Q: What should I do if I only have an hour?

My sister asked me this the other day, and it's a great question:

Q: Do you do cardio, or strength training if you only have an hour to workout?

A: Both

Hopefully I've explained enough about strength training and the benefits from it. But I'll remind you that if you do an intense strength training routine for a half hour, and then a half hour of cardio (jump roping, swimming, sprinting, running, jogging, biking, walking) it will be more beneficial for you than to have done one hour of strictly cardio. Us women think we want to do ALL cardio because we think it will make us 'skinny'. Yes it burns lots of calories, but an imbalance of it will actually do the opposite of what we really want.

The reason why we workout is to increase or boost our metabolism. Period. So what increases your metabolism the most? Muscle. What happens when you run for an extended period of time at a constant speed? You're doing 'aerobics' so it's mostly momentum and you're not really pushing yourself that hard anyways. Intervals, stop and go, sprints in the pool, on the bike, or on your feet, are much more efficient in boosting your metabolism than an hour run. Combine that with an intense strength training workout (as I have examples in other strength posts), and you'll literally change your body.

Watch for next week's StrengthTuesday because I'll show you a total body workout you can do in your own backyard with only a resistance band.