Keeping our muscles toned and in good condition is the very best way to control body weight as it gives a double whammy reducing effect. First, proper strength training exercise done properly is vigorous activity which means a significant number of calories are burned during each session.
Second, the additional toned muscle tissue produced by strengthening exercise increases resting metabolic rate, which means fuel (calories) are burned at a higher rate every minute of the day and night – regardless of how active or inactive you are.
Don’t be afraid of strength training exercise
It is a shame that for the longest time people have associated strength training exercise with bodybuilding or athletes and believe it automatically develops large muscles. Yet in reality only a very small percentage of women or men possess the genetic capabilities to develop relatively large muscles, most people do not. On the contrary, those of us who do not do regular strengthening exercise should be concerned about losing muscle tissue.
After we get to our early twenties, our bodies begin a long and gradual degenerative process – that’s if we let them. Our physical capabilities decrease which includes our muscle tissue which decreases by around one half pound a year and this rate doubles after age 50. In the absence of proper strengthening exercise we weaken at a slow but consistent rate, year after year, decade after decade.
One of the major effects this has is to lower our metabolic rate – the rate our body burns fuel and we more easily become over fat and overweight. Many people think that long duration low intensity activity is going to help but although any movement is better than none it will do little to nothing to stop muscle tissue loss. The muscles need to be worked directly under a load and this can only be done with strength training.
Two thirds of us around the world are now larger and heavier than we should be. Many turn to some sort of diet to solve the problem but reducing food intake does nothing to fix the slowed metabolism, and in fact can slow it even more. This makes losing weight very difficult if not impossible.
You can reboot your metabolism with strength training
It is so easy to tone up muscles and get one’s strength back boosting the metabolism so we can burn more fuel and reverse the overweight problem. Just 2-3 sessions each week done with some effort put into them is all that it takes. Sure you have to go along to your local gym and do it however inconvenient it may be.
But surely it is a better option than allowing your one and only body to weaken, become over fat and slide into a downward health spiral that will take its toll both in the short term and most definitely in the long term. Not only does it spoil your appearance it drains your energy and sets the stage for many nasty diseases. It takes its toll not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well and this is not compatible with living an energetic and enjoyable life.
You now have the key to having yourself the most effective fat loss tool available – strength training exercise. Once you discover the benefits that this type of exercise has over any other fat loss method you will be amazed. You will be able to rebuild and reclaim your fat burning toned muscle tissue and at the same time lose excess flabby body fat and this cannot be achieved by any other fat loss method.
So, get yourself started on your strength training program and watch that excess body fat disappear and a new shapely, slim, fit and strong body emerge.
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