Why Cardio Alone Doesn't Work.

Have you ever heard someone referred to as a skinny fat person? Maybe you've seen someone who fits that description. A skinny fat person is someone who is not fat in the typical sense of being large in size, instead this person is small framed yet has no muscle tone. These skinny fat people believe that pounding away on a treadmill, or doing the elliptical for hours a day will get them the dream body they've been searching for, but have probably never picked up a weight in their life. Cardio certainly has it's place in every fitness program but it should be a part of a balanced program including cardio, strength training, and a healthy diet.

The key to losing body fat and keeping it off is strength training. Lean muscle is the driving force behind your metabolism and the only way to increase your metabolism or burn more calories at rest, is to increase lean muscle through strength training. For the women that are afraid to get “too bulky” from strength training that is simply a myth. When most people think of strength training and the results it yields, they think of the heavily muscled bodybuilders that plaster the covers of magazines such as Muscle and Fitness. The models that grace the covers of those magazines are simply models who are hired to sell magazines and not a realistic result of someone who strength trains a few times a week to get healthy. So in order to truly rev up your metabolism and get rid of body fat once and for all, hit the weights!