subject: Does Healthy Weight Loss Require Weight Training? [print this page] Pump You Up! Pump You Up!
Are you old enough to remember Hans and Franz on Saturday Night Live? "Ve just want to ... PUMP YOU UP!" This series of sketches on the show was a lighthearted jab at Arnold Swartzenegger. Hans and Franz would ridicule other celebrities and call them girlie men. You can even catch some of the episode where Arnold himself joined Hans and Franz on YouTube (see the link below).
But This Is Weight Loss, Not Muscle Building
You may be thinking to yourself, "I'm not into body building. I just want to lose weight." You're not alone. In fact, millions of people avoid building muscle because they don't think it is important and they don't want to look like a body builder. So the focus on cardio workouts or dieting.
Don't fall into that trap. Your body is a well designed machine. It has been designed to be efficient at the tasks that you ask it to do. Without exercise your muscles, joints and even bones will atrophy. Your lungs and heart will be weaker since they are never called upon to work hard.
Muscles Are Important In Your Overall Health
Exercise is an important part of making your whole body stronger. You also need to remember that different types of exercise are important. Focusing on cardio at the expense of muscle development (or vice versa) has serious health implications. You function at your best when you have a good balance of both.
The biggest benefit of building up your muscle mass (at least from a weight loss point of view) is that muscle burns energy. It increases your metabolism and helps you to burn off the fat. So just burning or reducing calories has less effect than increasing your metabolic rate.
Tou can check out Hans and Franz with Arnold himself on YouTube.
To learn more about making exercise a part of your healthy lifestyle sign up for the Healthy Weight Loss newsletter. You'll get tips and resources delivered to your inbox 2 or 3 times a week. You'll also receive Sean Nalewalyj's Fat Burning Fairy Tales as a bonus.
So, if you want to lose weight and stay healthy, then you need to ensure that you incorporate both cardio and muscle building workouts into your new lifestyle. Your body will reward you with more energy, vitality and build a healthier, sexier you! Don't be a girlie man any more!
