form of personal exercise if you are looking to lose weight, gain weight or simply improve your general health.
More recently, the traditional
perception of weight
training has undergone a
revitalisation due to scientific
evidence suggesting powerful
improvements in health status.
In fact, there are now a growing
number of voices out there on
the
‘World Wide Web’ starting to say
that weight training is the superior
and only form of exercise you need.
How the pendulum has swung!
Suggest to someone they need to start training to lose weight and they immediately think of endless hours on treadmills or exercise bikes. For years the virtues and values
of aerobics as the way to exercise have been extolled
and universally celebrated while the health benefits of weight training have been marginalised to
that of the bodybuilder and improving
sports performance.
Throughout this time, PureTrain's
consultant Personal Trainer,
Dominic Marsh has continually championed the use of weight
training as the most effective
The current mania for 'aerobics' in the fitness industry and media stems from a common misunderstanding. The function of the cardiovascular system is to support the muscular system - not the other way round! If the human body is logical (and we assume that it is) then increases in muscular strength (from a proper weight training programme) will correlate to improvements in cardiovascular function.
'Aerobic' literally means "with oxygen". Most of us have been taught that to exercise using aerobics is to perform long duration steady-state activities which produce an elevated heart rate. Such
low intensity training is said to primarily stress the aerobic metabolic pathway and allow the body to use primarily fat as a fuel source. However, elevated heart rate is not an indicator of exercise intensity, exercise effect or exercise value. It is quite possible to experience a fast pulse, breathlessness and profuse sweating without achieving valuable exercise!
Additionally, 'aerobics' is thought to provide an increase in endurance and provide a protective effect against coronary artery disease. While we agree that there are some marginal benefits to the cardiovascular system from a programme of aerobics, the reality is simply that these effects could be achieved in a safer and more efficient manner through the use of high-intensity weight training.
So what's wrong with aerobics?
• 'Aerobics' is not the most effective form of exercise to help lose weight! Steady state activities such as running, cycling etc do not burn a significant number of calories! One pound of fat can fuel the body for up to 10 hours of continuous activity. Doing 'Aerobics' is simply inefficient for this purpose!
• The most important contribution that exercise makes to a fat loss programme is the maintainance of muscle tissue while fat is lost. Weight training is the only reliable method of maintaining muscle tissue. Aerobics can actually cause you to lose muscle tissue!
• 'Aerobic' activities are dangerous! Running is an extremely high-force activity that is damaging to knees, hips and back. Dance Aerobics is probably worse and so-called 'low-impact' classes or activities like stationary cycling are not necessarily low-force. Overuse injuries are cumulative and we are often not aware that we have them until it is too late. In time, the enthusiastic aerobics participant or jogger will probably pay the price for all that 'healthy' activity. If that price is a decrease or loss of mobility in one's later years, then 'aerobics' may have effectively shortened the individuals natural life-span.
Successful weight loss starts at the cellular level. Muscle cells burn the most calories, they are responsible for 90% of the calories we burn every day. Muscle cells make up most of our lean body weight and this accounts for a large proportion of energy burned in our basal metabolic rate.
Our muscle cells burn more calories because they are responsible for every movement. Muscle cells also need maintaining, proteins need to be replaced on a daily basis and energy systems must be prepared for contraction at any time. These processes all require energy so even at rest muscle cells constantly burn calories to maintain life!
Every pound of muscle added to the body of an adult female will require an additional 75-100 calories per day just to keep it alive. The average person, through a programme of weight training
can add enough muscle to burn an additional 3,500 calories per week.
In addition, when you build muscle, you automatically reduce your percentage of body fat. And, you look better too. Muscle mass is approximately half as big as the mass of fat deposits. That means that while 5lbs of fat is approximately the size of three grapefruits, 5lbs of muscle is more like three tangerines. Therefore, if you are exercising to lose weight, don’t be surprised if you actually gain weight. This is not a bad thing! It means you are building muscle mass, and you will look much slimmer than before.
It is therefore becoming evidently clear that the building and maintaining of muscle through controlled weight training is a vitally important part of the process of losing weight and is also as equally important in achieving sustainable long term health benefits.
