Weight-Bearing Exercises Rule

Appetizer
Add MORE weight-bearing exercises to your weekly routine. This will allow you to work smarter AND harder. All types of exercise are great, but they're not all created equal because some provide more benefit than others.

Main Course
Weight-bearing activities are those that make your body work against the force of gravity. Examples include cardiovascular activities like running, walking, stair-climbing, and kick-boxing. These types of activities use proportionately more calories at a given level of effort than non-weight bearing choices like swimming, the elliptical, or cycling.

This doesn't mean that you should throw swimming or cycling out of your routine. Since these activities put less stress on our weight-bearing joints, most people are able to do them for longer periods of time. That makes up for the lower calorie expenditure, so you end up breaking even in the end (IF you do the activity long enough).

Dessert
Most of my cardio activities tend to be weight-bearing simply by default. I don't swim regularly because I'm not trying to get my hair wet (Is there anyone else that can back me up on this? Amen.). I think the elliptical is a great machine, but it is so boring to me that I usually can't stand it for more than 10 minutes at a time. I do, however, absolutely LOVE indoor cycling, so I usually do a full 60 minutes of that activity vs. only 30-45 minutes of my other "loves" like kickboxing and fitness walking.

About Cafe Physique:
The mission of Café Physique is to help clients reach and exceed their personal fitness and nutrition goals. If you’re in need of an a nutritionist in Atlanta or an Atlanta personal trainer – Café Physique is the perfect solution. We offer Atlanta yoga instruction, Atlanta prenatal workouts, and Atlanta personal training. We also have private sessions of pilates that Atlanta residents are raving about. We invite you to let a member of our Atlanta registered dietitian staff or personal training team develop and implement a realistic and healthy lifestyle plan to meet your personal goals.