A Case For Weights.

Risky Beads

When I first started going to the gym, I headed straight to the treadmill and started running (well, it was probably more like jogging back then, to be honest, but get the picture). I pounded the treadmill for 20 minutes a day. Every day. At first, I lost a few kilos but after a while, I stopped seeing any rewards on the scales. So I upped my cardio. But still, the weight didn't budge. Cue sad face.

Then someone told me that it was more effective to watch what I ate than train like a crazy person. So I booked in with a nutritionist. She gave me lots of healthy pointers (and she wasn't even fazed when I greeted her with, "Hi, I'm Alice – and just so you know I don't eat any weird beans or tofu crap"). But one of her unexpected pieces of advice was the recommendation that I start doing weights.

So I went into the weights room to do my 20 prescribed weight-assisted tricep dips, took one look at the machine and decided, no sir, weights were not for me. What I really needed, I figured, was a trainer to show me how to run faster. Yep, that would burn those calories faster than any stinky tricep dips. But ten minutes into our session, I was standing next to my trainer, staring at... the tricep machine. Weights, he tells me, you gotta do weights.

And he was right. He wasn't cheap, but he was the best investment I've ever made in my health, because since I started incorporating weight training into my workout regime, I've lost five kilos. Weight training builds muscle and muscle burns fat. That's the basic idea.

Don't get me wrong, I still love a good sweat session, but instead of going all out on the treadmill and trying to smash 10km in an hour, now I run for 40 minutes and pump iron for 20. It's a balance that works for me.

And if you want to read a really interesting article about why hardcore cardio might have you literally running down the wrong path to weight-loss, try reading this.