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Resistance Exercises

Mix up your Fitness Program with Resistance in your Workout

Even if you’re already doing cardio three or more times a week, resistance exercises added to that routine can make a huge different in your fitness level. While cardio exercises do an excellent job of improving your overall fitness, conditioning, and endurance while giving your heart and lungs a good workout, resistance exercise can really enhance the workout you already get.

Your cardio exercises burn fat, but with resistant exercises you can burn even more when you’re not exercising. This is because resistance tones the muscles. And the more active muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn all the time. Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue, so by exercising your muscles, you boost your metabolism 24 hours a day.

And contrary to popular believe, resistance training exercises don’t have to be about lifting weights and pumping iron. You don’t even have to go near a dumbbell or a barbell if you don’t want to. Of course, lifting weights is an excellent type of resistance training, but there are other ways to achieve the same health benefits.

Any exercise you do, if you’ll hold in your stomach and pretend that your limbs are moving through mud as you move them, you’re getting the benefit of a little resistance. You can do dumbbell curls without weights by simply making the movement and pretending there’s resistance pushing down on your hands as you lift them up, and something pushing them up as you lower them. This tightening of the muscles adds enough resistance to make a difference in your workout, and your muscles.

You can also use things like an exercise ball that you squeeze with your arms and legs, or resistance bands. Resistance bands are some of the most versatile fitness tools available today, and they’re very portable as well as inexpensive. You can do almost any exercise with a resistance band and you’ll get even more from the exercise as well as faster results.

Find a BMI calculator whether online or a formula in a book, and measure your BMI before you start doing resistance exercises and you might find yourself amazed at the difference. But even if your BMI hasn’t changed much in 6 weeks, bear in mind that the BMI doesn’t take muscle weight into consideration and will measure most athletes and bodybuilders as overweight and obese. Take measurements before and throughout your program to see a better picture of your progress.

Resistance exercises aren’t just for slimming down, but can even help you with some problems you experience. Using the bands around your feet when you do rowing exercises, for instance, can help strengthen lower back muscles which support your spine and can help reduce back pain . Resistance exercises that work the thigh muscles can help alleviate knee pain by offering more support. And as you get stronger through resistant exercises, you’ll find that you’re able to do those heart-healthy, fat-burning cardio exercises for longer periods of time, improving your overall health.