Dear Cardio Bunnies,

But cardio will make me lose weight!

I don't want to lift it will make be bulky! Manly! Big!

I don't want to gain muscle I just want to be toned!

Three phrases heard way too often. Three huge misconceptions.

I too was once a cardio bunny and feared weights. I was terrified of getting "too big" but also I was terrified of crossing the weight room floor. That was were guys were supposed to be. That was where mirrors were. That was where I didn't know what I was doing.

Yes, cardio will help you lose weight especially in the beginning but those gorgeous toned and leaned bodies you see that you dream of having do not come from only cardio but with weight training.

But what about those masculine looking women?

Those women are most likely taking something to help them to look like that. You see, naturally woman are unable to gain masculine muscle mass like that. Our bodies do not have enough testosterone to become like that on their own. Lifting weights will actually enhance your curves in all the right places, causing you too look more womanly. That hour glass figure you've been dreaming of is achieved through weight training not endless hours of cardio.

Besides, the more muscle mass you have the more calories you burn at rest. And who doesn't want a higher BMR?? I am all about becoming a fat burning machine.

But what if I like cardio?

Great! There is nothing wrong with that! In fact I wished I liked it haha. Incorporating cardio a couple times a week into your training is totally fine! But if you want to blast fat and keep your gains I would recommend HIIT Cardio, or high-intensity interval training. HIIT can be done on any piece of cardio equipment or through circuit training. The basic idea of HIIT is to raise your heart rate for a minute or two, then let it drop to resting for a minute and raise it again- repeating this process for about 20 minutes. This may sound easy but it is difficult. You will be sweating like you would never believe once you've completed a HIIT session.

What do you do?

There are many different training splits out there. Different methods will help you achieve different goals. But for myself, I do a push-pull split.

What is that?

Push muscles are muscles you use to push like your shoulders and triceps. Pull muscles are muscles you use to pull like you back and biceps. Using a push-pull split is a great way to maximize efficiency during your workouts. But for someone who cannot train 6 days a week an upper body/lower body split might work better for them. My workout split is as follows:

Monday- Leg Day! Glutes, Quads, and Hamstrings (Calves too)

Tuesday- Shoulders and Triceps

Wednesday- Back and Biceps

Thursday- Rest Day (Usually, sometimes I will make Friday my rest day instead)

Friday- Shoulders and Triceps

Saturday- Back and Biceps

Sunday- Cardio and Abs

Why do you only train legs once a week?

For me, my legs develop a lot faster than my upper body. As of now, it is my goal to develop my upper body more than my lower. Like I said, your training split is going to depend on what your goals are and how many days a week you train.

Cardio only once a week!?

For a cardio only session, yes. However every day my warm up is 5 minutes on the incline trainer to get the blood moving. On an upper body day I will usually follow up with 15 minutes of cardio. This means I am getting about an two hours of cardio a week, which works for me.

I promise you lifting weights will not make you bulky, it will only make you look gorgeous! :)

-xxoo Britt