When you think of exercise do you view it as “more is more?”

Do you believe if you hit the gym 6 days a week, giving 110 percent each time (even if it kills you) you’ll soon see the results you are seeking?

If so, you’re in good company. But, unfortunately, the concept holds no weight with exercise results, the same way making up for “lost time” by doubling your workouts daily, or performing extra long sessions does not work.

Truth is, there are three powerful things that you must avoid if you ever hope to see long-term results with your fitness plan.

These three things are:

• Discouragement – discouragement is the quickest path to defeat. Discouragement kills motivation and desire and can drain any precious excitement you had. Trying to accomplish too much too fast is one way to encourage discouragement and open the door to injury.

• Over-training/Injuries – you can’t perform when you’re injured, so opening yourself to injury early on, also opens the door to defeat because it’s hard to stay motivated when you’re sitting on the side-lines watching. When it comes to fitness, there’s a fine line where “less is more.” Crossing over this line and performing too much exercise doesn’t accomplish a thing, except possibly injury to you.

• Muscle Mass Loss – Not all exercise addresses the most important aspect of exercise: to keep your muscles strong and flexible. If you’re not building muscle then you are loosing muscle, so choosing the right exercises is mandatory for long-term success health.

Another common but errant belief when you’re stuck in the “more is more” exercise idea is that “any movement counts.” While all movement contributes in some way to the health of your body (as opposed to leading a sedentary lifestyle), if you really want to improve your fitness levels significantly, gain the best health boosting benefits you can, and experience an accelerated rate of fat burning, you’re going to need to up the ante.

Certain forms of exercise stand above and beyond the rest, so the first thing you should be asking yourself is “do you want to make every second you spend exercising really count?”

If you answered yes to that question, no other exercise is going to be as beneficial for your overall health level as resistance training, otherwise referred to as strength training. Except for a few ultra-specific exercises that pinpoint just one key area of fitness, no other exercise measures up, nor can they provide the in-depth, well-rounded benefits that strength training does.

It is the one form of exercise that every single adult must do as he or she grows older if they hope to maintain their health, physique and strength levels while boosting their energy, promoting anti-aging and protecting their bodies against disease.

That does not mean you need to give up your love of cardio activities, it only means you must include strength training along with your cardio activities because both are a healthy part of your fitness regime.

Weight or resistance training exercise done with adequate effort (High Intensity Interval Training) has been shown to keep your cells young more than any other. It boosts your metabolism, burning a ton of calories in a crazy-quick amount of time (even after the work-out is over), preserves muscle and boosts your aerobic fitness. Even more exciting is that new research reveals that HIIT might offer an even more exciting benefit: keeping you young.

The reality is, if you are not currently doing some form of strength training, you are missing the boat on results and letting them pass you by. It is the most effective form of exercise in helping you to reach all elements of your fitness and health levels while providing awesome anti-aging properties as well! Done correctly, it is empowered to wipe away 10-20 years of inactivity in a few months of performing. How’s that for reclaiming your youth?

Strength training is your ticket to staying healthy and strong throughout your adult years. It is the surefire way to add years to your life and life to your years.

 Remember, if you do not challenge your body, you cannot change it. To get the biggest anti-aging cellular boost, do your strength training with some effort and challenge. A recent Mayo Clinic study says that high intensity type exercise can actually reverse some cellular aspects of aging. When compared, high-intensity interval training offered the same kind of benefits that strength training/resistance training does.

If you’d like to know how to get started with a no-muss, no-fuss approach to home-based exercising for solid fitness gains…

Check out my quick and easy…

Project Me Finally Fit program

At just 10 minutes in length, if you cannot find a way to squeeze this kind of effective workout into your schedule every other day, it’s likely there’s not another one in all existence that could take it’s place.

After all, most things can only be made so simple before they just cannot be made to work at all!

– Carolyn “The 10-Minute Sandbag Workout” Hansen

If you’d like to know more about how THE most effective form of fitness training and strength building that you are ever likely to come across is… can be made to work for you, then click the following link to learn more…

Project Me Finally Fit sandbag kit.

P.S. I even created a FREE mobile app for you to keep track of your sandbag workouts. With 4 built-in workouts of 7 distinct sandbag movements, you have 28 different exercises to choose from should you decide to create your own custom sandbag works.