Have you ever stopped to think about WHY you work out the way you do?

If you're like most people you've probably just fallen into the rut of doing the same things from workout to workout with little consideration for WHY you're doing them. For example; most people are presented with a basic programme when they join a gym and follow it blindly for weeks, months or even years without ever taking the time to think about whether or not the programme is right for their own particular requirements.

No wonder so few people achieve the results they desire from their training... they don't even know what their exercises are supposed to do!

It's this simple; exercises are like tools. If you choose the wrong tool to achieve the goals then it'll take you longer to get there, if you ever get there at all! It's like trying to drill a hole using a hammer, it just doesn't make sense... and neither do most peoples workouts.

A prime example of using the wrong tool can be seen if we look at the common approach to cardiovascular training (CVT).

Most women incorporate CVT into their programmes primarily as a method of weight control and body fat reduction. Using all manner of methods from rowers to steppers, treadmills to bikes and cross-trainers to 'aerobics' classes, women in gyms up and down the country, and indeed the world, can be found spending a disproportionate amount of their total training time on exercises that... ...wait for it... ...may actually be making them fatter!

That's right, it's not a typo. The much hailed panacea of aerobic training can actually contribute to making women (and men too) proportionately fatter than before they started training.

Talk about using the wrong tool! We're basically 180 degrees out of phase with our intentions when we train this way.

You see, the way the human body works is paradoxically simple yet complicated at the same time. The simple part of the energy system equation tells us that exercises that are performed at a lower intensity use fat as the primary fuel source and oxygen as a catalyst. Indeed, the very term 'aerobic' means 'with oxygen'. By definition these activities are less taxing and are able to be sustained for longer, almost indefinite periods of time. For example, as you sit there reading this article you're predominantly using your aerobic system.

So, that was the easy bit. Aerobic = low intensity fat burning. Sounds ok doesn't it?

Well, consider this (This is the complex, sciency bit, but bear with it, it's important).

The longer we engage in higher level aerobic activities such as those typically included in a workout, the more we secrete a nasty little group of hormones called 'glucocorticoids', with the stress hormone 'cortisol' chief amongst them. One of the lesser known qualities of cortisol is that it is catabolic in nature, meaning that it breaks down muscle tissue along with fat in order to metabolise this stored energy for immediate fuel.

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