Do you have to choose between a Cardio Queen and an Iron Goddess? My answer is absolutely not! You train for a goal. If you want to put on muscle mass, you have to pay very close attention to your food intake, and your strength training. Will a bike ride around town ruin your gym sesh? No, but riding a 100 miles every weekend will “slow your roll”in achieving that goal (pun and rhyme intended). If your goal is just to be fit, healthy, strong, and happy. Be a weekend rider, AND a weekday gym rat! #dowhatyoulove
Are you tired of living in a box of “what you’re supposed to do”? That was me. Always feeling like I was cheating on the gym if I chose a 50 mile bike ride instead. I’m supposed to look the part of a trainer right? That means I gotta get my muscles big and “swole”. I was trying to fit myself into a stereotype box. I had to give up on that and do what made me happy, or I was going to start hating my training. There is a lot of information from the “diet and exercise” community that may sway you one way or the other. I want you to focus on you. Doing what your body needs. If you’re stuck in a rut and not seeing results it may be time to look at changing up your program. If your goal is weight loss you should have a healthy dose of both of these things.
Cardio Queens include long distance runners, cyclist, mountain bikers, climbers, dancers, endurance athletes. Be aware that if you are a Cardio Queen you are allowed to love your endurance exercise. Know your goals and learn how to get there. You should for health’s sake balance it out with some type of strengthening exercise. You can get fantastic results from muscle building cardio activities and still get that heart racing feeling that you crave. Light weight or body weight metabolic conditioning can take your cardio game to a whole new level. Adding a little heavy weight training can help you build muscle needed to stay injury free and improve your overall physique.
Ride on!!!
Ladies that lift: Iron Goddess’ include getting under that barbell, swinging, cleaning, snatching kettlebells, and all ladies who move massive amounts of weight around for the purpose of gaining strength. Keep on lifting, and building up your bodies! Again for health’s sake you should also know that your heart needs a bit of exercise too, so make sure you do something that gets that heart pumping a little harder some days. Sprints anyone?! Interval training, changing up your weight program to focus on metabolic conditioning, or even getting out into nature for some milage on your feet or bike. The benefits of training your heart will keep you at peak performance in the gym and in life. Also focusing some attention on recovery and restorative exercises can keep you from injury. If you want to keep lifting all your life, rest properly and stay mobile and flexible.
Go out try something new to keep your body injury free and keep your heart as healthy as can be! Do not be afraid to push your limits in your training, everything awesome happens outside the comfort zone! My biggest pep peeve is when someone in the weight room is making fun of all the people on the treadmills and vice versa. Don’t knock someone else’s journey or process, you have no idea what their goals, dreams, or aspirations are. Be kind to one another and don’t judge. . Strong women build each other up, kindness matters! #trainhard #lovealways
Working on my Clean and Press with the ever challenging Ultimate Sandbag!
So my gym rats I’ll be lifting that iron with you harder in the winter time! But its “Sun’s out – wheels out!” for me this Spring and Summer! (I couldn’t find a good rhyme there) It’s all about finding what makes you and your body happy and healthy =) #dowhatyoulove
Cycle Selfies are quite tricky to take!