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Lifting weights or Toning is the exact same thing!

You are working a muscle, regardless if you use your body weights or actual weights (except the language used) for men and women.

Here are the top 8 reasons why you should lift:

1) Caloric burn! With light or no resistance, you are basically wasting your time. Lay the body’s foundation with weights (yoga and ballet inspired workouts are great for other purposes like strengthening the little muscles, elongating and cardio).

2) Be strong! Weight lifting gives a muscle strength and firmness.

3) You won’t get bulky! This is a misconception of using weights. This statement is far from the truth!! Bulking up occurs mostly due to increased appetite and not enough cardio or yoga to lean out.

4) Weight lifting maintains muscle mass while lowering your body fat. Muscle separation (cuts) occurs when muscles are worked independently in all directions (do several different exercises for 1 muscle group).

5) Your metabolism will be in high gear! Having a muscle on your body is a good thing because your metabolism will be kicking when you are chilling and when you can’t make it to the gym.

6) Posture! Shoulders point or cave forward because the chest is overly tight from sitting hunched forward over the computer or driving. Back, chest and core exercises can greatly improve strength assisting you to sit up straight, making you appear slimmer.

7) Give your pups a perk up! Even if you don’t have much there a little muscle will make them look bigger! Especially the decline exercises, these exercises will help to lift up the twins to say hello, and goodbye to double side boob!

8) Don’t give cellulite a chance! Diet alone won’t prevent it! Fat cells can only shrink, they never go away once they’ve multiplied and if the area isn’t worked they will enlarge and keep multiplying.

Keep in mind your body works like a pulley system, a balance between working the upper and lower body is super
important front, back, top and bottom. Work your entire body in order to burn fat and look great everywhere (there’s no such thing as spot treatment)!!

You want a sick body, you need to incorporate these 3 key elements to burn fat and keep it off with 1) regular cardio
exercise, 2) consistent strength training for all your muscle groups and 3) a healthy balanced diet.

Are you out of shape? Are you just totally lost and confused? Well for all you who have you completely fallen of the fitness train this summer, it’s time to jump back in the saddle and giver a giddy up!

The toughest part is starting!! Stop the excuses and just start already. Dig up your the gym membership card, and ditch the junk food diet. Starting something new in general is overwhelming and majorly stressful. Instead of thinking about a healthy makeover as an impossible task, break it down into small manageable changes— before you know it, you’re on your way to feeling and looking great!

Here are six easy ways to jump back on the fitness train:

Diet: Before you go getting all discouraged, listen carefully diets don’t work. Please just eat a balanced meal, every 3-4 hours. Diets will put you into starvation mode they are basically designed to give you a quick fix by losing weight quickly, however lasting only short term. 95% of people gain the weight they lost back plus a little extra once getting off the diet. Unfortunately our bodies haven’t evolved like everything else in the world – they hold and store fat incase we need it to survive the artic tundra like cave men. We need to consume good fats if we want to burn fat – our bodies are just designed that way.

Be prepared: Most often eating poorly involves dining out; because when you’re not preparing your own food, you don’t know what’s in it (excess, sugar, salt and fat are added to make it taste good). It can also be challenging to eat the right foods when dining out because of the variety of fun non-healthy options. Fast food may be quick and convenient, but there’s nothing good about it. Inspire a healthy makeover by committing to being prepared. Either cook more meals at home or if you are on the go, eat easy to prepare healthy choices like a protein shake with greens and almond milk. When you are in charge you’ll be more accountable for what goes on your plate and in your body.

Start slow: Although you may be excited to get your saddle on nice and tight in the gym, let me for warn you… taker easy! If you haven’t been in a while, you are not where you left off. In order to get back in on the reg you will want to ease your body into it day by day incrementally adding more weight, time and intensity. If you go hard and try to lift or run or keep up with the advanced killer-cardio-fusion-ab-kickboxing-burn-class – you will be extremely sore and may get discouraged and possibly injured (there are already have enough excuses as to why you can’t hit the gym, we don’t need to add any more to the list). My advice, ease in with a beginners yoga class, brisk walking or an easy hike, at the gym mix a couple light weight circuits with a couple 15-20 minute easy to medium cardio segments. Just make sure your form is correct when lifting weights – ask a more experienced friend or any trainer on the floor to quickly check your form.

Keep it fun! Grab a buddy make and some fitness goals together. It’s easier when you have a friend to motivate you when you aren’t in the mood and vice versa. The options of fun things are endless… Join a volleyball league, ride bikes by the beach or trail, sign up for a half marathon and raise some money for a cause, mix it up and try a class – I love taking a hip hop, ballet or Jazz class and on the regular my personal favorites are Yoga and Zumba classes. When you are ready to get on the saddle and start loping Spinning classes are killer (try a padded seat, your jock literally might get a bit tender from the ride).

Detox and eat clean: Although I said earlier dieting is a no no, I do recommend a good cleaning. There are a lot of detoxes on the market – I have a few I’ve tried that are amazing (email me directly for recommendations). Try to avoid processed foods at all costs. Minimize sugar, alcohol, refined carbs, and caffeine. Dairy and gluten are suspect, proceed with caution. Eat protein with every meal so you are full and satisfied. Try food pairing: animal protein with healthy fats (nuts avocado, and oils) and vegetables or complex carbohydrates alone or with vegetables. With proper food pairing your digestion will move along a lot faster and chances are you will feel lighter and more energized than ever before!

Be good to yourself: Give yourself some love and attention. Say something positive to yourself in the mirror or give yourself a boosting pep talk before you start the day. Take a bubble bath. Ditch some of your dirty vices. If you smoke, try reading the book “The Easy Way” by Alan Carr (you can smoke the whole way through reading the book). Take the stairs if you have the time. Start reading a book about something you want to learn about, instead of gluing yourself to the TV. Go for a walk. Call your mom and tell her you love her. Buy yourself flowers. Make sure to smile for no reason. Spread the love.

Want to feel sexy? Need to be confident in your body! Want a calm peace of mind? Want to get tight? Need to be slim? Want to feel amazing in your own skin?.. I can help!

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There is no such thing as “Toning”

Gettin the Fitness Saddle today.. Back at it again or for the 1st time

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