Muscle Is The Fountain Of Youth

I have had a lot of people, women in particular, worrying about bulking up and “putting on weight” after doing resistance training with weights during my sessions (muscle is heavier than fat). Well fear not as muscle IS the fountain of youth.

Resistance training is the corner stone to burning fat. The bigger our muscle mass the more calories we burn at rest. And we are at rest longer than we are working out. Each time we resistance train we work with heavy weights, which makes us sore, right?? Yes, yes, I hear you say, struggling to get up from your chair. Well, the soreness is created by lifting the heavy load and tearing the tiny  muscle fibres. Our bodies then have to repair them (with the help of protein from our diets) to make them stronger for next time, therefore  increasing their size and building our muscle mass. The bigger our muscle mass the more our metabolism increases and the more our metabolism increases the more calories we burn at rest!! We can also store more energy in our muscle cells rather than in our fat cells. (sounds like a good thing, hey). So therefore our muscles should be getting bigger while reducing the amount of body-fat we store. It is really difficult for women to “bulk up” and look like Arnie as we don’t carry as much testosterone as men, so don’t panic about looking like Mr Olympia ladies!!

Having a higher muscle mass  helps prevent diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardio-vascualr disease, osteoperosis and some cancers. It also strengthens our bones.

But keep in mind that our muscle mass goes into a natural decline as we age. So it’s  just as important to workout as we get older. Don’t sit grandma in the corner, get her to smash it!!

So this is why I have a mixture of strength training and cardio in all my sessions. So next time you opt for the lighter weight, think again and go heavy 🙂

I tried this slow cooker chicken recipe on the weekend and the whole family loved it. It’s a great one to pop on in the morning before you go to work and “wallah” just throw it on some plates when you get home. EASY

Clean Eating Slow Cooker Chicken (feeds 6 with left-overs)

– 1 kg of chicken tenderloins (2 packets, pre-packed at Aldi) or 4 breasts

1/2 cup corn kernels

1/2 cup of red lentils (dried)

1/2 cup of black eye beans (dried)

1 red capsicum (sliced)

1 small zucchini (sliced)

1 onion, diced

3 cups chicken stock (low sodium)

1 clove of garlic

1 can of diced tomatoes (use your healthy food guide to find the lowest sodium brand)

1 teaspoon of curry powder, or to your liking

Put the chicken on the bottom layer and then throw everything on top finishing with the liquid. Cook for at least 6 hours in the slow cooker (until chicken falls apart) the longer the better really.