CELLULITE: NOT JUST AEROBICS!

There are two different types of exercise you should do:

1. Toning: resistance and muscle framing, and

2. Aerobics: heart and lung framing.

Over the last 25 years aerobics – sweat, sweat, sweat – has been idealised by some as the be-all and end-all of exercise. It is not. Aerobics is only one component (heart and lung framing) and should be given the amount of focus that it deserves.

Dr Kenneth Cooper, the US Cardiologist who coined the word aerobics and has promoted its use for over 25 years, now admits he was wrong in emphasising it above everything else. He now contends that the best way to fitness and burning body fat through exercise is to build flexibility into the response of the heart and lung system by short bursts of elevation followed by sudden recovery, followed by demanding activity again. Again and again. That’s interval framing.

Just as important is exercise that strengthens your muscles and particularly your bones. The only way to do that is to do resistance exercises, remembering that weight training does not require moving heavier and heavier weights until you look like Mike Tyson. It can be any weight:

• Spend 50% of your time doing toning work on your muscles and,

• 50% of your time on aerobic work.

When you do that you will lose fat faster than if you spend all your time doing aerobic-based repetitive exercises that generate sweat. A program that just adds more and more low intensity work with no real emphasis on developing aerobic power or muscle toning power will result in minimal fitness.

Divide exercises evenly between the two and your body will improve in shape dramatically and you will lose body fat much faster.

The result of toning work will be: added lean muscle tissue on your body, changing your body composition in favour of muscle instead of fat. This in turn increases your body’s metabolism and your ability to burn off cellulite much faster. Read Strong Women Stay Slim by Miriam Nelson PhD and Sarah Wernick PhD. The title of the book is true!

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