Lets face it, those of us who are regularly attending the gym all have a very similar motive.

Although the reasons vary between wanting to be healthier or feel better they all come back to one defining point. We all want to change the shape of our bodies. Whether you want to be bigger, smaller, firmer or more defined the answer is in your strength training program.

Strength training is the most important aspect of speeding up your metabolism and maintaining a sculpted physique. The more muscle you have, the more fat you will burn, both during exercise and also at rest.  Muscle tissue is a great calorie-burner, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn even long after your workout. One kilogram of muscle will burn 100 calories a day at rest.

Regular strength training has been proven to reduce abdominal fat and produce a firmer body.  A study published in The American journal of Clinical Nutrition had overweight women aged 25 to 44 engage in strength training session twice a week whilst the control group completed only aerobic activity. The strength training group lost more body fat in total, but they also had far less abdominal fat increases than the control group.

By Bethany Massey