It's not all about the cardio.

I hope as you are reading this you have successfully completed your first week of your New Years Resolutions. If you have fallen off the wagon, was it because your goal was unrealistic? If you set a goal that you knew was too difficult you might have set yourself up for failure. I applaud your vision but maybe it needs a little tweaking to help you get back on track.

If your goal was to exercise 6 days a week and you weren't working out at all prior to January 1st, I would congratulate you and then help you revise this if you weren't able to get all 6 workouts in. Resolutions are about long term change and baby steps are what it will take for your to create a new habit. .

If weight loss was your goal and you thought that gluing your hands to any piece of cardio equipment before and after work was the answer this isn't your best option either. With all that I have been reading it reinforced the fact that doing straight cardio isn't going to give you exactly what you're looking for. Yes you will be burning mad amounts of calories but the accuracy of those after you've sweater out on the treadmill for an hour might not be as accurate as you would like.

Consider this. When you are doing cardio are you holding onto the rails with white knuckles? Are you leaning on the bars on the stair climber? If so you are burning approximately 20-30% less calories than you could be so take those arms off the machine and tone it down a little. Also, if you think you actually burned a 1000 calories it doesn't take into consideration you age, height, gender etc. It is a rough estimate and those calories burned are not so you can binge at a girls night but to burn your normal days worth of food. Food is fuel people. You didn't work your butt off so that you can eat a burger you worked your butt off to look good.

If you need to tweak your plan try a ratio. If you want to commit 4 days a week to working out 25% percent of that should be cardio and the rest should be weight training. The more lean muscle you can put on and no you won't beef up will help you burn more calories though out the day. Start lifting weights and put on that extra lean muscle with a side of cardio and you will notice big gains without living on the treadmill.

Remember that isn't not all about the cardio. It's a great place to start and create habits but if you are changing your lifestyle you might as well go all out and do it right. Besides, who doesn't want a tight tush and nice arms? Something a treadmill won't necessarily give you. If you don't know where to start; lunges, squats and push ups are a great place and don't require equipment or a gym. You can do them anywhere!

Good luck and stay on track. Don't worry if your strayed a little from your plan. Maybe it just needs to be revised. Take sometime to do that and get back to business! You can do it.

xo

Nic