Many women believe that the only way to tone flabby arms or any other part of their bodies is to work out for hours in the gym every week. For anyone who has an extremely busy life, this is impossible and unnecessary. We would all like to have beautifully toned arms and bodies, but not at the expense of our family and daily life.
Getting that toned and sexy body you've always wanted doesn't mean you have to work out for hours. Here we will bust apart commonly held belief about building muscle.
Mistake No. 1 - Longer workout sessions are more beneficial
Even working out for one hour or more can start to have a negative effect on the body. This is because the body starts releasing hormones that decrease muscle tone, increase fat storage and increase stress on the body. This can cause you to feel exhausted, anxious, lethargic and even gain weight.
The solution is to keep your workouts short and sweet. Working hard for only 20 minutes is more effective than working for an hour or more. Ideally you want to get a good sweat going within the first 5 minutes and keep up the high intensity for the entire 20 minutes. Everyone can find 20 minutes out of their day to exercise.
Mistake No. 2 – Using weights will make you look bulky
There are many women who work out with heavy weights and they still look lean and toned. They aren't big and bulky and look like a professional bodybuilder! It is a complete myth that using weights will increase bulk – if that were so then you wouldn’t carry heavy shopping bags, pick up your children or do push ups for fear of creating bulky muscles.
It would be a mistake to not use weights because you won’t be able to build lean muscle, raise your metabolism and burn off calories otherwise. The solution is to lift weights that are as heavy as you can handle for between 6-12 repetitions only. It is only by using heavy weights that you can develop lean and sculpted arms.
Myth No. 3 – low or medium intensity workouts are better
When you work out with heavy weights at high intensity, you force your body to increase the amount of calories it burns during your workout, which last for the rest of the day. Even while sitting in front of the computer you could be burning calories. This is called the after-burn effect. This doesn't happen if you only do low or medium intensity workouts.
Take advantage of the after-burn effect by working out at a high intensity for at least 20 minutes. Do 6-12 repetitions using as heavy weights as you can safely lift. You can do a couple of minutes skipping to keep your heart rate going between repetitions and have a 30 second rest before carry on.
We hope this has busted the most commonly held myths about muscle building. If you want to know more about how to tone flabby arms then visit my tone flabby arms website for a complete program that takes less than 90 minutes per week. Now who wouldn't want that!
