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Women’s Health
By Kylie Jackes
Personal Trainer
Lifestyle Fitness, Erskineville

If your fitness goals are based around fat loss and creating a sexy, lean body then it is time to start pumping iron.

Many women believe doing weights will make them thick, bulky and masculine. This is a myth and one I would like to put to rest. This cannot happen unless you are a professionally training as a body builder, lifting weights for three to five hours per day or taking steroids.

The fact is, it’s the male sex hormone testosterone that is responsible for muscle development and as females we do not produce enough testosterone to create large, bulging muscles. Resistance training builds lean muscle and lean muscle is a fat burning furnace. The only tissue in the body that burns fat is muscle so it makes sense to include resistance training in to your exercise regime.

Research has shown the best type of weight training for fat loss is Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT). This can be done in a superset (doing two exercises one after the other, using different muscle groups so little to no rest is required. e.g. chest press followed by dumbbell squats repeated 2-3 times before moving onto next superset); or in a circuit format (a number of exercises one after the other with reduced rest intervals. e.g. dumbbell chest, squats with dumbbells, dumbbell rows and lunges with dumbbells, then repeat the circuit).

The key to Metabolic Resistance Training (MRT) is to work at a high intensity. This will result you not only burning loads of energy (calories) during your workout, but after it as well.

You may have heard of the term ‘after burn’, this is the energy (calories) your body uses in the recovery period after exercise. Its official term is ‘Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption’ (EPOC). Recent research has shown EPOC’s lasting between 24 – 48 hours after a high intensity session.

After low intensity exercise (e.g. long, slow cardio) your EPOC goes back to its normal rate pretty quickly, approximately after 1- 2 hours. That means after a high intensity fat burning session your metabolism continues to work at a higher rate, even while you’re sleeping.

Fat burning is not the only benefit of resistance training, other advantages include:

Strengthening bones: Bone density begins to decrease between 30 to 40 years of age, increasing the risk of osteoporosis (thinning of the bones making them weak and brittle). Resistance training prevents this occurring.

Improvement in heart’s condition: The risk of heart disease is largely reduced; as you get fitter your heart rate, blood pressure and LDL (bad) cholesterol lowers.

Posture improvement: Well-developed muscles will correct bad posture and improve your body shape.

Endorphins: ‘Feel good’ hormones are released while working out, giving you a natural high.

Reduce the risk of diabetes: Type II diabetes is a growing problem; weight training can improve the way your body processes sugar.

Improved self-esteem: An increase in strength and a change in body shape will inevitably bring with it an increase in confidence.

It also helps fight depression, promotes better sleep and helps with an overall feeling of well-being.

As you can see, there are many benefits of including resistance training in your workout schedule. I would recommend around two to three sessions per week at 30 to 60 minutes per workout. If you are confused or unsure of how to complete a program with the correct exercises and technique, I highly recommend talking to or having a session with a personal trainer.

See you in the gym!