Weightlifting and the "T" Word

This guide to starting your fit lifestyle may be starting out slower than you expected, but just bear with me. There's a lot to cover!

We can all agree that there's a tendency for women to just hop on an elliptical or treadmill when they're not really sure what to do or where to start. It's just easier to hit "go" and mindlessly run or pedal until you think you've burned enough calories to do some good. I definitely did this at first. Walked into the gym, looked at the meat-heads in the weight area, turned the opposite way to head to the cardio section, hopped on a treadmill, and miserably ran for 30 or 40 minutes until I thought I was going to have a heart attack or collapse, feel remotely satisfied, and leave. Hoping I undid that package of M&M's or that large Dr. Pepper. Unfortunately, that's not how it works and is one of the least effective ways to build muscle, burn fat, and increase your metabolism.

Weightlifting is a beautiful thing. And I'm not talking about 3 lb dumbbells for 1,000 reps. I'm talking about looking back after 2 or 3 months and lifting weights you never thought you could lift, feeling stronger, faster, leaner, and pretty much like a rockstar. 40 minutes on the elliptical will never do that for you.

So here's the "T" word that every weightlifter and trainer and person educated in fitness HATES.

Toning

Ugh. I can barely type it. Haha jk...sort of.

"I just want to tone." The world's most cringe worthy line. I understand the perception the commercials and advertisements for workout videos, weight loss programs, and machines have created. "Melt body fat in just 10 minutes!" "Tone up your belly with these 2 exercises!" So why wouldn't everyone think you can just "tone" up an area with simple semi-challenging exercises? I used to think that.

Here's how it really works. Getting that "toned" look. You have to start with the most important aspect of getting the "toned" look- which is building muscle. How do you build muscle? Lift HEAVY HEAVY weights! You will never put on any muscle mass lifting light weights for 100's of reps. Or by eating 800 calories a day. All that does is burn maybe 100 calories a session which, in the end, makes no difference except wasting your time. It takes awhile to get your list of exercises, figure out what weights you CAN do in the beginning, and working on form. But once you get that figured out, which hopefully I can help with through this blog and possibly in person, all you have to do is stay committed, stay consistent, and move up in weights every couple of weeks. Building muscle naturally increases your metablism, calories burned throughout the day, and ultimately "melts away fat" to feed your new growing muscles. You should be agonizingly sore the first couple of weeks you start weightlifting. Don't worry, it's a good kind of pain. (Haha!) And that's how you know you are growing muscles.

Lifting heavy tears the muscle, which adequate nutrition (plenty of protein and enough carbs) fills and makes stronger. You need to start with building muscle because it sets up your body for success to shed the layer or layers of fat covering them up. Light weight and cardio will never build muscle because it's not tearing them, and 800 calories is not enough to feed your new growing muscles.

After you get going on a weightlifting program, you'll naturally notice (without much cardio), that you will start feeling and looking leaner due to your increased metabolism. Here's where the misconception comes in...

You CANNOT spot reduce fat. If you hold fat in your stomach, crunches will not magically turn it into abs or "tone" up that area. If you hold fat in your thighs, squats and lunges will not magically turn that fat into muscle. If you hold fat in your arms, curls and dips will not magically turn your arms into "toned" bombshell arms. I hope you catch my point. Weightlifting will build the muscles under that fat, DIET DIET DIET will melt the fat covering your muscle. Cardio does help to some extent, but your weightlifting program should provide all the cardio you need. I run maybe a mile before some of my workouts as a warm up, but that's about all the steady state cardio I do. Most of my cardio comes from burpees, squat jumps, jumping lunges, and box jumps inbetween weight exercises. Steady state cardio is your enemy.

Yes, I have abs. And guess what? I can't remember the last time I did an ab exercise. Your abs are used and stimulated through most lifting exercises, and everyone already has some abs...they are just covered by a layer or, unfortunately, many layers of fat that need to be melted away by building muscle and a clean diet. Clean diet is #1. Consistency is #1. Yes, I can have more than one #1.

In conclusion, if you have a "trouble area" (I gain my fat in hips and thighs), working out that area is completely pointless and you cannot turn fat in certain areas into muscle. You cannot "tone" areas of your body. All you can do is build all around muscle through HEAVY weightlifting which increases your metabolism, and eating a clean, consistent diet (meeting your daily alotted macros with 90% clean foods) everyday to lose the fat covering those muscles. I promise you will see drastic changes with this. Losing the fat through a clean diet will reveal those newly built muscles creating your misconceived "toned" look. And no, you will not get bulky. I've been weightlifting heavy for 3 1/2 years and am not bulky in the slightest. Those "scary" (I think they're awesome) super built women you are afraid of looking like take supplements upon supplements and eat some odd 200g of protein a day (double what I eat). I take no supplements and just eat clean, meeting my 100-120g of protein every single day.

So go lift some weights! And quit your crunches! And quit using the tone word! And tell someone you want to build muscle and lose fat! Trainers will hug you for saying that instead of wanting to tone. :)

Edit*** I am fully aware that I have been confused since the 5th grade where to put commas in sentences. I'm not sure why. And I've always been docked on papers for starting sentences with "and" and "but". At least my forms of their, they're, and there are correct! People would lose their minds! Thank you for overlooking my overuse and underuse and incorrect use of comma placement. :)