Body Typos - #1

If you’re trying to lose weight and/or excess fat and mass and you’re lifting moderate-heavy weights thinking that it will create a healthier body ratio which will allow you to burn more fat and help you to lose weight is not the most effective approach to weight loss and here’s why… This perhaps the most popular misconception circulating out there today. What do cross country skiers, swimmers, marathon runners, ballet dancers, ballerinas, and tri-athletes have in common? That’s right; none of these athletes are fat or possess a lot of bulk. Based on the theory that one needs to lift weights in order to burn fat more efficiently, then all of the athletes described above should be fat because they lift little or no weights in their exercise regimens. Moreover, how come athletes in the early 1900’s and before that time who participated in any of these types of sports were built similar to today’s athletes partaking in these same sports or activities? This faux pas is doing a grave injustice today by bulking up all the millions of women out there who think that if they lift weights that their metabolism will work more efficiently and that they will be able to burn more fat because they will possess more muscle. 

In theory, this is true. But what you the lay person and for that manner, even professionals in the fitness industry don’t know is that in order to raise your Basal Metabolic Rate – known as your BMR, the human body needs to put on approximately 20% more muscle mass in order to raise their BMR by just 5%. Considering that most people are overweight today, they are not in a position to add mass to their body. And, just because you are lifting weights and getting stronger, it doesn’t guarantee that your BMR is going to be more efficient because you could be lifting weights with low-moderate repetitions (reps) and lifting a heavy weight which requires lots of rest in between each set or exercise thus you are not working intensely enough in order to positively affect your BMR.

The reason that certain athletes own an efficient fat-burning body is primarily due to the fact that when they do workout and exercise, they workout with enough intensity that allows them to burn fat during and hours afterwards. It is the intensity at which we exercise that allows us to possess a healthier body ratio which then allows us to be burning more calories during our resting state and not the type of exercise per se. Additionally, weights and resistance come in many forms. For instance, a typical female ballet dancer may weigh about 120 lbs. Each and every time she lifts one leg repetitively, she is moving approximately 30+ lbs! Now just because there isn’t a weight or dumbbell attached to her body doesn’t mean she is not lifting enough weight. Actually, because she only lifts her body as her sole weight and resistance is the reason why her body is so lithe. If she added more weights to her routine, she would possess more mass and it would a) look awkward and, b) would not able her to move with the ease and grace that we admire and respect when we watch a ballet.