5 Days To A Stronger You: Strength Training Challenge

Where Faith, Fitness, Food and Food Come Together with Michelle Spadafora The post 5 Days To A Stronger You: Strength Training Challenge appeared first on Faithful Workouts.

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5 Days To A Stronger You: Strength Training Challenge

One of the biggest myths out there when it comes to losing weight is that it’s all about going on a “diet” and doing tons of cardio. The truth is, there’s a better, more effective way to lose, and keep off excess weight. From my experience working with 1,000’s of women over the last 38 years, if you want to maintain a healthy weight you need to make strength training part of your weekly routine. Let me explain why.

For the first 25ish years of our life we are growing stronger, larger muscles. After that we begin to lose muscle mass, which is referred to as sarcopenia. If we are inactive, we can lose as much as 3% to 5% of our muscle mass each decade.This loss of muscle effects our weight because it slows down our metabolism (rate at which we use energy/calories). Muscle burns through calories at a faster rate than fat so the less muscle we have the fewer calories we use each day. Many people notice that as they age they gain weight even though they aren’t eating more. The calories coming in hasn’t changed, but the calories used has decreased because of the loss of muscle.

Don’t worry – I’ve got good news!

You can fight back against this muscle loss and weight gain by strength training (movement with resistance added). As you build more lean muscle your metabolism will increase and you will burn through calories faster even when resting!!

Now, I’m not saying that what you eat isn’t important, or that cardio exercise isn’t valuable, but if you want to get to a healthy weight, sleep better, have more energy and decrease your risk of osteoporosis it’s time to do more strength training!

If you consistently strength train you will see how much better and stronger you feel. My hope is that this 5 Day Strength Challenge and the information shared will inspire and motivate you to making strength training part of your weekly workout routine so you can achieve your weight loss goals and maintain a healthy weight for the long term!

1. Improve Your Metabolism

Strength training is the best way to improve your metabolism because muscle burns up calories faster than fat. When you increase your muscle mass, you boost your resting metabolism allowing your body to burn more calories and why every exercise program should include weight training.

2. Prevents Injury

Studies show tons of back and knee surgeries could be avoided with proper strength training because by improving the strength of the muscles, tendons, and even the ligaments and bones, they are less prone to injury. By building stronger muscles and tendons, we are helping them hold the body in proper alignment while protecting the bones and joints.

3. Longevity

Strength training provides our bodies with longevity. Athletes who want to be active in sports like tennis, basketball, running, biking will be able to enjoy those activities for many more years by adding strength training to their activities.

It’s important to note that spot reduction doesn’t work. We shouldn’t focus just one area of our bodies because we want it to be skinnier. Strengthening our body as a whole is important to enjoy mobility and agility for years to come.

With these reasons in mind, I want to challenge you to focus on growing your body stronger by committing to strength training over the next 5 days with these workouts and see what a difference it makes in how you feel.

4. Best Way To Lose Weight

One of the biggest myths when it comes to weight loss is we have to increase our cardio. Running, biking, walking and cardio workouts are great for cardiovascular health and will help to aid in weight loss, however, strength training is far more important. Strength or resistance training builds lean muscles which increases our metabolism and plays a critical role in our ability to lose and maintain a healthy weight. If you want to lose weight and are struggling you are likely not doing enough strength training (at least 2-3 days per week!!)

Let’s Get Started!

Each day you will find a variety of workouts to choose from based on your fitness level including beginner/chair options. It’s always important to listen to your body. If during the workout we are doing 10 reps of a move, for example, and you can only do 5 that’s okay. If we are using weights, bands or fitness loops and you can only use your body weight that’s okay too. It’s about meeting yourself where you are and celebrating what your body can do, not beating yourself up for what you can’t do. With consistency, you will get stronger. Building a stronger healthier you is a marathon, not a sprint. One day, one workout at a time, you’ve got this!

Make sure to come back to this site over the next 5 days and do a new strength workout!!

Day 1 Arms, Shoulders & Back

Day 2 Lower Body

Day 3 Core

Core Advanced

Day 4 Cardio & Strength

Day 5 Stretch & Strength

Give yourself a big pat on the back for a job well done this week! Don’t you feel stronger and more confident?! Use this challenge as a starting point to make strength training a regular part of your workout routine. Our website includes 100’s of FREE workouts. Click HERE to head over to our website and access our entire library of strength training workouts for FREE!

Michelle is the founder of Faithful Workouts. She began her fitness career in 1984 and still loves to help people break free from fitness frustration and move towards a life full of physical and spiritual health. Michelle is married to Jeff and they have three children PLUS two lovable dogs.

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The post 5 Days To A Stronger You: Strength Training Challenge appeared first on Faithful Workouts.