Do you believe the title of this article sounds too good to be true? How can your body possibly work at burning fat and building muscle when you are at rest? Read on and I'll tell you!
I don't know about you, but when I was growing up it was all about aerobicizing! How many calories could we burn in an hour? I would jump and run and of course, follow along with the skinny girls doing their exercise shows on television (HATED THEM) and then worry about every little morsel of food for the rest of the day. I worked-out in fear because I didn't like the process and wasn't convinced that would ever change.
All of this began when I was about 10. Going through this "gawky" phase of my life, I became chubby and extremely uncomfortable with my appearance. The diet drinks were the new miracles in the supermarkets and skinny jeans made their debut. I couldn't dance my way around the living room often enough to look like the perfect women parading across the screen in the type of clothing that would make any one of us a diet-crazed junkie! Filled with constant disgust over my shape, I spent the next 20 years of my life feeling powerless over the body which housed my tortured spirit. Looking back on this now, I could consider those years a waste of time spent on self-loathing, however, since I don't dwell on spilled skim milk, I will instead view those years as precious learning tools for what I am about to share.
The truth is, we CAN create the body shape we desire. Will you look exactly like the goddess in the magazines? Maybe, maybe not. Thanks to airbrushing and photo shop, the model herself may not even have THAT body! The good news is you can absolutely sculpt your body to be the very best version of you. You can work hard, connect with the process AND have your body continue to work even when you aren't! I used to wish I had known this 30 years ago, but now I am grateful to have learned this my way on my terms. The fact that I was unaware and disconnected all of those years ago from what I now live by today makes this whole experience more meaningful!
Strength training is the act of using resistance to build muscle. Whether working with machines, dumbbells, bands/tubes or even your own body weight, this form of training involves specific attention toward sculpting your shape and increasing lean mass. There is no limit to the types of exercises that can be used as your imagination is limitless! Functionality, flexibility, increased metabolism and overall conditioning are just a few of the many benefits resulting from a resistance training program.
When we build muscle, we are increasing the amount of lean mass we have in our bodies. We have fat mass and lean mass. Fat mass is just that, fat. A pound of it takes up about as much space as a large grapefruit and requires little energy to survive burning about 2 calories a day. Not an ideal ROI. Lean mass is a combination of organs, water, bones and muscle tissue. Muscle is the only form of lean mass we really have any control over, so this is where we become accountable. One pound of this is very dense and about the size of a baseball burning around 50 calories a day. This teaches your body to work smarter as opposed to harder.
When in the midst of a strength training program, your brain is the one in command. It lets the nervous system in on it's intentions and then those messages are passed on to the appropriate body parts to comply with. As we do a bicep curl we are sending the message to these muscles to do as we wish and recruit whatever is necessary to get the job done. Once the set has been accomplished, there is still more work to be done. The good news is...YOU ARE NO LONGER DOING THE WORK! For up to 48 hours following strength training, your body has to go through a recovery phase where it suffers stress from the demands placed from the exercises. During this process, new fibers are created and added to the existing muscle to increase size and density. This all happens while we're at rest.
Let's think about it this way. In a construction site, the general contractor (your brain) is the one in charge. He/she has a blueprint of what needs to be done and specific instructions to complete the tasks. The project manager (neuromuscular system) is there to ensure the orders from the contractor are understood and applied while overseeing each project. The construction workers (your muscles) work to build and construct what has been asked of them. If the crew is short on staff, project manager consults with contractor and they hire more workers to get the job done. Once the day of work has been completed, we know that glue and paint must dry, concrete will harden up (recovery process) and this happens in its own time in between hours of labor. Building muscle works very much the same way!
As you work-out, your brain commands your nervous system to deliver and oversee messages to your muscles. Once completed, all fibers and tissues need time to weaken and reform to become bigger, stronger and capable of handling more responsibility. In the same way that construction workers cannot force paint to dry, we cannot force muscles to recover any faster than they do on their own. While all of this energy is being expended to help produce more musculature, I'll remind you that each pound of muscle gained burns 50 calories at rest. Ten pounds of muscle gained = 500 calories a day at rest which means you could burn an extra 3500 calories a week when not even working-out. That's a POUND A WEEK!
So now not only are you using energy in the recovery process, but now you are burning extra calories every day due to work you have already done! Does this inspire you? Does it make you want to pick up some weights and get moving? If the idea of burning calories while clicking the remote, talking on the phone or even sleeping doesn't motivate you to begin a strength training program, I honestly don't know what will!
Don't get me wrong. Cardiovascular training is important and very beneficial. It should be included in any wellness program and teaches your heart to work more efficiently, keeping it strong and healthy. If, however, you are looking to lose fat and work smart while becoming strong, lean and shapely then consider adding strength training to your routine.
I will leave you with this image. Imagine having spent some time in your day connecting to the very muscles you worked. You thought about firming up your quads with every squat, strengthening your weak back each time you performed a bent-over row and filling in those "wings" under your arms with tricep muscles. Every repetition works in your favor creating a reality of the vision you had for your body. Wouldn't it be nice to know that after all of that, the work continues on while you get to rest?
Thought so!
