The Biggest Mistake Women Make...

Why women who ONLY do cardio will never achieve the results their weight training and cardio using counter-parts will. This is a BOLD statement that's sure to aggravate a few people but I'm not going to make that without giving you the full story.

Unfortunately this myth won't die! And even with previous articles on this subject the question still comes up in various forms like this one:

"I am helping a friend incorporate weight training into her fitness routine because all she has done is cardio. She does not seem to understand that weight training builds muscle. Although the scale is not showing she is losing weight, her clothes are looser. Do you have any advise? Do you agree that weight training along with cardio is an effective way of weight loss?"Maybe I should have entitled this article something like "Your Scale is a Big Fat Liar!" There are several points in your question Taking them one by one in a point by point fashion might be best. Let's take that approach.

1 - Women who only do cardio...

Are missing out on building muscle. Now I'm not talking about big man like muscles but just simply maintaining and building muscle. While it's true that cardio does involve muscles, it's not designed to "build" per se. Most women look at images of 'fit' females who are not only in shape but have a nice feminine muscle quality about them. They want to achieve this by doing cardio but completely forgetting the model in question probably does a fair amount of weight training as well. You know what I mean don't you?2- Women who have more muscle burn more fat...

That's right. You read that correctly. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate and the higher your metabolic rate the more fat you can burn. As I sit here (arrogantly as I'm sure some may think while reading this) I'm burning more fat then the person in the hallway across from me. Neither of us are moving mind you. But I have much more muscle mass. Muscle burns more calories per hour then fat.

All this means to you is...

A female who does cardio and weight trains to build up some muscle (while keeping her goals in mind) will burn more fat then a female who only does cardio and does not use muscle to their advantage. I'm not advocating females build up slabs of Olympian style muscle! I'm just confirming the fact that a woman who has more muscle then a woman that does not will burn more calories per hour and will burn more fat.

3- Your scale is a liar...

This one's really cool! All weight is not created equal. Is the weight water, fat or muscle? People who get caught up in weight are bound to lose the battle of getting fit. If you weight 150 lbs and you lose 20 lbs in a year everybody would give you congratulations. Maybe some would throw a party.

Until you told them you lost 25 lbs of muscle.

Now people think you are ill and wonder if you are okay.

Weight is a poor indicator of progress. You can lose fat around the midsection, your clothes will feel and fit looser and you might actually weight more because you are building muscle and burning fat. This is cause for celebration. Maybe going down a size or two but gaining 10 lbs should be cause for a party.

You see, the scale is an okay way to measure blanket progress but if you really want to know how you are doing, you should take pictures, take body fat measurements and do visual inspections. If you lose muscle (weight) that is no cause for celebration.

Far too many people use their scale as an indicator of progress when in fact they have no idea if it's fat, water or muscle they are losing.

4- Weight training with cardio is the ULTIMATE too for successPicture yourself 5 years from now. Would you rather:

Option 1) Be the correct weight but just rail thin with no curves. Low body fat but just bones and minimal muscle? Option 2) Be the correct weight but be shapely, nice muscle tone and with a definite 6 pack of abs. Radiant and healthy?If you picked Option 2, you win the prize! And getting to Option 2 is as simple as building muscle to increase your metabolic rate and using cardio as a fat burning tool.

And now you realize that women who only do cardio, think that they will get bulky by weight training, are worried about what the scale says over actual results, and only use cardio will not achieve the results they probably want.

By just having some muscle with weight training, you will burn more calories sleeping then before! In fact, truth be told, you'll burn more calories and burn more fat doing everything.