plus, you're intimidated by all the choices and don't want to ask "stupid" questions on how to get started (by the way, I don't think there's any such thing as a stupid question). Or you feel some combination of the above. And you wish you knew how to start.
"Just do it" isn't enough. You want to know what it is you're supposed to do.
Fear not. You're in the right place. I won't tell you what you have to do, but I'll help you find out what works for you. And you "old-timers" may get a new slant on things as well.
Today we're going to tackle weight training. It seems there's a pretty common idea floating around in conventional wisdom-land that you need to start with aerobic exercise and put the weight training off 'til later. After all, you have so much weight to lose -- you should knock some of it off before starting to build muscle. Building muscle builds bulk. Hold off with those weights.
Well, like most conventional wisdom, this thinking contains some stuff you can use and some stuff that's not so useful.
Strength is a very, very important component of weight loss. Why? Because when you exercise, you are -- among many other important things -- burning calories. Never mind if they are "fat calories" or "carb calories." You're burning calories. Now where in the body are most calories burned? Inside a little structure called the mitochondrion, kind of like the Power Central of the cell. And where are these mitochondria found?
In the muscles.
Period.
So let's do the logic. If you don't challenge your muscles, they atrophy at a rate of about a half-pound a year. Your weight may stay the same, but your body composition will change. More fat, less muscle, same weight -- and that's the best scenario, as we all know too well.
Sure, you can lose weight with aerobics alone. But all too often, you'll wind up being a "smaller" version of a flabby person. Significant muscle tone, definition, vitality and strength are rarely --- if ever -- achievable from cardio work alone.
The take-home point here is do your weights. You need 'em. They're going to give you the tools to burn calories while you're resting, watching TV, working at your desk, etc. And, let's face it -- that's where you spend most of your day. You need to train your body to be efficient at calorie burning during the other 23 hours a day when you're not in the gym. Remember that a person with muscle sitting in front of the TV is burning more calories at that moment than a flabby person.
Am I saying you shouldn't start an aerobic program until you're all set up with a weight-training program to balance it out? Of course not. Start right now, with whatever you can do. A few weeks of walking (or biking, or anything else like that) never hurt anyone and never will. I just want to plant one thing in your consciousness: You can't do it without weights. Or its equivalent, as veterans of the Shape Up Community Challenge can tell you.
Remember this: Weight training is your greatest asset in weight management and weight loss. And there's a good chance that you're going to love it. (Or at least not hate it as much as you think.)