Losing body fat is key

If your goal was to drop 20 pounds, and you hit that goal, but you lost 15 pounds of muscle and 5 pounds of body fat, is that really good? Your Body Fat percentage would not have changed, and in-fact, may have even gone up a size due to the drop-in muscle.

It is a known fact that the more lean muscle you have, the more calories you will burn during an exercise program or just during the day in general. Strength training helps in so many areas and weight loss is, of course, one of them. But, it is not always the most important one – especially for women.

What if there were no scales?  You could never know your weight.  How would you judge yourself in terms of achieving fitness goals?  Probably by having less body fat in problem areas (belly, hips, triceps) or by being able to see more lean muscle when you look at yourself in the mirror?  Maybe by how you feel during the day or by your overall health?

Think about a female Olympic sprinter.  On paper if you saw she was 5’6 and weighed 170lbs, what would you think?  In most cases, if you didn’t know she was an Olympic sprinter, you would think she was overweight. The reality is, if you reduce body fat and build lean muscle but you didn’t lose a ton of weight, most people would be happy with the results because when you looked in the mirror, you would be leaner and have less body fat despite a scale weight that is slightly higher due to muscle weighing more than fat.  This is an important lesson from an Olympic sprinter that is relevant to everyone.

If you only care about losing weight at the expense of losing muscle mass, you may need to change your focus. If you focus on building your body up through a proper functional strength training program you will build more lean muscle, have a slimmer figure, get stronger and feel better everyday.  Ultimately, over time with lean muscle on your body, you will lose weight due to it’s high calorie burning ability 24/7 but not necessarily right away and that’s OK.

The real truth behind strength training has more to do more with getting stronger, leaner, reducing body fat, slowing down the aging process and just feeling better mentally and physically everyday. Performing a safe exercise routine, with appropriate weight, and challenging yourself in a safe manner and knowing when to try and push heavier can make all the difference when it comes to achieving your fitness goals. So, put down those pretty pink weights and go push yourself to new limits and once you reach those limits push for a new limit.