- Ben Greenfield

Building a strong, lean, muscular frame is not just for bodybuilders.

Muscle reduces stress on tendons, ligaments and joints, regulates hormones and blood sugar levels and adds to your metabolic engine.

Strength training increases bone density considerably.

An often overlooked fact is that when we have strong and mobile muscles all doing the 'job' they are supposed to do our body is in its correct position and our outward appearance is more confident looking. Being more upright also 'stretches' out our wobbly bits that may be present i.e. our tummies!

We've all done the 'body language' courses at work where they talk about pulling shoulders back, aligning feet etc to look and feel more confident. With strong muscles you don't have to PUT yourself in this position as you will always already BE in that position...think about that one for a second :-D

Ladies...adding muscle doesn't make you bulky...I've never had a female client say she has built up too much muscle mass (I've trained over a hundred), invariably as they get more they want more. Even if this one of their initial fears. You will never wake up 'massive' overnight..if you do, tell the rest of us what you did and you will be rich!

Your work outs should focus on this with a lesser emphasis on fat loss as this will happen as a matter of course.

Smashing yourself up with far too much cardio day in day out focussing on 'burning' calories is absolutely not the way to lose fat.This type of training could see you spinning your wheels or, even worse, over training or injury. 

There is a time and a place for that which must be properly planned in and balanced with mobility, rest, nutrition and lifting heavy stuff!.

Grab those bigger weights!

J