How many of you want to get fit, lose some weight or maybe you want to add some weight, but the sound of going to the gym is intimidating or you just don’t have the time or desire to be at the gym for hours every day? Did you know none of this is necessary? In fact, you can get great results and transform your body without the gym or without spending hours in the gym, if you do go to the gym.
How many of you have you bought an exercise program promising the body of your dreams in 6 weeks or 12 weeks, or 21 days or whatever, only to buy said program, follow it and not have the body of your dreams? Sound familiar? I have lost count of how many of these I’ve purchased. Now, to be fair, it’s not that they did nothing for me. In many cases I lost some weight and/or saw some change in my physique. But the bottom line is they get you on this promise of what they really cannot deliver. There are simply too many factors that go into changing your body composition, and that’s really what most of us want, yet we end up chasing a certain number on the scale. Most of us wouldn’t care what the heck the scale said if we looked like whatever goal we have in our minds. Now the fitness industry wouldn’t be as huge as it is if everybody realized this. The truth is, you can absolutely change your body without buying a program or spending half your day working out in the gym. All you really need is a good routine, consistency, and good nutrition. I have other posts on the nutrition portion, but today I am telling you the best way to transform your body with exercise. The answer is strength training.
When I first started exercising, the thought of stepping foot in a gym was terrifying. I was so self-conscious, like extremely. I was certain people would be staring at me and making fun of me. I had no desire to lift weights because I thought weightlifting was only for men and thought I would get bigger and end up looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I was convinced I had to do cardio for as much time as possible every day to lose any weight. I knew the concept that if you burn more than you eat, then you lose weight. While this may technically be true, you won’t end up with the physique you’re actually striving for.
Eventually I did venture into the gym after about a year doing intense home cardio videos and running hadn’t gotten me the results I wanted. I started reading about weightlifting and I eventually got a gym membership, got some basics from a trainer, and got started with lifting, which I still love to this day. So, I added weightlifting to my routine. I would workout in the morning before work. I lifted for 45 minutes and then did 30-45 minutes of cardio. I did this for years. Decades even. It’s only been in the last couple years that I scaled this back and dropped the obsession with cardio.
Without realizing it, I was actually messing up my hormones and making it an uphill battle for myself to lose fat or weight, because of the way I was working out, particularly the cardio. The lie that you have to burn as many calories as possible and eat as little food as possible to look a certain way was so ingrained in my being that even after I started learning this was a lie it still took me a few years to actually allow myself to start working out differently. It was hard to accept that less cardio was actually better. I don’t want anyone to struggle as long as I did trying to figure all this out. I want to share what I learned and how I work out now so you don’t spend years of trial and error, and disappointment and discouragement, like I did. So, let’s get into it.
There are a few different approaches you can take here, but the key to transforming your body is strength training; you need muscle mass, and you get muscle from strength training.
What about cardio? Ok, ladies, we have been so misled about cardio. I want to focus most of this on strength training, but I feel like it’s important to address this first. As I mentioned earlier, there’s a deeply ingrained misconception for us ladies that cardio is king when it comes to fat loss or weight loss. While cardio is important and good for you in many ways, most of the time, most of us are doing it all wrong. I am guilty of this myself. There was a time, I was doing cardio as part of my weightlifting and then doing cardio for 30-45 minutes after weightlifting. NO! Just no. Stop doing this kind of stuff.
Yes, cardio is beneficial and it can absolutely be part of a good workout routine. But if you include it, you need to make sure it is working for you and not against you. You should be spending about 20-30 minutes max on cardio, at about 60% of your max heart rate. If you are huffing and puffing for 30-45 minutes, you are putting yourself in adrenaline/fight or flight. This wreaks all kinds of havoc for your hormones and over time will end up working against you.
All you really need for cardio is walking. Seriously, this is enough. It is good for you. You will burn more fat more efficiently by including some walking for cardio. There are also other types you can do if you prefer, if you stick to the 60% of your max heart rate rule. To determine this, get your max heart rate first. Start by subtracting your age from 220. Once you have that number multiply it by 0.6. That is where you want to be for cardio. Another way I do this, for those with a fit bit, is stay out of the “cardio” heart rate and in the “fat burn” heart rate on your watch. But, you should know your 60% based on this calculation so you know the max, since sometimes the watch/fit bit can be off.
