Strong is Beautiful

Many of you already know that I love lifting. However, for those of you that have asked me specific questions about my workout routine, I thought that I'd take the opportunity to provide you with some insight in this week's post.

In my teen years I was definitely a cardio bunny! I would do cardio 5-7 days a week, but I wasn't 100% happy with my body. Even though I was dedicating about 10-15 hours per week on intense HIIT workouts on the treadmill, spin classes, and running many miles outdoors, I would still feel discouraged because I wasn't getting the results that I wanted.

Luckily after some research and newly acquired knowledge on the physiology of muscle growth and fat loss, I finally started to see the results that I've been looking for! The results were definitely not immediate, but after about 3 months of strength training I was finally starting to notice that my body was becoming more defined. The best piece of advice that I could give if you're new to working out is to have a plan. Do your homework, ask questions, and/or seek professional help from a personal trainer. Check out my good friend Joey, owner of Flux Athletics, for individualized training programs! He's the best and I love using his training programs for new ideas!

Don't get me wrong because cardio still has a very special place in my heart and I believe that it's one of the best things that you can do for your mind and your body, it's just that I don't "overdo it" anymore. Specifically for my cardio workouts, I belong to Orangetheory Fitness Arrowhead and attend classes 2-3 days per week. I personally like it because there's a trainer pushing my limits, which has overall helped me become a better athlete. Not only that, but Orangetheory Fitness also focuses on strength training so it's not only cardio. There are many people that just do Orangetheory and have amazing results. However, I prefer my workouts to have about 75% strength training and 25% cardio, where Orangetheory typically is divided into 50% strength training and 50% cardio. Based on my fitness goals, I personally need more strength training. Half of the 60 minute class at Orangetheory is spent on the treadmill doing HIIT and the other half of the class is spent in the weight room doing circuit training with weights. I highly recommend checking out Orangetheory especially if you're just getting started. It's the best one hour workout in the country, you have a trainer helping you, you get a sense of community, and you are able to get well rounded workout focusing on both strength training and cardio.

As for my strength training, I go to a regular gym about 4-5 days per week and I make sure that I target each muscle group at least once and I sometimes target my legs and shoulders twice since they need the most work. I also like to try and maximize my strength in my workouts by working out opposing muscle groups together like legs and shoulders and not primary and secondary muscles groups together like chest and triceps or biceps and back. I've personally seen better results this way. I also change up my workouts every few weeks to keep my body guessing so that I don't hit a plateau. I like to do something active every day of the week so if I spend 4 days at my regular gym I will do 3 days of Orangetheory Fitness and if I spend 5 days at my regular gym I will do 2 days of Orangetheory Fitness. See my Sample Weekly Workout routine below.

Sample Weekly Workout:

• legs and core day

• Orangetheory Fitness

• shoulders, triceps, and back day

• Orangetheory Fitness

• chest, core, and biceps day

• legs and shoulder day

• Orangetheory Fitness

Compared to most girls, I lift pretty heavy. I too was nervous about getting too bulky when I first started lifting. However, I quickly realized that the heavier that I would lift, the more toned my body was getting. I was cutting body fat percentage and building muscle. Not to mention, muscle takes up less space than fat because muscles are more dense and compact so I'm definitely smaller now than I was when I was a cardio bunny! I honestly feel more feminine now than ever before and I truly embrace the beauty of my muscles.

I hope this post serves you with some motivation or is at least somewhat eye opening. If you have any further questions or if you'd like any advice on any workouts specifically feel free to reach out! I look forward to hearing about your thoughts and experience.

Stay healthy!

Via

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