So many people, when trying to lose weight, focus only on their nutrition. They follow some extreme diet in hopes of losing lots of weight. As you probably already know, a large majority, about 90% or more, end up gaining back all the weight they lost. A significant number even end up putting on more weight than they lost.

This is what usually happens when the focus of a weight loss program is only on the nutrition aspect. It doesn’t get much better if you perform exercise and that exercise is only some type of aerobics.

• 

So what’s the solution? How can you burn the fat, reshape your body, and keep the weight off over the long term? The key is shaping your body with weights and finding a consistent way to do so.

You see, when you lose weight without any type of strength or weight training, about half the weight you lose is muscle. Muscle is metabolically active, meaning it burns calories. When your body loses muscle, your metabolism slows down.

This makes it tougher to continue to lose weight because you can’t create a calorie deficit. And it makes it easier to end up putting the weight back on as well.

In addition, if your body was a pear shape, you’ll end up being a pear shape, just a smaller pear. It’s what those in the fitness industry call skinny fat. In other words, your overall weight might be okay, but your body composition is not. Your body composition refers to your body fat percentage. With diet alone, you might lose weight but your body still carries too high a percentage of fat. Who wants that, right?

The key to the body you want is weight training consistently. You want to find a way to keep your weekly workouts going for the long run, whatever it may be that does it for you. This may be getting a gym membership or even an at-home gym if you are a stay at home parent. http://www.bodycompgym.com/how-to-compare-all-total-gym-models/ recommends using at-home units like those that are sold by Total Gym. This gives you no excuse to miss that workout you know you need to get done. By using a proper diet and weight training, you won’t lose muscle mass. You’ll lose body fat.

So your metabolism won’t slow down, making it less likely you’ll put weight back on. You’ll also build some shapely muscle. Instead of being skinny fat, you’ll look fit, athletic and sexy. And your metabolism will keep humming along, making it easier to keep the weight off for good.

If you want to lose fat, reshape your body and look great, you must train with weights Simply training with weights for a half hour three days per week will do wonders for your health and your body.

The back is one of the most neglected body parts when it comes to training. It seems as if there are two main reason for this. One, it’s difficult to see the back the way lifters can check out their arms, chest, abs, legs or shoulders.

Second, training the back properly is really, really hard work! It’s a lot more fun to grind out set after set of biceps curls or to lie back on a bench and do the ego lift, also known as the barbell bench press, than it is to perform heavy barbell bent over rows.

But if you want to truly get big and strong, you’ll need to work the back and you’ll need to work it hard. It’s the biggest muscle on the body and has the potential for incredible strength gains as well. According to Guinness World Records, the world record in the deadlift is 1,003 pounds by Andy Bolton back in 2006. That’s some serious strength!

Strength and muscle gains working the back have a positive affect on the entire body. You can’t build big arms without working the back hard. The body isn’t going to allow the small muscles to get bigger and stronger than the largest, most powerful muscles on the body.

Because it’s a complex muscle group, you’ll also need to attack the back with some different exercises. The back can be worked with rowing style exercises, like the bent over barbell row, and overhead pulling exercises like the pull up and the chin up.

To truly work the back in an effective manner, you’ll want to include both types of back exercises in your training regimen.

Here are some of the back exercises you must have in your workouts:

Barbell Deadlift
Stiff-Legged Deadlift
Dumbbell One Arm Rows
Bent Over Barbell Rows
Dumbbell Pullover (or Machine Pullover if available)
Pull Ups and Chin Ups
Lat Pulldown Machine (if you need to do higher reps and aren’t yet strong enough on the pull ups or chin ups)

By using these back exercises in your back workouts, you’ll not only build a big, strong back, you’ll make it easier to add muscle mass over the rest of your body as well.

The core exercise of any back workout is the deadlift. While you won’t use it in every back workout, you should use it often. Every once in awhile you may want to take a month off from the deadlift, as it is a very difficult and taxing exercise.

Keep the reps on the deadlift in the 5 to 10 range. While high rep sets on the deadlift can be effective, it can also be easier to lose good form because of fatigue and end up getting hurt.

Here’s a great back workout that works different exercises and areas of the back over a week’s time.

Monday

Dumbbell One Arm Row – perform four sets of 10 reps on each arm with 30 seconds of rest between sets
Dumbbell Pullover – perform four sets of 8 reps, resting 90 seconds between sets

Wednesday

Barbell Deadlift – perform 5 sets of 6 reps per set. Rest two minutes between sets. The sets should be hard but do not go to failure.

Friday

Chin Ups – complete as many reps as possible in ten minutes. Try and beat that number next workout.
Lat Pulldown – perform four sets of ten reps per set with 30 seconds of rest between sets.

Work hard on this back routine and you’ll see mass and strength gains in no time.