Many of us ladies, want lean, toned legs. We want toned arms and shoulders. I nice booty and maybe some natural lift in the chest. We want a smaller waist and flat tummy. You need muscle to get this, friends. So, strength training should be the priority. You can do a strength training routine at home or you can go to the gym. You can get a great strength training workout at home with or without equipment. There are all sorts of exercises and workouts you can find based on body weight or using things you already have in your home.
If you want to get some equipment or have some already, there are many affordable things. Some examples are:
- Resistance band
- Booty bands/resistance tube
- Dumbbells
- Stability ball
- Kettle bell
- Weight plates
You can build on this over time too. Personally, I love resistance bands. I use them anytime I travel or when I can’t get to the gym. You can find them at Target or Walmart and I have a really great set I found on Amazon that has multiple levels of resistance as well as tubes and it was less than $40. You can also do a mix, using dumbbells and resistance bands.
Form your Schedule and Routine
So, how do you form a strength training workout routine and schedule? First, prioritize it and carve it into your day and make that time non-negotiable. I know as moms, we give and do for everyone else and we end up at the bottom of the priority list. As counterintuitive as it may seem, you have got to flip that around and put yourself at the top. You can do better for everyone who depends on you when you are at your best and that means taking care of yourself first.
Second, decide how much time you can devote to your workouts each week. I’ve had times where I just did two days a week strength training and others where I had six days a week. Determine this based on where you are, how much time you might need to be carving out to establish a routine for the first time, and what feels manageable for you. If that means Tuesdays and Thursdays to start, great. There are lots of free routines you can find out there for almost any schedule.
Whatever routine/schedule you land on, next is to determine when. Are you going to work out in the morning? At lunchtime? After work? Whatever it is make sure it is a part of the day you know you will be able to stick to consistently and won’t be interrupted. You need a minimum of 30 minutes for strength training up to an hour, but I’d recommend 30-45 minutes tops. Some of this depends on the schedule you pick too.
Select and Plan your Workouts
One of the great things about this technology age we are in is the access we have to information. There are so many resources available right on the internet. You can find all kinds of free workouts online for women. You can find at-home workouts or gym workouts, workouts without equipment and workouts with equipment. If you don’t mind spending a few bucks a month, there are tons of apps out there you can use. I write my own workouts for weightlifting and sometimes use the apps for cardio. One of the tools I love for doing this are those little pocket notebooks. There are also trackers specifically for workouts you can use to write your workouts and track your progress. I am particularly fond of trackers and I recently published one specifically for health and fitness tracking. I’ve included an image of the daily tracker page here (it also has progress trackers for measurements and weight). I published two different exterior designs with the same interior. You can find them on Amazon: https://a.co/d/5iLAoyp or https://a.co/d/drCg2LL These are also under the store here on the website.
In addition to trackers, there are also some great books you can get that have all the basics for you to develop your workout routine. One of my all-time favorites is called the Body Sculpting Bible for Women. It’s older but a great resource. I bought it over 20 years ago and I still use it to this day.
Another thing to keep in mind is basic, simple moves. You will see all kinds of crazy, over the top workouts as you’re looking stuff up. Again, I am telling you this as someone who has done all that. And, yes, there were times it was rewarding; like you wow yourself at what you can do. However, what’s your aim here? You want to hit your body goal and you want to be able to maintain it, right? So it has to be something you can maintain long term.
Seriously, all you really need (in addition to good nutrition) is a good, consistent strength training routine. You will get some cardio effect from a good strength training routine as well. You want to make sure you are working all your muscle groups. Whole body strength is important. It is a lie that you can spot train or target just one part of your body and get results. You need to work all your muscle groups.
Plan or write out your workouts for the week. Regardless which schedule you choose for yourself you want to make sure you are getting all the muscle groups in your weekly routine. You can find workouts based on 2-day, 3-day, 4-day, 5-day, or 6-day schedules that lay out which muscle groups on which days. For example, you will see “push days” where you are working chest, triceps, maybe shoulders or “pull days” where you are working your back, biceps, possibly shoulders and the backs of the legs.
