Strength Training
Most girls seem to think aerobic exercise is the best way to burn calories and improve their cardiovascular fitness, which is why so many girls use treadmills and cross trainers down the gym, but they would actually burn off way more calories and get a better cardio workout from strength training, and they would get a more toned body, which is what most girls want, right?
Anaerobic exercise burns calories faster and increases excess post exercise oxygen consumption. So you burn up calories at a higher rate during and after training than you do after aerobic exercise but that doesn’t matter so much because you burn off even more calories in the day just resting. Strength training increases your base metabolic rate because it increases muscle mass. Every extra lbs of muscle burns off another 50 calories a day during rest. But aerobic exercise is catabolic, which burns muscle.
Some people seem to think that strength training isn’t good cardio exercise but that’s crap too. I do four 20 mins to 30 mins strength training sessions a week and they give me a great cardio workout because I have very little rest in-between sets or exercises. I do a five minute warm up with two 1kg bottles of water. I use them like clubbells.
I do keg training for my first session of the week. It’s great for power, functional strength and core stability. All you need for keg training is a keg and some water. Simple! One litre equals one kg. My second session I do sledge hammer training. I hit against a tire on the floor and a tire hanging up on a chain. The tire absorbs the shock, so it’s easy on the joints but it’s a real freaking killer. It’s great for explosive power and your core though.
My third training session I do sand bag or tire training, which is great fun because you can throw them about without worrying about getting hurt. They’re really cheap too. I do loads of wrestling bodylocks, lifts, supleses and tackles with them.
My final session I used to do kettlebells, but now I do stone lifting. Basque stones are great but they’re hard to get hold, sometimes I just use natural rocks for a real cave girl workout. I don’t go for weight, I go for reps to improve my muscular endurance.
steph
amica
rob
Steph…
Wow, poor does Amie, imagine having to eat all those extra calories to maintain her sexy little 105lbs figure? How does she cope?
A Big Mac is junk food because it’s BIG.
The problem with food like burgers is that they tend to be full of calories and that’s why you need to eat less of it.
My point is the amount of calories you take in, not the type of food you eat.
I guess the problem with food like Micky D’s is that you can’t help but eat too much of it.
It’s a good job I never touch the stuff.
@ Rezbi
A Big Mac with fries is junk food because of the content not the quantity of it that you eat. If you eat eat more calories than you burn you put on weight but you would really struggle to do that eating Tuna unless you were covering it in mayonnaise. If you eat healthily you can eat considerably more without putting on weight. Amie eats more than me because she does more exercise. When she watches her weight is to make sure she doesn’t drop weight and so she can increase her calorie intake if she is.
Any food can be junk if you eat too much of it.
And no food is junk if you eat it moderately.
You just need to know what ‘moderate’ is.
Heather,
It would really depend on what you want to achieve.
Your aims will dictate the type of equipment you need.
Not everyone wants to train really hardcore so it would be pointless getting a pile of equipment just because someone like Rob uses them as they may be too much for what you want.
There’s a company in the US called Lifelineusa that has some equipment I quite like.
Maybe you can find something to suit you there.
Here’s the url: http://www.lifelineusa.com/.
Wish I had an affiliate account with them.
Tuna is great. Tonno alla siciliana, polpette di tonno, tonno al forno or tonno in umido are all great after training.
Too right, I eat mainly Sicilian and Italian, but I also eat a bit of Greek and Lebanese food. There’s no way I’m living off a synthetic diet… fuck that… besides you can get as much protein out of Sicilian tuna salad as you can out of a protein shake.