The Worst exercise for over 35s women and what you should be doing instead

So, I decided to become a personal trainer at the ripe age of 39.  I had been active and ‘fit’ for most of my life though never skinny and just the right side of slim.

But I was never strong and as I hit 35 I started to notice fat in places I never knew I had places.

So I continued my health geek studies and began reading and practicing in the pursuit of what makes us lose stubborn fat, by getting more healthy, living longer so we can get lean and strong and look and feel good along the way!

Sound good?

And through studying a lot on metabolism, hormones and your thyroid, was I able to understand this and can now share this with you.

What I am going to say here might fly in the face of what you know or believe or it might sound like too much effort and heck I just want to be skinny.

But this is the end game, I can get you a lean and toned body but you can get so MUCH more than just that.

What about a life’s vehicle that will take you into your 60s and 70s looking hot too?

With more energy, flexibility, strength and being a bad ass in the face of disease even as a Granny or when you are Grey and get your bus pass?

And all of this can be seen in as little as 28 days.

Did you know that after the age of 35 your body is less able to handle the rigors of stressful exercise? And, since your body changes hormonally, you start to gain weight more easily. Not only that, you also begin to lose lean muscle tone, making you weaker and flabbier.

These are natural processes that occur with aging…

However, the solution is NOT to kill yourself in the gym to burn off those extra calories. In fact, doing so only makes matters worse, especially if you rely on this one popular type of exercise.

Did you know that is all too common exercise, once deemed the “holy grail” for losing weight, is actually making it near impossible for you to lose those stubborn pounds and keep them off?

I’ll reveal exactly what this deadly exercise is in just a moment, but first…

Let me quickly introduce myself…

My name is Lisa Barwise and I am a health, fitness and superhero geek!  I am the creator of Warrior Goddess Kettlebell Training and I consider myself a Fitness Feminist and Wellness Alchemist.  I’m a holistic health coach, personal trainer and kettlebell instructor and I have been working in the health and fitness industry for nearly 20 years now and have helped 1000s of women worldwide in the quest for getting leaner, stronger, bodies while keeping their curves in a healthy and sustainable way.

It is not about being skinny- yes we want to look good and there is no shame in that but strong really is the new skinny and I think strong isn’t just about being able to lift heavy things but having a strong and healthy body and immune system combined with  inner strength, having a strong character and being a role model.

If you are like my other readers and followers, you will have struggled with losing stubborn weight.

Now, when it comes to losing stubborn weight, I’ve seen and tried just about every method out there. Some of them work temporarily, while others are outright dangerous… as you’re about to find out below.

Just read the short article below and you’ll uncover the 3 ways that this one popular exercise is causing your body to hold onto excess fat (especially around your stomach, hips, and thighs) and what you should do instead to finally get rid of that stubborn weight that just doesn’t seem to budge.

So, let’s start by unmasking the popular exercise that is doing your body more damage than good along with 3 reasons you should STOP doing it TODAY.

“This exercise is long, slow cardio.”

Now before you try to punch me through your computer screen or mobile device for telling you to avoid a form of exercise you may have been relying on for far too long, you should know that…

I’m not just saying this to be controversial…

I’m telling you that long cardio workouts – the ones where you’re spending 20+ minutes on a cardio machine such as treadmill, bike (including spin) or cross trainer  (or running outside) several times per week – are terrible for your body because…

Even though they may help you lose weight in the short term by creating a slight caloric deficit…

And also don’t get me started on your hips and knees.

Long cardio workouts are actually eating away at your metabolism, like a gerbil on a carrot, and destroying your fat loss hormones which makes it almost impossible for you lose weight and keep it off in the long run.

Let me give you the science in these three key points that I researched from Yuri Elkaim (who is my favourite resouces of metabolic conditioning):

1. Cardio kills your thyroid

What is your thryoid? In essence it is your body’s metabolism thermostat.  It controls your metabolism and when it works properly, it’s active hormone – T3 – is produced in the right amount and is able to reach all of the cells in your body, telling them to produce energy and stimulate growth. Heat is generated and calories are burned as a result.

A healthy thyroid is like a raging fireplace that keeps you warm and comfortable.

However, when you mess with your thyroid, your body’s internal fire starts to fan out, making you feel cold, tired, and slowing your metabolism to a screeching halt, which makes losing stubborn weight near impossible.

Too much cardio is one of the main culprits.

One study from the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that 20 weeks of daily cardio among women led to a significant decrease in T3.

Why did this happen?

This dangerous hormonal drop was the body’s way of protecting itself and “conserving energy” in response to the excess STRESS these women imposed on their bodies by pushing too hard with all that cardio.

The result: a sluggish thyroid, which slowed their metabolism to burn fewer calories!

And we don’t want that!

In case you don’t know, exercise is a form of stress and the WRONG type of exercise (like long, slow cardio) will age you faster, scare your body into holding onto weight, and slowly but surely destroy your metabolism.

That’s why you need to know how to exercise in the right way to avoid this from happening.

