Â
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. It would be great to have toned and sexy arms and bodies, but not if it affects our home and social life.
You will be pleased to know that you need not work out for hours in order to achieve your dream body. Below we will bust apart three of the most commonly held myths about building muscle.
Mistake Number. 1 – You have to workout for hours to make any difference
Even working out for more than an hour can start to have an adverse effect on the body. This is because over excercising can cause problems such as injuries, pain, and increase stress on the body. This can cause you to feel anxious, lethargic and exhausted.
The key is to keep your workout short, but intense. An intensive workout for 20 minutes is just as effective. Keep your intensity high for the whole 20 minutes and try and get a sweat going within the first 5 minutes. It is certainly easier to fit in 20 minutes of intense exercise into your routine than longer sessions.
Myth No. 2 - Lifting weights will make you look big and bulky
Even when women work out with heavy weights, they still have lean and toned bodies. 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 any weights as this will stop you from building muscle, raising metabolism and burning calories efficiently. The solution is to use weights that are as heavy as you can lift for 6-12 repetitions. 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. Imagine that you could be burning calories even whilst sitting watching TV. This is called the after-burn effect. This doesn't happen if you only do low or medium intensity workouts.
In order to take advantage of the after-burn effect, you should work out at a high intensity for at least 20 minutes and make sure every minute count. Lift weights, that are as heavy as you can lift safely, for between 6-12 repetitions only. 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 common myths about building muscle. 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. That sounds great to me!