There are ✌️ points to consider when approaching your training:
1️⃣What are the calories burned manually while I’m working out?
2️⃣What are the adaptations that this workout is causing?
Consider the side effects of both, which can be 👍 or 👎 *depending on your goal.*
If you are training for endurance or simply trying to burn more calories manually, cardio of any kind is a superb choice. But beware, because make this your primary modality and it is akin to becoming a hybrid vehicle. Your body is built to adapt and become very efficient meaning, over time you will have to work harder to burn fewer calories. Not ideal.
If you are looking to build adaptations that will contribute to raising your metabolism so your body burns more calories on its own, you want to ensure strength training is your primary modality. Think being more ‘inefficient’ when it comes to consuming calories, like a gas-guzzling SUV. Pass the carbs please.
For anyone ready to object with the 'bulky' concern, understand that muscle doesn't make you look bigger - the opposite is true actually because it is much denser in nature than fat tissue. So if you are trying to optimize body recomp in the process, this is where you want to prioritize nutrition alongside your training.
Let me be clear…neither focus is good or bad and both can have application in your programming! But understanding how to prioritize and play the long game is an essential piece to setting the expectation for what will exist in your future.
Your current state is simply the compilation of all the actions you have taken over weeks, months and years.
If you want a different result, you need to take a different action!
For some, maybe that IS adding more cardio activity back into the plan. But for so many women I connect with, it is the latter, who would benefit tremendously from taking a step back from the ‘hybrid’ life and sinking their energy into the glory of lifting weights without the cardio hinged to their workout.
Here are my 3 favorite ladies who know their stuff when it comes to programming for muscle-building and body recomp: