Let’s start off with the theory of burning fat or toning a certain area of the body. Toning involves two constituents: adipose tissue (the subcutaneous body fat) and muscle tissue. In order to appear more toned, a reduction in body fat and increase in muscle mass will have to occur.

The human body does not allow spot reducing, which would include losing fat exclusively in the abdominal area. If you were to lose weight, it would occur all over your entire body. Unfortunately, body fat is not necessarily reduced evenly.

People often have trouble areas where the fat is last to go. Women especially find this to be their stomach, legs or arms. There is not much that can be done about this aside from continuing to lean out. This is why a health club membership at a Boston gym could be so beneficial.

A reduction in body fat occurs when a person is in a caloric deficit. This occurs with two variables: decreasing the amount of calories you consume, increasing the amount of exercise you participate in, or doing both. Resistance training is used to help build and maintain muscle tissue, while cardiovascular training is a tool used to help achieve a caloric deficit. This cardiovascular training could include a spinning class or yoga studio.

Here is a statement that many of you probably do not want to believe: There is no exercise out there that is going to burn fat off of your body in a specific area! No resistance training exercise will help tone or reduce fat on top of any muscle in your body. It is a reduction of calories and an increase in exercise that will take care of that.

There is a very big misconception regarding that “burn” you feel after performing many repetitions during an exercise. Some people actually believe that is the fat melting off the body right before our very eyes! That burn is actually caused by lactic acid, which is used by your muscles to form adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for immediate energy.

I often see a female lying on the ground at the gym performing sets of 100 crunches. She probably assumes that burning sensation is actually helping her “toning her stomach”. If you are performing a set of 100 repetitions on any exercise, don’t you think it is time to move on to something a little harder?

The theory that lifting weights will cause a woman to appear bulky and manly is completely false. I used resistance training to bring my body weight up 60 pounds over the course of about five years.

I must say that the actual weight training was the easy part. The difficult part included eating like a horse, because a calorie surplus is needed to gain muscle mass. I often gagged during some meals as I was pretty much force-feeding myself like a mother would to a small child eating their vegetables.

Now, I am pretty sure that most women do not force feed themselves by mistake. Extreme muscle mass gains are not something that occurs out of the blue. You have to really want it for it to happen. It is pretty safe to say that muscle gain is much, much harder than fat loss for most people.

Another little fact that most women forget is testosterone. Testosterone is a very anabolic hormone found in the human body, males and females, which is very important for gains in muscle mass. Men usually have about ten times more testosterone than women.

Even if a woman were to put the time into eating a crazy amount, it would still be about ten times harder to look like a man. It sounds like it is fairly difficult for a woman to gain an incredible amount of muscle mass and be mistaken for a man, doesn’t it?

Fitness training all in all is for one to be able to achieve total physical fitness. Being physically fit enables one to be mentally and physically alert. Certain diseases can also be warded off especially when one ages. To make a fitness training program effective, it has to be incorporated into one’s daily routine.

It ought to be part of one’s lifestyle. With this training program, the body is made to be fitter and stronger. Among the many programs for fitness training are strength, flexibility and cardiovascular training, weight management and nutrition. These aspects can all be incorporated into a program. When done efficiently, one can enjoy a healthy body weight, improved coordination and level of strength, and body resilience.

If your life is getting too hectic, you’re unsure of how to devise the best workout routine, or you’ve simply lost that burning desire to look like Michael Phelps in a swimsuit, consider hiring a personal trainer. Just like your high school math tutor, a personal trainer can work one on one with you to figure out your strengths and weaknesses and devise a workout plan to maximize your time in the gym.

Personal trainers solidify your commitment to your own health and fitness in multiple ways.

1. Motivation. Without it, the gym is too far, the weather is too cold, your legs are too hairy, and your sweat is too sweaty. A personal trainer will give you the structure and inspiration you need to stick to your routine at the gym. They can also help you create a nutrition or diet plan to follow at home so you can make the most of your physical efforts.
2. Efficiency. Your trainer knows how to maximize your time and give you the best workout. They know what exercises will create the desired effect and can teach you the order they should be performed so that everything you do builds off of something else. You won’t have to worry anymore about wasted time at the gym, which frees up your mind to focus only on your goal.
3. Proper Technique. Whether you play a particular sport and want to improve your skills or you just don’t know how to use some equipment, a trainer will be able to step in and assist you. They can help you focus on building endurance by incorporating specific exercises into your routine, or they can simply show you how to use that fancy cardio machine you’ve been eyeing. 
4. Jump Start. If you’ve been working out for over a year but haven’t seen any results in the past few months, a trainer can get you through these slow stages. They can introduce new exercises and rework your old ones to provide a fresh start and create a fresh set of results.
5. Safety. Certified personal trainers have taken various classes in how a body reacts to certain things, what a body’s limits are, and what signs to look out for. While you may want to push through the pain and complete one more set, your trainer will be alert for signs of injury or strain and will help prevent unnecessary harm.

Gold’s Gym has many locations and many personal trainers on staff to help you in any way they can. Whether your aim is weight loss, body definition, or training for a specific event (such as the Boston Marathon or that impromptu dodge ball tournament with your old college roommate next weekend), your very own personal trainer will help you get there.

Contact  MA Fitness Center near  you.