Walking and running will NOT build the muscle you need to increase your metabolism, but the walking/running itself WILL help reduce body fat.
If walking and running is all you do, when you stop exercising, the weight will come back faster than if you were to build muscle from muscle bound resistance training which will allow your metabolism to keep that body fat off. For example, if you watch the Biggest Loser, what happens to all the contestants who leave the show that don't keep the same intensity? They gain the weight back quickly because throughout the show, along with their running, they do more high intensity training (low weight-high reps) and not as much muscle building training (high weight-low reps).
Plus, too much running and no resistance training at all will actually cause your body to burn off muscle. That is why you see a lot of endurance athletes, such as runners or cyclist, have very slim body frames with very little body fat and very little muscle too.
My best advice is to do your running and walking, but never neglect keeping your muscles strong with muscle building exercises because when you are not able to workout (injuries, vacation or old age), you will decrease the amount of body fat that will accumulate and increase the length of your life. Also, make sure you always increase your intensity of your runs/walks because our bodies adapt to the workouts quicker than your think and you will plateau (not get results). Change up all of your workouts every month and you will continue to make progress.
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Adam Freeman
Master Personal Trainer
AdamFreemanPT@yahoo.com
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2 comments:
Thanks for answering my question. Looks like I need to add in some muscle building to my routine. Laura
Thank you for this information. It helps to know how to prioritize my workouts. I sometimes feel lacking if I can only fit in my strength training workout without my cardio.
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