If you want to lose weight and get in great shape while training at home without the need for expensive cardio equipment or doing boring cardio exercises then this article is for you.
We will show you how you can burn more calories, save space and spend less money to get the look you want. All by training smarter, not harder.
Weight Loss Myths
Lots of people assume that the best way to lose weight is to do lots and lots of cardio. While cardio training such as running, cycling, swimming or rowing does burn calories it is not the most effective way to get rid of that excess fat we all have and want to say goodbye to.
In fact, the best way to lose fat and get that lean athletic look is to focus on weight training which means lifting weights. If you are planning on training at home then this is great news due to the fact that weight training equipment takes up a whole lot less space than an exercise bike or treadmill.
WOSS Suspension Trainer
This means you can now start working out at home in a way that will help you shift those stubborn areas of fat you want to get rid of in order to get the look you want. Something like this very popular but affordable WOSS suspension trainer could be just what you need.
Another advantage to this type of training over doing cardio at home is that basic weight training equipment also costs a lot less than the equipment you would need for a home cardio workout.
So not only will you be burning more calories but you will be saving space and money. Convinced yet?
How Does Weight Training Burn More Calories than Cardio Exercises?
A vigorous workout with weights burns almost as many calories as a cardio workout but one of the two main benefits of training with weights is that during the hour or two after your training session your body has a metabolic spike which means that your body continues to burn calories at an accelerated rate even if you have finished working out and are sitting down relaxing. Your body burns these extra calories in a bid to help your muscles recover from the weight lifting exercises you have just performed.
The other main benefit from weight training over cardio training is that as the amount of lean mass or muscle your body has increases so too does the amount of calories your body burns during the day. The amount of calories your body uses in a day is known as your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and is the amount of energy your body expends to keep your body’s vital organs ticking over such as your brain, heart, lungs and other essential bits and pieces. Any other activities you do during the day also burn calories on top of this amount. Common BMRs for adults can range between 1500 and 2500 calories per day. But if you are weight training and increasing the amount of lean mass on your body then this number will go up and even on a day when you don’t do any exercise at all your body will use up more calories then when you didn’t have the muscle mass.
How Much Muscle Do I Need to Increase My BMR?
Now the thought of adding this extra lean mass or muscle to your body might sound like hard work and if you want to really bulk up and get big then I’m afraid it will be a hard task you are faced with.
However if you just want to add some muscle to get that toned look and burn more calories by weight training than from doing cardio then it’s not so hard. You will still have to train seriously and regularly as you would do if you were doing cardio training as the payoff is great and the benefits longer lasting then it shouldn’t be hard to keep motivated.
By adding just three pounds of muscle your body will burn an extra 120 calories a day.
Don’t Worry About Gaining Too Much Muscle
Some of you reading this might be thinking “but I only want to lose weight, I don’t want to gain muscle”. If you are thinking this the reason if probably that you don’t want to get too big and bulky or get the look of a bodybuilder.
Well the good news is there is no need to worry about that happening. Building muscle is a slow process which becomes quite difficult once you have passed through the initial period where you might easily gain a few pounds of muscle when you first start training with weights. There is no chance you will wake up one day and realise you have become the Incredible Hulk by accident.
Getting big takes a lot of time and work and is not something that happens by mistake!
Why Loosing Fat and Not Building Muscle is a Bad Idea
If you went down the route of only doing cardio training to meet your goals of losing weight you would eventually meet your targets and lose the pounds you had been desperately trying to get rid of. Sure it might take you longer than if you trained with weights but you should get there in the end. The problem is that if you lose fat and don’t add muscle to your body then you won’t get that healthy, athletic, toned look people with attractive bodies people have. Just losing the fat won’t tighten you up and any wobbly bits will still be wobbly, just not as much so. You will also won’t get the bonus of increasing the amount of calories that your body burns daily and will therefore but at much more risk of putting the weight back on. Also, gaining muscle also makes you stronger which can come in handy from time to time!
The Best Way to Lose Weight Training at Home
Although the information in this article can be applied to people training in a gym the main purpose of this piece was to show you that even if you want to train at home and your goal is to get in great shape then you can do so without the need to do cardio at home.
Doing home cardio workouts can be expensive due to the need for large equipment such as stationary bikes or elliptical trainers which also require a lot of space.
You can easily start building muscles at home with just one or two pieces of equipment such as a pair of dumbbells or a kettlebell. Even if you are travelling on the road you can get a good workout in using a portable training device such as the very effective suspension trainers.
As you can see weight training is the best way to not only lose fat but also get a great athletic, healthy, toned body whether you are training at home or in the gym. If you are now convinced this is the way forward take a look at some of our other articles to help you get started:
- Get a Strapping Physique with Suspension Straps
- Are Cheap Adjustable Dumbbells Worth it?
