Burn Your Belly Fat - Part 9

Belly Fat Burner #9: Workout Smarter

Hint: Get off the treadmill.

A majority of women and many men avoid weightlifting like it’s the plague.  They assume that lifting weights will bulk them up and give them bulging muscles that would qualify them for the next body building competition.  But the fact is, in order to look like a bodybuilder, you have to work extremely hard at it. 

I’m sure Arnold Schwarzenegger would have loved to work out for only an hour or less a day and pack on all that muscle.  Instead, Arnold and other competitive bodybuilders lift for 3 to 4 hours a day maxing out weights with low repetitions to achieve extreme muscular hypertrophy (muscular growth). 

If you are currently not incorporating resistance training in your day, you are doing your body a disservice.  It does not matter who you are, or what your fitness goals are- everyone should incorporate weightlifting into their exercise routine. 

Here are the 3 reasons to start resistance training today.

1. Have iron skin. 

People that have strong muscles are 45 percent less likely to die from melanoma, a severe form of skin cancer.  Researchers at the University of Michigan that conducted the study speculate that dense muscles are a good indication of overall health, including a better immune system. 

2.  Ignite your metabolism.

Resistance training is proven to boost your metabolism even long after the workout has ended. According to a study done at the University of Wisconsin, it takes 31 min of resistance training to keep your metabolism elevated for 38 hours.  So that means when you’re sitting around watching TV, you’re burning more calories than non-resistance trainers. 

It sounds too good to be true but I can assure you it isn’t. The reason you keep burning off calories post-exercising is because your body is working hard to repair and recover.

Research shows that an intense exercise session of strength training boosted participants’ metabolism for 14 hours after exercising. [63]

If you don’t challenge your muscles with some type of resistance training, you will lose muscle mass along with body fat. In fact, up to 30% of the weight you lose can come from muscle tissue. [61] Muscle tissue is crucial for overall strength and it’s also metabolically active. That means it burns calories. A pound of muscle burns a couple more calories than a pound of fat. [62] This is not going to get you skinny overnight, but it can’t hurt to burn a few more calories.

3.  Reduce your risk of diabetes.

Diabetes, especially type II diabetes which occurs after you’re born, is becoming more and more prevalent in the US.  Of course eating healthy is the best prevention, but researchers at Tufts University are saying that weight lifting is also very effective at cutting your risk of diabetes.  In just 4 months, researchers found that those who resistance trained had a decrease blood-glucose level and their insulin sensitivity improved.

What Is the Best Form of Resistance Training?

The best form of resistance training in my opinion is, you guessed it … Tension Toner.

Tension Toner is by far my main form of strength training.

If you’re new to this site and haven’t heard about Tension Toner, it’s essentially a workout bar that is designed to be separated under tension during the exercise. This keeps your muscles under constant tension during the exercise movements.

This is super important because the more time your muscles are under tension, the more transformation occurs. You will burn more calories and create muscle definition.

We created intensive 25-minute workouts that will fit in even the busiest schedules. It’s all part of our complementary, 12-week online training program. The program is clearly laid out so all you have to focus on is how you’re going to look when your abs start to make an appearance again!

Don’t Forget Your Legs!

Another way to make your workout more effective is to exercise your legs!

One of the biggest mistakes both men and women make while working out is they neglect their largest muscle group- their legs. This is a big oversight if you’re trying to lose weight or create muscle definition because your leg muscles have more mass than your upper body. If you’re not working them out, you’re missing the potential to burn extra calories. [64]

Again, we incorporate legs into every HIIT exercise. So if your goal is to maximize your metabolism, build endurance and have more muscle definition, then start incorporating Tension Toner into your workout routine today.