Combining a Fitness Program with Weight Training

Posted by: Tony Newton on January 6, 2010 Under: Fitness Tips |

Depending on your initial goals, almost all fitness programs should involve some form of weight training. This is because weight training is a great way to burn calories, become stronger and lose more body fat. It doesn’t mean that you have to grow large muscles in the process, that’s often just a nice side effect!

To increase muscle, you need to constantly keep increasing the weight you are using and pushing your body harder. If you don’t increase the weight, you won’t build more muscle BUT you will burn calories and become stronger. That is why weight training should always be a part of every fitness program.

Cardio exercises are obviously important as they will burn calories and keep the body healthy but weight training will make you stronger, give you increased flexibility, improve your balance and lots more.

So what is the ideal way to combine a fitness program with weight training?

Well this is quite simple; just add both into your weekly training schedule. You can alternate the days on which you do each exercise routine as this gives the body time to rest in between. So, on a Monday you can do cardio exercises, Tuesday can be weight training, Wednesday more cardio exercises and so on.

By combining both into your weekly training sessions, it is giving your body a better and more balanced workout. You will be targeting more muscle groups, which means you’ll be burning a lot more calories. Burning more calories means losing more fat and this is the goal of most people on a fitness program.

So overall you will become a stronger, fitter and leaner person when you combine a fitness program with weight training. You don’t have to grow big muscles with weight training, just use lighter weights and do more reps. This will give the muscles a good workout without pushing them to the excess where growth takes place.