The Adler Blog

Congratulations, you made a decision towards a better body, got yourself enrolled into ShapeUp Club, as well as your local gym. You are highly motivated, counting calories, hitting the stepper 3 times per week, so the magic should happen, right?

Well, sort of. In the beginning, anyone will have success because you are adding exercise and a healthier diet to your life style. But after a few weeks, most people will also hit a plateau from where not much progress is made.

So, in other words: what is the most efficient way to get in shape? The answer might surprise you…total-body weight-workouts.

“Training with weights for fat loss?!!! That’s absurd, since cardio burns fat and weight training builds muscle!!!”

Not so fast – any form of training causes energy to be lost while performing the activity. Weight training and cardio burn approximately the same amount of calories per hour but weight training has one enormous advantage: it elevates your metabolism to the tune of approximately 200-500 calories (depending on your size) for another 24 to 48 hours after the session end. On the other hand, studies suggest that the calorie-burning effect of cardio stops the moment you step off the bike. In conclusion, if you perform 3 weight sessions a week, this will give you an extra 600-1,500 calories you drop. Not too shabby, right?
In addition, only weight training can truly reshape your body since cardio doesn’t build any muscle.
Here is my advice: as a beginner, you should pick one exercise for the legs (squats or leg press), one for the back (rows or pull ups) and one for the chest (bench or dips) and perform 4 sets of each. This would be a typical lay out for a beginner at Adler Training.
Make sure you increase the weights by 5% per week to continue challenging your body. As Arnold said:” If you lift weights like grandma, you will have muscle like grandma.”
Now, this statement probably should be revisited, since there are are some extremely fit and strong grand mothers out there, but you get the point: progression is key!
Yours in sport,
Scott and MaikLunges