Resist the temptation

re·sist·ance   [ri-zis-tuhns]
noun
1.
the act or power of resisting, opposing, or withstanding.
2.
the opposition offered by one thing, force, etc., to another.

Resistance. My method of choice when training. It along with a proper nutrition program are directly responsible for building and toning muscle. Fact: From age 30 to age 70 we can lose more than 25% of the type 2 muscle fibers in our bodies (type 2 fibers are our strength fibers). Resistance exercise can actually slow down and in some cases even reverse the aging process by building muscle mass and strength. Not a bad deal. Resistance exercise can raise metabolic rate by increasing the bodies post exercise oxygen consumption. A note on EPOC written by someone not named Austin, but none the less he feels you should know

"EPOC and Weight Management
Because the body continues to expend energy after exercise, EPOC plays a supplemental role to an exercise program in weight management. Currently, researchers are interested in the effect different forms of exercise have on EPOC.
The evidence suggests that a high-intensity, intermittent-type of training (interval training) has a more pronounced effect on EPOC (Haltom et al. 1999). Also, it appears that resistance training produces greater EPOC responses than aerobic exercise (Burleson et al. 1998). The research suggests that high-intensity resistance exercise disturbs the body’s homeostasis to a greater degree than aerobic exercise. The result is a larger energy requirement after exercise to restore the body’s systems to normal (Burleson et al. 1998), and thus an explanation for the higher EPOC. The underlying mechanisms that cause the higher EPOC observed in resistance exercise include elevated blood lactate, and an increase in circulating catecholamines (epinephrine and norepinephrine) and anabolic hormones.
Inspecting the data from several investigations, it appears that EPOC accounts for postexercise expenditure of 51 (Haltom et al. 1999) to 127 (Burleson et al. 1998) kilocalories. Since a pound of fat is equal to 3,500 kilocalories, the effect of EPOC on weight control must be regarded in terms of a cumulative effect over time."

And we're back, hope I didn't lose anyone there when the guest speaker came on. What they were saying is that it cost calories to do work. Simple as that. Also the more muscle your carrying the more it cost to fuel in work. Thus the more muscle you can cultivate the higher your metabolism is going to have to be.

I can literally go on and on about the benefits of resistance training. I can get in to all of the various different types of that mode of training. How with your own body weight and proper techneque you can literally work your entire physique. And how with a isometric or static contraction, you can strengthen and tone your upper, lower body and core. Or how with a simple dumbbell you can either stack on slabs of rock hard muscle or shape and hone finely tuned edges to each and every muscle.

But what really drew me to resistance is the fight. The struggle against the weight, the world, yourself. It's the release. I started off long ago wanting to change something, so I felt the best way to to that was to work at it. And I did work. And it felt good. To have a picture in my mind of an outcome and with my own two hands forge it. By pushing obstacles out of my way and pulling my dreams closer as if my life depended on it. Please forgive me for going off on another tangent again. But seriously there is a release that can be found in resistance, and as strange as this sounds but that guy over there bangin his head to the Game's new CD is practicing his version of Yoga.

In the end you may try resistance training and it might be the polar opposite of your yoga, but I want to caution you to resist the temptation to swear off weights totally. Don't be that guy or that gal, that burns up all of your fat burning potential by burning up all or our fat burning potential doing cardio all day long thinking that all your burning up is fat. You get all that? Very good. Until next time, be good.