Hi Shan..
I think strength training is AWESOME!! Anything that builds muscle is a fabulous way to boost your metabolism and it does continue to burn fat long after the workout is over!
Weights (lighter weights, more repetitions); pilates, yoga, stability ball work, etc all count as strength training.
However, I just want to caution you on the guy who sells his "Cardio Free Diet". I've looked into this before to advise somebody who asked me about it. What Jim Karas doesn't usually say in his interviews is that for women, his "Cardio Free Diet" consists of maintaining a 1200 calorie diet. 1200 calories!!!! That's not healthy IMO. So he has you do strength intervals 3 times per week and eat basically nothing
. It's not a healthy way to lose weight. Cardio is so good for your heart and lung capacity. It builds endurance. It needs to be balanced with strength and flexibility.
The other thing I think about running, is that the body gets used to certain muscle activity. Therefore, I highly recommend to my clients and friends that you add other forms of cardio into your week, such as elliptical, biking, swimming etc. I think it helps keep the body on it's toes and thus leads to better metabolism and use of different muscle groups.
You can't go wrong using the strength training as XT
. I highly recommend whatever form works best for you. But please don't fall into that guys trap of no cardio 
...I truly believe he's just trying to make money off people who don't like to do cardio and want a quick fix.
Best of luck Shan. And for what it's worth...I think you already look fantastic girl!
I think strength training is AWESOME!! Anything that builds muscle is a fabulous way to boost your metabolism and it does continue to burn fat long after the workout is over!
Weights (lighter weights, more repetitions); pilates, yoga, stability ball work, etc all count as strength training.However, I just want to caution you on the guy who sells his "Cardio Free Diet". I've looked into this before to advise somebody who asked me about it. What Jim Karas doesn't usually say in his interviews is that for women, his "Cardio Free Diet" consists of maintaining a 1200 calorie diet. 1200 calories!!!! That's not healthy IMO. So he has you do strength intervals 3 times per week and eat basically nothing
. It's not a healthy way to lose weight. Cardio is so good for your heart and lung capacity. It builds endurance. It needs to be balanced with strength and flexibility. The other thing I think about running, is that the body gets used to certain muscle activity. Therefore, I highly recommend to my clients and friends that you add other forms of cardio into your week, such as elliptical, biking, swimming etc. I think it helps keep the body on it's toes and thus leads to better metabolism and use of different muscle groups.
You can't go wrong using the strength training as XT
. I highly recommend whatever form works best for you. But please don't fall into that guys trap of no cardio ...I truly believe he's just trying to make money off people who don't like to do cardio and want a quick fix.Best of luck Shan. And for what it's worth...I think you already look fantastic girl!
Are you going?
)