- Home Training without Fitness Equipment
- Workout for Women Who Want a Toned Body
- The Best Kettlebell Exercises for Women
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In the past the main debate when it came to what type of figure you preferred or wanted to poses came down to skinny vs. curvy. Now things have changed and the new buzz on the fitness, health and fashion scenes is all to do with how toned is the new skinny. Due to this lots of people now want to know how to tone your body and this article will help explain why you might want to do this and how you can go about it.
This is one of the biggest misconceptions in the gym and if you ask most people using the cardio machines such as the treadmills, the stationary bike or the elliptical trainer they will tell you that losing weight is their number one priority. Doing cardio exercises are a great way to increase your fitness levels but when it comes to losing fat then there are much more effective ways to use your time that you should be doing first before you even think about getting on the treadmill.
A lot of you reading this might be concerned about adding too much muscle and starting to look like a bodybuilder. This is something you should not worry about at all. To get to the stage where people are commenting on your muscles and size takes years of heavy lifting and serious dedication. Not only do you have to lift heavy weights but in order to become big and bulky you also need to eat lots of food so that your body can convert the extra calories into muscle. If you train at a medium intensity and stick to a sensible diet then the chances of you starting to look like you should be on stage are next to nothing. If it was that easy to get big and muscular then there wouldn’t be so many men grunting and huffing and puffing in the gym!
If you don’t have a home gym containing the latest and greatest home exercise equipment there is no need to worry! There are still many ways you can get out of breath and move closer to your goal of improving your fitness or burning off a bucket load of calories. While it might not be as easy as hoping on an exercise bike or treadmill, good home fitness training without expensive equipment is possible and it can even be fun. One such way is to use your bodyweight and perform a number of exercises at a fast pace with minimal amounts of rest in-between.
Just because you train at home and don’t have access to all the fancy machines at the gym it doesn’t mean you can’t get the results you want when it comes to building solid muscle mass and getting in great shape and getting a good bicep workout is no exception. The arms are the first part of the body people look at when trying to decide if someone is in good shape or not and the arms can be a great indicator of whether someone has a great physique under their clothes or are just a flabby wreck with a fat back!
If you are training at home when you can’t make it to the gym or are doing all your workouts at home and don’t have a gym membership then there is some equipment we really recommend you should have. You don’t to go out and buy a power rack or anything like that but some weights are needed as body weight exercises at home can only get you so far.
Standing Bicep Curl: this is a classic bicep exercise and the one we will be starting with. It can be performed with a dumbbell or a kettlebell or pretty much any heavy object so is great for the home trainer with little to no equipment.
If you are lucky enough to be a member of a gym that keeps its weight training equipment up to date then you might have noticed something new in your gym that looks a bit different from all the other heavy weights and machinery that makes up most of the gear in the gym.
Well that is a good question and as the name suggests they are exercises that are performed while your body or parts of it are suspended above the ground. Now if you suffer from vertigo don’t worry! When performing this type of exercise there is no need to go higher than a few inches or feet at the most off the ground, there is no use of tightropes or trapezes required! Although there are already lots of different types of suspension straps on the market, from different brands, each with their own styling and features, the majority of products available do have a common appearance which is of a length of toughened material that can be adjusted in length. At each end you will find some kind of handle that you can either hold onto or put your feet through. Depending on the price of the suspension training equipment you have there could be just a few different types of handles or a wide variety of them. The larger number of different types of handles you have the more exercises you can perform. Although it is worth remembering that like most weight training equipment the core gear tends to get used the most while the more exotic equipment ends up gathering dust in the corner. This is also true with suspension strap accessories so in most cases you needn’t splash out on the most expensive product that comes with all the bells and whistles you might not ever use.
So now that we know what suspension straps are it might be a good time to find out why you should be thinking about adding these dynamic exercises into your routine. Although people have been getting great results from the dawn of time lifting heavy weights there is always room for improvement and incorporating elements from suspension training workouts into your routine can be a great way to mix things up a bit and bring new muscles into play that you didn’t even know you had.
Although you can get a great workout by only using these straps and bodyweight leverage training we recommend you keep using the free weights but try to incorporate suspension training exercises into your regular workouts. This way you get the best of both worlds and can increase your strength and grow your muscles in the traditional way with your existing workout but improve core stability and develop those underused supporting muscles by using the suspension straps to perform bodyweight leverage exercises.
When it comes to home workout options for women there is no reason why you should avoid the type of exercises that are popular with male trainers. Your average gym going female might have different workout goals to most men who train with weights but by using tried and tested workout routines and fitness equipment women can make great progress in the gym or at home without attending special women-only classes or following gender-specific exercise routines.
