I know. You don't want to look bulky. But you won't, unless you use steroids or just have superior muscle building genetics that most guys will be envious of. I mean, how often do you see a muscular woman? To those who are 'bulky' and think they have 'big bones' or have too much muscle, please, stop cheating yourself. It's fats you need to lose to achieve your ideal figure. This will be a long article but if you finish reading it I'm sure you will benefit from it I'll first touch a bit on nutrition and dieting since I feel it's the most important aspect to fat loss. It sounds simple enough- eat less than you expend and you lose weight, eat more than you expend and you gain weight. This is true till a certain point where further decrease in food intake does not result in a decrease in weight anymore. This happens due to a decrease in metabolic rate. The body tries hard to preserve whatever it has, so it essentially shuts the body down. Hormonal levels are also affected. You feel weak, restless and lethargic. Frustrated too, due to lack of progress. You overeat and the weight piles back on. What you need is strength training which helps build muscle, or at least allows you to preserve whatever muscle you have during dieting (harsh dieting causes quick muscle loss). It does so by placing stress on your muscles, constantly challenging them for the body to feel a need to keep them or even build them. A note about cardio or aerobic work. Believe it or not, doing cardio (running swimming etc) is not essential for fat loss, at least not for individuals with high body fat levels. It is because cardio only expends calories during the period you're doing them. This can be easily achieved by eating less. It does nothing to help increase metabolic rate after exercise. On the other hand, weight training builds muscle, thus having an indirect effect on increasing metabolism. In addition, studies have shown that metabolic rate can be elevated for 24 hours after a weight training session! Clearly it is the superior choice for people seeking fat loss. However, cardio is recommended for cardiovascular health, duh.

I'm gonna bet that 99% of you reading this wants a better figure. I'll elaborate on how weight training will accomplish this. One huge benefit of weight training is its effect on raising metabolism and keeping it elevated for extended periods. This effect is more profound in weight training than aerobic type workouts like running. Your metabolism drops back to normal after you complete such activities, unlike weight training. An elevated metabolism causes a greater amount of fat loss due to a greater calorie deficit. So you achieve your goals faster. Imagine this - You diet for extended periods of time without weight training and you lose WEIGHT - muscle plus fat. As you continue your metabolism becomes lower and lower and you take more time to lose the same amount of weight. Besides that, you feel flabby all over due to muscle loss, not to mention decreases in strength, which may even affect daily activities. So in the end you get a smaller version of your overweight self before, only weaker and hungrier.

Just a short note. You might think I'm bullshitting cause I said eat less than you expend and you lose weight. Common sense tells you to eat less during a fat loss phase. How then is it possible to gain muscle? Well, here's the good news for beginners. Since weight training is new to them, this new stimulus (stress by weights on body) builds muscle effectively, sometimes even on a negative caloric diet. I should add that this applies to beginners with higher levels of body fat only. Meal timings especially around workouts help in muscle building too. That is why it's common to hear beginners gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously while it's very hard for experienced trainees to do that, unless they're on drugs or have laid off training for an extended period. Bone mineral loss and osteoporosis are major problems for women and steps should be taken to build strong bones from young. Strength training is the only activity that can continually place stress on your bones for them to maintain strength and slow bone loss. It can be taken up by anyone young or old. Hip fractures are not fun at all really.

Another little benefit : Increased chest size. This is not due to an increase in the amount of fatty tissue in your breasts (although we hope so) but the hypertrophy or growth of muscle tissues in the chest and back area. This gives the illusion of a bigger bust line. In addition, some flesh in the hip area helps too. Combined with a small waistline, this gives you the hourglass figure everyone is talking about.

While we're on this I also want to talk about this huge misconception we have of weight training. High repetition work does not burn fat and tone muscle, at least not to that specific area of your body. Doing high repetition with light weight may increase muscle glycogen depletion and may increase rate of fat loss but that is done in conjunction to a negative caloric intake. Your main training should still focus on moving heavy weights since that's the only way to provide stimulus for the body. So doing 500 situps per day will not give you a six pack, not when your tummy is covered by a thick layer of fats. Similarly, working your biceps with pink baby weights for 5 minutes a piece won't 'tone' it up. Training with light weights and high reps will not help much in strength gains too (except endurance strength, which isn't really important in real life unless you require it in your activity).

Another popular dogma is that muscle will turn into fats when you stop training them. I shake my head when I hear this. How ignorant can people be? Muscle tissues and fat tissues are different altogether, just as skin is to bones. You can't simply turn your skin into bones can you? Some people do get fat when they stop training, as with many bodybuilders. They lose muscle without training, causing a drop in metabolism rate. Yet, they continue to eat equally large amounts of food like when they're training. Hence, the excess calories consumed results in fat gain. The loss of muscle coupled with the fat gain makes people think that muscles turned into fats. So, Dieting without weight training = loss of fats and muscle = smaller version of yourself, but flabby and weak Dieting with weight training = loss of fats and maintaining muscle mass = toned and strong Its clear who is the winner.

To recap: Dieting breaks down muscles, weight training builds them back Muscles are crucial in boosting metabolism. Strength training is more beneficial than cardio workouts Strength train for bone health High repetition work is quite useless

Other benefits of strength training:
Weight training energizes you
Weight training makes you strong. Strength gives you confidence and makes daily activities easier.
Weight training makes you less prone to low-back injuries
Weight training decreases your resting blood pressure
Weight training decreases your risk of developing adult onset diabetes
Weight training decreases your gastrointestinal transit time, reducing your risk for developing colon cancer
Weight training increases your blood level of HDL cholesterol (the good type)
Weight training improves your posture
Weight training improves the functioning of your immune system
Weight training lowers your resting heart rate, a sign of a more efficient heart
Weight training improves your balance and coordination
Weight training elevates your mood
Supercharge your fat burning capabilities today with strength training!
Thank you for your time.