Sophie Guidolin wants you to pick up weight training, without the bulk

If adding bulk to your frame is the reason you’re avoiding weight training, nutritionist and founder of The Bod wellness program Sophie Guidolin busts that myth.

“In reality, lifting weights leads to stronger muscles, not necessarily bigger ones. It all depends on your goals, your training regimen and your calorie consumption.”

In fact, lifting weights can contribute to weight loss.

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Guidolin says: “Adding weights to your fitness routine and eating a balanced diet is a great way to strengthen joints and bones, reduce body fat, increase lean muscle mass and burn calories more efficiently.”

Together these benefits add up to longevity, setting the body up with the structure and muscle it needs to stay strong as you age.

“Great strength training is important for every human adult human on the earth,” founder of Flow Athletic Ben Lucas told host Felicity Harley on the Healthy-ish episode, Best strength training advice ever. Fact.

“After we reach a certain age muscle mass starts to decline every year. So, weight training is important because it helps you maintain your muscle mass and your metabolism and the big one – it strengthens your bones.”

Lucas says that for the last 20 years he’s trained everyone from ages 16 to 86 and believes that strength workouts are the most important exercise you can do.

But, what if you have a mix of weights and cardio?

“For those who are doing both strength training and cardiovascular exercise in the one session, I would do the strength training first, for two reasons,” Lucas recommends.

“One, that your muscles are going to be fresher, so therefore you can do that weight training better with better technique. Two, in the weight training you’re going to use carbohydrate stored in the muscle for energy. Then, you’re more likely to use fat as a fuel source in the cardiovascular exercise, both resistance training.”