Here are some tips based on goals that surround losing weight, building muscle, toning up, and maintaining your current weight and fitness level!

1. Losing Weight

Before you start doing crazy intense workouts, you might want to focus more on getting the extra weight off. How do we do that?

a. Get help with your nutrition. Nutrients are the essential for restoring energy, repairing tissues and muscles as well as preserving bone and organ health. Nutrients are the core of our diet and in order to lose weight, consuming vitamins, minerals, water and protein are a must. Don’t forget to take plenty of Vitamin C that is found in fruits, vegetables and be sure to consume proteins that will encourage your body to burn fat. These include eggs, beans, nuts and whole grains.

b. Focus more on cardio than strength, but strength can also be cardio! That isn’t to say you should not be doing strength training too. You absolutely should, but let’s say you have 45 minutes 5 days per week, I might suggest more low impact cardio focused workouts 3 days, and Strength Training focused 2 days.

For example:

Monday – Spin Core. Combining a calorie torching spin class with an attack on the entire midsection.
Tuesday – Boot Camp or Sculpt Workout. Fire up those muscles with a total body workout.
Thursday – 30 Minute Spin. This class is perfect for when you’re short on time and need to get a firm workout out of the way by maximizing your workout for killer results.
Friday – Spin Sculpt. More muscle means less fat! Participants burn it up on the bike for one minute then hit the floor to pump it up the next.
Saturday & Sunday – Just because you’re taking a break from the gym doesn’t mean you can’t still stay physical! An endurance jog and some core exercises can get your blood pumping on a Saturday morning. Increase your endurance by running more mileage gradually and core exercises only take up to ten to fifteen minutes so you’ll have maximum time to spend with your family while still keeping up with your workouts.

When you stick to the same routine, it’s easy to fall into your comfort zone and not see any improvement, therefore mixing it up every day will provide your body with feel-good change and overall, significantly better results.

2. Building Muscle & Toning Up

Why not get your cardio in while building muscle and toning up! Does cardio have to be a StraightUp Spin class or a run? No! We do workouts all the time that are strength based, but that keep you moving non-stop, so now you’re strength workout has also become a cardio workout!

How often you do strength training really depends on how badly you torch the muscle group(s).

If you really tear it up to where your biceps are fried, for example, then you might only need to do biceps once per week, but for the general person you’re gonna get the best results if you work each major muscle group (and dig into the smaller ones if you have time), 2 to 3 days per week. Hit your muscles from all different angles by also alternating workouts for each muscle group.

Let’s say you torched the quads, but now you’re doing a Spin Sculpt, which is full body, then if you’re doing something that is frying those quads again, rethink the focus… Shift the weight to the heels, grab lighter weights for that lunge, or just hit the floor and do some crunches during that part of class. Always listen to your body first.

3. Maintaining Your Current Weight and Fitness Level

Understand that it generally takes about 2 weeks before you lose gains (cardio and muscular), and also depends on how fit you were to begin with, but it can feel like you’re starting over so do not go beyond 2 weeks unless it’s impossible to get your SWEAT on!

Don’t let anybody tell you different, we’ve all skipped a workout at some point- even Cat Kom! But we also know how easy three days off can snowball into two full blown weeks off. It’s easier to bounce back if your usual schedule involves exercising five to six times a week but if maintaining your current weight is a priority, you’ll find the motivation to continue maintaining a healthy weight.

Much also really depends on your diet, so I suggest you find out what your maintenance calories are. To keep weight off, you have to adjust and find your new normal that aligns with healthier practices and a better lifestyle. There are several web sites and apps out there that can help you figure out the amount of calories you should consume to lose or maintain weight.

And hey, are you fit for a challenge? Even though you’re happy with where you are (and congrats for that!) always challenge your body. Conquer new workouts by testing your weaknesses and jumping out of your comfort zone. Or consider joining a Group Challenges (we host many at Studio SWEAT), or an unfamiliar classes that combine strength training and cardio. Or what if you try a new physical activity with friends and loved ones. Throw in a weekly fitness challenge to test your muscle endurance, enhance your muscle strength and asses your athletic ability. Just add a little bit of a crazy to your workouts to not only maintain your current weight and fitness level, but to add excitement and motivation to your weekly routines.

My advice on how many days you should be working out… Try to break a SWEAT every day! Shoot for the moon, land in the stars baby! Just be careful to avoid overtraining, and remember that sticking to the same routine every day has it’s benefit, but breaking a sweat can come in all sorts of different capacities. Whether it’s going outside to walk your dog, hiking with your family, killing a Studio SWEAT onDemand at-home workout or taking a trip to the gym, every workout and burnt calorie counts and gets you a step closer to fulfilling your dreams and achieving your goals.
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Watch the full video for more tips from Cat Kom and Bethany and check out more videos like this on Studio SWEAT onDemand!