These are just a few examples of formats. Again, you can find almost any kind of workout online, from just body weight at home workouts, to those with bands and booty bands, to those involving weights, or even for the gym. Another great option is apps. There are both free and paid apps that have some routines you can use and also help as tracking tools.
Track Workouts and Progress
Once you have your schedule and initial workouts planned, it’s time to get started. When you’re starting out with strength training, it’s always better to go lighter on the amount of weight or resistance and make sure you are doing really good on the form. The form is key. An example of this with bodyweight workouts is using modified versions of the exercises as you start, such as pushups on your knees instead of your feet. As you get stronger you can progress.
This brings us to the next thing. How do you progress with strength training? First, you have to know where you start, because in order to keep making progress toward your goal, you have to keep challenging the body. This is done by increasing the amount you lift. Similar to starting, you gradually add resistance or weight every so many weeks, as you get stronger. So, if you start doing an overhead shoulder press at 3 pound dumbbells and 12 repetitions, when that starts to feel easy, that’s when you need to increase the weight to maybe 5 pound dumbbells for example. Similarly, if you’re doing the bodyweight workouts, the progression in the push up example would be from knees to on your toes.
You are not going to get bulky or end up looking like the hulk. I promise. But you do need to lift as heavy or use as much resistance as you can each workout. As you build muscles and increase strength you will shrink. You will burn more fat throughout the day and your body will start to change in composition. This is one of the reasons the scale is not a good measure of progress. You can stay the same weight for months but lose inches or drop sizes. Trust me, I speak from experience.
For example, When I initially started one of the previous programs I did a few years back, I initially lost about 25 pounds in about 3-4 months. Then I stopped losing pounds. However, I was consistently losing inches on my body and I dropped 4 sizes in about 7 months. So, my weight hadn’t changed, but my body looked completely different. This is why I say pictures are probably your best progress measure. I still use pictures. The bottom line is make sure you are also tracking your progress physically. I highly recommend avoiding the scale for a while if it triggers you. The mental game of the scale is no joke and it isn’t worth sending yourself into an emotional tailspin when you’re getting going on this. That said, use measurements. Measure your waist, hips, thighs, arms, chest, shoulders, and neck. I recommend about once a month, but you could also do this every two weeks. Write it down and measure in the same places each time you check your progress. Here is a picture of the progress tracking sheets from my fitness tracker. You can see the key body parts to measure regularly.
Get Enough Sleep
Last, but just as important as the rest is get enough sleep. I thought nothing of this for years, but similar to overdoing the cardio, inadequate or poor-quality sleep is just as counterproductive to your efforts. You need to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. If you get less than this, say 6 ½, then dial your workout back. Just do a few of the planned exercises or dial back what you lift or use for resistance to about 60% your normal amount. If you’re getting less than that, hold off on your strength training until you are getting at least 7 hours of sleep. Most of what you want to see in terms of physical changes is happening while you sleep. So, you need to give your body the rest it needs to build the muscle you are working so hard to get.
So, to sum it up:
- Strength training over cardio (though you should do some cardio, just keep it within the guidelines I laid out).
- Set your workout schedule and routine.
- Aim for 30-45 minute strength training workouts.
- Make sure you work every muscle group each week.
- Plan your workouts ahead, to save time when you are doing your workouts.
- Track your exercises, amount of weight lifted or amount of resistance used.
- Continue to progress by using as much weight or resistance as you can to challenge your body.
- Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night.
- Enjoy this! This can be so fun and enjoyable if you keep it simple and look at this as a way to take care of yourself and love yourself.
So, that’s how you can transform your body without spending hours at the gym or doing grueling exercises. I hope you will try this out and make this a part of your normal routine. You deserve to be healthy, happy, and fit! I promise you if you stick to this formula and take the pressure of a certain weight or amount of time off yourself, this will become your favorite me time. There is so much more you will gain from this than that goal physique.
I would love for you to get started with strength training and see how your body transforms. Share in the comments how you are going to get started. If you found this helpful and want to continue the pursuit of faith, fitness, and joy with me, check out my podcast, Faith Fitness Joy. You can also follow Faith Fitness Joy on Facebook and Instagram.
Thanks for checking this out! I hope to see you in the comments and on the socials!