Resistance Training: Burn Fat While you Netflix and Chill
Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. ―Goethe
You know what you need to do, but you don’t do it? Why?
Considered by most historians to be one of history’s top polymath geniuses, Goethe was one of the first philosophers to articulate this maddening universal human behavior. Authors Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert l. Sutton explore the The Knowing Doing Gap paradox in their book about how and why people often forgo taking the best action, even when they know it’s what would most likely achieve the desired outcome. While their work wasn’t focused directly on resistance training, a specific workout regimen, losing weight or training overall- it provides insight into how we often confuse the ease of understanding with the ease of implementation. Just because we know we should do something; it doesn’t mean we will do it.
Nowhere is this more apparent than when it comes to losing weight. Most people default to the highly evangelized, multi-million-memed, well understood cardio exercise category. While running, spinning, biking, power yoga and Cross Fit are all excellent ways to burn fat and reduce calories and tone muscles, adding resistance training to your workout helps you achieve long term weight loss through burning fat, while also building muscle!
Complement Your Cardio…. or Else
Cardio is an effective way to burn calories very quickly. But with an only cardio regimen you will likely lose fat AND muscle. Ah, no thank you, 2020 has already been tough enough without losing muscle unintentionally! By burning off muscle along with the fat, you are actually slowing your metabolism because lots of lean muscle increases how many calories your body needs to process. If you are doing cardio alongside dieting, then you are really impacting your ability to build any kind of lean muscle mass. Cardio can be a very effective workout when paired alongside strength and resistance training, but cardio alone will not get you the strength and body confidence you’re after.
Strength + Resistance Training = Netflixing and Fat Burning
Cardio workouts when combined with resistance training will build lean muscle that, over time, will increase your metabolism and help you burn calories well after your workout has ended. During this pandemic when we are Netflixing and chilling, why not be Netflixing and fat-burning! That’s right, your increased resting metabolism will have you burning more fat while reveling in that Schitt’s Creek finale. Pairing strength training with resistance training is a proven and preferred workout combination for long-term weight loss and management––especially when following an appropriate diet. It ultimately comes down to one central idea: you need cardio to lose weight, but you need resistance training to manage that weight loss over the long term, as it changes your body makeup of fat and lean muscle.
Resistance (Training) is NOT Futile!
Much of the mad dash towards cardio workouts comes from some common misconceptions about what strength and resistance training mean. Common complaints are: “I don’t want to get bulky” or “cardio burns more calories, and I want results now, I’m in my home gym 5 days a week!”
The bulky concern is by and far the most common complaint lobbed against weight training proponents, and bulkiness is definitely the first image that comes to mind when you hear strength training. But resistance training won’t make you look like a bodybuilder unless you also eat and train like one. In reality, you won’t become bulky by doing resistance training a few times a week. Building huge muscles is a full-time job done with very heavy weights and low repetitions but building lean muscle to help facilitate your fitness goals isn’t!
We will admit that one session of resistance training won’t burn as many calories as a similar session on a treadmill, but the calorie burn from resistance training can continue up to 72 hours after you finish your workout! So, you’ll burn more calories over time than you could during one lap on the treadmill.
Not only that, but the new lean muscle you grow will continuously burn calories for you over the course of your life. An increased metabolism will help you lose weight and stay lean; and building muscle is the easiest, most natural way to do that, while also helping to reduce age-related incidence of muscle loss and disease.
Resistance Training with the Gorilla Bow
Once you decide to close your own “knowing doing gap” and transform your exercise routine with resistance training, you need to find the right tools to do it with. This is where Gorilla Bow can help you achieve your fitness goals. Gorilla Bow training is a revolutionary way to resistance train at home with the versatility to target specific muscle groups for a total body workout.
As you build muscle, you can mix, match, and build up resistance getting an incredible workout as you inevitably grow stronger, burn fat, tone muscle- all while not leaving your home-pandemic-closet-basement gym or fully fleshed out home gym. There are so many ways you can use the Gorilla Bow workout regimen to strengthen your arms, legs, and core while increasing your flexibility.
Resistance training is an important part of any weight loss or fitness strategy. Don’t dismiss a training regimen that can help you achieve your long-term goals! If you train for weight loss rather than muscle building, you only need to do a 30-minute session two to three times per week to start seeing real changes in your energy and appearance. Combine Gorilla Bow workouts with cardio, and you’ve got the perfect combination for sustained, long-term success recalibrating how your body looks and feels.
To think is easy. To act is hard. But, the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking. ―Goethe
Hundreds of years before his theory laid the foundation for The Knowing Doing Gap. Goethe knew our greatest challenge is not our lack of knowledge, it’s our lack of imagination. We must envision ourselves differently to consider how we will lose weight through a varied strategy that incorporates different techniques. Goethe understood many years ago that what may begin as a layer onto the foundation (cardio) may enable you to emerge stronger (resistance training). Wow, all this and you get to burn fat while Netflixing too! Now that’s something that even a visionary like Goethe couldn’t imagine! Now, it’s your turn!
Photo by Mollie Sivaram on Unsplash