More on that in a second. But first…

Another study from the International Journal of Obesity found that runners who consistently ran for longer distances over a 9 year period had larger waistlines than those who ran less or not at all!

There are hundreds of other studies that show similar results. These findings may seem shocking to you, especially if you’ve been led to believe that cardio is what you do if you want to lose weight. But these shocking insights are nonetheless TRUE.

So, if you want to save your thyroid so that it keeps your metabolism happily churning through fat 24/7, then all that cardio has got to go.

And if you’re still not convinced, then consider this:

2. Cardio messes with the fat storing hormone

According to a 2011 study published in Psychoneuroendocrinology, (who named this journal??) too much cardio increases cortisol, your body major stress hormone. Not only is too much cortisol undesirable for better overall health.

Cortisol is a life sustaining adrenal hormone essential to the maintenance of homeostasis. Called “the stress hormone,” cortisol influences, regulates or modulates many of the changes that occur in the body in response to stress including, but not limited to:

• Blood sugar (glucose) levels
• Fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism to maintain blood glucose (gluconeogenesis)
• Immune responses
• Anti-inflammatory actions
• Blood pressure
• Heart and blood vessel tone and contraction
• Central nervous system activation

Cortisol levels normally fluctuate throughout the day and night in a circadian rhythm that peaks at about 8 AM and reaches it lowest around 4 AM. While it is vital to health for the adrenals to secret more cortisol in response to stress, it is also very important that bodily functions and cortisol levels return to normal following a stressful event. Unfortunately, in our current high-stress culture, the stress response is activated so often that the body does not always have a chance to return to normal.* This can lead to health problems resulting from too much circulating cortisol and/or from too little cortisol if the adrenal glands become chronically fatigued (adrenal fatigue).

It also sabotages your fat loss efforts because high cortisol levels force your body to store belly fat.

To make matters worse, high cortisol levels have also been associated with muscle loss. This means that long bouts of stress-inducing cardio can actually begin eating away at your precious muscle for fuel.

This is the last thing you want because muscle preserves your metabolism. It is the hot-burning wood that keeps your metabolic fire raging hot. The more muscle you lose, the more your metabolic fire dwindles away and the tougher it is for you to lose that stubborn weight.

But that’s not all…

Chronically high levels of cortisol also hurt your thyroid gland! This can lead to hypothyroidism (under-active thyroid), which again results in the slowing of your metabolic rate, which literally STOPS any possibility of losing weight.

And what is more….

Researchers at University of Colorado found that endurance athletes have higher levels of cortisol and body fat versus athletes who do not overdo their cardio.

Among the athletes monitored, those who put in the most distance and time during their cardio sessions had the highest levels of cortisol and percent body fat. Isn’t that crazy?

3. Cardio stops the growth hormone

As you’re starting to see, your metabolism is a major factor in your ability to lose stubborn fat for good. And since your lean mass (aka. muscle) largely determines your metabolism, you want the hormones that support your muscle to be intact, right?

One of the most important muscle-preserving hormones is growth hormone.

This is the hormone that is released during deep sleep and certain types of exercise (as you’ll see on the next page) that is largely responsible for ALL growth, repair, and maintenance your body has experienced since you were born.

But yet again, cardio is here to crash the growth hormone party too. 🙁

A study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology showed that long duration cardio workouts decrease growth hormone, which further compromises your muscle and metabolism.

Plus, low levels of growth hormone are a well-known contributor to accelerated aging, especially when accompanied by higher body fat percentage, as was shown a review paper in the journal Endocrine Reviews.

So, if you want a slim and toned body, the last thing you want is plummeting levels of growth hormone.

So you get it now? Cardio is not the answer.

Because of the negative impact it has on your metabolism and your precious fat-burning hormones.

Not only that, it’s high-stress load on your body is brewing a dangerous cocktail that is making you look and feel older than you really are.

The cause of stubborn fat accumulation is due to hormonal changes in your body that occur as you get older and that are only made exponentially worse by lots of cardio.

That means you have to stimulate the right biochemical processes in your body to trigger the youth-enhancing hormones that enable you to burn off your stubborn fat.

Let me now share with a little about the scientifically proven way that reactivates your lagging hormones to effectively slow the aging process and burn off stubborn middle-age fat.

Now you may not be able to stop aging but you CAN slow the aging process and actually REVERSE the effects of aging, if you know what to do. In fact, research has discovered that your body has the ability to re-stimulate lagging youth-enhancing hormones naturally.

And it all begins by relying far less on long cardio workouts and instead using the right exercise method (in addition to the right nutrition and understanding when to eat) that can actually bring your important fat burning and anti-aging hormones back to life.

This exercise is full body metabolic conditioning strength training that last 20-40 minutes and you don’t even need to be a member of a gym or have expensive equipment.

You can do this with one kettlebell at your own home starting with just 10 minutes!

Download the Best 10 Minute Beginner Kettlebell Workouts for Women: Click to download 

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