Women’s Fitness – Bodyweight Exercises vs. Weight Machines

So, the question here is, what is the best exercise to lose weight and get toned?

Let’s look at weight machines first?

Weight Machines

There are lots of reasons why people avoid weight training. One of them is that it can be pretty intimidating, especially for women.

There are free weights you can use at home and weight machines at the gym sand they all offer the same bodyweight exercises benefits because they help to build strength.

However, they all require you to invest. You will need to invest into buying the machines along with a little bit of more knowledge on how to properly use the equipment. This means, you will first need to meet with a trainer.

People also believe weight machines provide a narrow range of motion and they only target certain muscle groups all at once.

Bodyweight Exercise

Bodyweight exercises and using free weights too, on the other hand, might be better when it comes to simultaneously working several muscles in different directions.

For people that are new to strength training, they can start from bodyweight exercises. Bodyweight exercises are extremely modifiable, convenient and accessible.

For bodyweight workouts, you don’t need gym membership or any equipment to do them. You only need your body and enough space for you to jump around a little bit.

They’re very, enough that anybody can do them on their own. You don’t really need to be supervised or be scared of injuring yourself while you are at it

Bodyweight Exercises Vs. Weight Machines

When comparing bodyweight exercises to weight machines or heavy free weight, it is more forgiving to use your own body. Your body also allows you to easily adjust the workout to your fitness level.

Many women fear weightlifting of any kind. Most believe it will change their body composition to make them look less feminine or more masculine.

Are you also scared that instead of burning calories, you’ll “bulk up” from strength building? That is not true. Naturally, the female body is great at becoming stronger, more toned and leaner.

However, not so much that you will be putting on big amounts of muscle, which are noticeable like those of men.

A lot of women actually become “tighter” and smaller when they add strength workouts to their fitness routines. This way, they tend to lose body fat. Additionally, muscle does not take up much space as fat does, even if you weigh more.

This brings us to a good point on cardio workouts.

Cardio Workout Vs Strength-training or Bodyweight Exercises

Building muscle is quite effective at keeping your metabolism revved up. However, just doing cardio doesn’t have the same effect on your metabolic rate.

In fact, overdoing cardio can result in the opposite effect, if you don’t have enough rest. You might make yourself vulnerable to joint damage and oxidative by doing long cardio workouts. This can further lead to pains, injuries and illness.

Ordinary cardio workouts, such as the steady-state types like cycling, swimming and running are all great ways to improve heart health, stamina and endurance while busting stress.

However, alone they can make you susceptible to muscle-wasting as a result of overtraining and aging. It can as well cause a depression on the immune system by largely inflaming the body and raising cortisol levels.

According to researches, adults who do much cardio exercise can still stay generally fit properly from aerobic activity, but form their untrained area, they tend to lose some muscle mass.

Let’s look at runners for instance. They might have their muscle stay the same size and the same strength in their legs as well, but the muscle mass in their arms and core might decrease.

Long-term cardio like running marathons can end up to have some effects on the body over time such as neurotransmitter function, altered hormone levels, bone loss and joint wear-out.

Here Is A Better Idea

Work at building muscle all through the whole body by alternating cardio workouts with bodyweight training and strength. You will also be able to prevent burn-out, boredom and injuries.

Conclusion on Bodyweight Exercises vs. Weight Machines

Truly, cardio has its benefits but nothing can beat strength training when it comes to weight management for the long term. And for strength training, bodyweight workouts are the least expensive, most convenient and safest workouts to do.

They use your own bodyweight to exercise and build muscle that helps you to burns fat, even long after you are done with your workout.

To people who find gym membership costly or intimidated by weight machines, bodyweight exercises are more attractive. Adam Steer, the author of the Bodyweight Burn system mentioned that the benefits that come with bodyweight workouts are much more than just building lean muscle mass.

You will also enjoy improved heart health, improved mood, strengthened bones and joints. Bodyweight exercises also helps to maintain cognitive function and prevent and treat diabetes.

You can ditch all those excuses and start your strength training today with bodyweight exercises.

You’ll look better, feel better and enjoy a finely shaped body.