It could be said that the kettlebell is a one piece gym in that it offers a great level of versatility allowing you to target multiple body parts and perform literally dozens of exercises with just one piece of small fitness equipment. Due to this level of versatility they are excellent for men who want to expand their biceps or build up their neck and back muscles but they are also ideal for women who want to tone their legs and upper arms as well as sculpt their butts and thighs. Simply performing different movements with different weighted kettlebells can allow you to train with completely different outcomes in mind making them ideal for both men and women trainers who do not share the same fitness goals.
Due to their origins, emanating from deepest, darkest Siberia, the kettlebell isn’t a piece of fitness equipment you would immediately associate with women trainers wanting to get in shape. But despite its core fan base this type of gym equipment is ideal for those wanting to get toned and in shape without the hassle of having to join a gym or kit out your spare room as a home gym. Even if you do train in a gym a kettlebell workout for women can make a great addition to your existing workout routine.
As the popularity of kettlebells has grown over the recent years, they have slowly began to catch the attention of savvy female trainers who aren’t afraid to implement fitness and exercise strategies that have traditionally been the preserve of male trainers, in order to get the results they want on their own terms. If you are willing to step away from the exercise machines in your gym and pick up the harder to handle free weights then you will begin to reap rewards far beyond what the resistance machines can offer you. If you are prepared to expand your horizons in the gym beyond the Swiss ball and the hip abductor machine and start training with a kettlebell then you might just be in for a pleasant surprise.
So now you know why this type of workout can be great for women trainers you might want to know what the best kettlebell workout routines for women are. Well the swing mentioned above is a great place to start as it is the core of most exercises using this type of free weight and it is relatively easy to perform in terms of technique. Just make sure you start with a light enough weight and practice on getting your form correct before moving to a heavier weight. Follow these steps to perform the swing which is a great kettlebell workout for women and men alike:
Until recently there has only been one industry standard certification for those wishing to be a kettlebell instructor and that was the Russian Kettlebell Challenge Certified Instructor, or RKC as it is known for short. This is a three day course which comes with a hefty price tag which can be as high as $2500. From those who have done the RKC course the reports say that this is a gruelling three days during which you have to truly earn your certification. There is no easy way to bluster your way through this program I am afraid and you have to not only talk the talk but walk the walk when it comes to handling the iron. Due to this it is not surprising that not everyone passes first time which although is a shame for those who fail it does give the qualification some credibility as we have all been on some sort of course or training seminar in which everyone passes no matter how little effort they put in; this is definitely not the case here! Even if you don’t plan to become a kettlebell instructor this course is a great way to vastly increase your knowledge of using this type of fitness equipment and is also a great way to put yourself through a tough workout that perhaps left to your own devices you might not be able to fight your way through. Being surrounded by likeminded individuals who are all supporting each other to reach their goals and push themselves to their physical and mental limits is a great way to spend a few days and can help raise your training to new levels.
Although this Russian kettlebell certification is the best there is of its type, for some it might be too much in terms of time commitment and financial outlay. If either of those applies to you then there is still an option available to you that comes well regarded within the fitness and personal training community. That alternative to the Russian kettlebell certification is the Hardstyle Kettlebell Certification, or HKC as it is also known. The HKC is better suited to those with either less time or money to spare as it only takes one day and costs a fraction of the price of the RKC. Although it only lasts a third of the time of the longer more expensive RKC course the Hardstyle program teaches you how to design your own workouts using this piece of gym equipment by following a template that gives you the framework to create countless new exercises and variations on existing moves. It also looks at using these free weights from both power and strength perspectives to help you tailor your workouts for different goals. Due to the lesser time requirements of this new course it is quickly growing in popularity and is proving increasingly popular with those not quite ready to attempt the more demanding Russian kettlebell certification and with those who just have a passing interest in this type of training and want to know more and get a cert at the end of the day.
So whether you are a personal trainer who wants to become an expert in delivering kettlebell training instruction or you just love using these unique free weights taking one of the certifications available is something you should definitely consider. Having a bit of paper to say you know what you are talking about is always a good thing when it comes to finding work and clients and although it doesn’t always mean you know what you are talking about it can’t hurt your chances at all. Even if you don’t plan on working as a kettlebell instructor but just want to make sure you are performing your workouts correctly and get a raft of new ideas to help you advance towards your fitness and muscle building goals one of these courses is a great way to spend a day or three and could even save you money in the long run as you won’t have to pay for professional instruction from a holder of one of these kettlebell certifications. These courses are open to those who are at a suitable fitness level and are a great way to devise a tailored kettlebell workouts for women and men alike.