The Gym Need Not Necessarily Help You Lose Weight!

Most fitness coach will definitely recommend you to go to the gym to get into shape; be it losing weight or building muscles. However, I personally feel that going to the gym need not necessarily be the best solution! The following are some of the reasons why going to the gym may even prevent you from reaching your fitness goals!

First of all, most gym equipment is not effective at helping you lose body fats. The worst equipment in the gym will be the cardiovascular equipment. Most people jog slowly on the treadmill for seemingly hours. Such long, drawn out and low intensity work outs will more likely burn away your muscle mass rather than burning away excess body fats! If you have always believed in jogging on the treadmill because everyone you see who wants to lose weight is doing so, think again. You probably saw the least amount of progress in the way their bodies look, compared to people performing other types of exercises.

There is in fact a particularly unpleasant name given to describe the bodies of the people who engage only in cardiovascular exercises but nothing else - skinny fat. If someone has more than ideal levels of body fats, and engage in cardiovascular exercises, he or she is still going to have the same body shape; just a smaller version of the same one. Without lean muscle building exercises, it is very difficult to change the way one's body looks. If you take part in regular running, you may be relatively slim, but when the clothes come off, you will look flabby. If your goal is to improve your cardiovascular health only, continue running only. If your goal is to actually tone up your body and look sexier, then you should do exercises which will help increase your lean muscle mass. This is the reason why marathon runners look skinny but undesirable, as opposed to sprinters who are toned and athletic.

One of the biggest myths which are causing most women not to engage in strength training is that they will become muscular and bulky. The truth is that unless women were to take steroids or train and eat exactly the way a female bodybuilder would, she will not have the body she is afraid of getting. This is simply because women do not have the same levels of testosterone as men, and will thus find it very difficult to pack on any visible muscle mass. When a woman engages in strength training, she will look more toned instead.