In my profession there are several questions I get asked on a daily basis. Most of them pertaining to workouts, diet and eating as well as strength training for getting into shape. However, there are certain questions that get asked more frequently than others. Here are the answers to the three questions I am most often asked.

Question One: How do I build and increase muscle?

When you’re working out, try lifting weights. If you are already doing so, you should try lifting heavier than normal. However, if you are a beginner then start lifting light to moderate weights and build up as your strength increases. As you get stronger and start lifting heavier, decrease the number of repetitions (reps). Your rest time should be approximately one minute between sets. This will result in tears in the muscle fibres – largely due to the heavier weights. You also need to eat more clean proteins, low-GI carbohydrates and good fats to feed your muscle. As the muscle tears, new muscle will grow and the new fibres add to the thickness. This results in bigger muscle growth.

Question two: When I am trying to lose weight, should I only do cardio?

Most certainly not. Throughout my weight-loss journey, my workouts consisted of cardio and weight-training. This resulted in me losing a significant amount of weight but it also kept my skin toned and I had very little excess skin. In my experience, incorporating both cardio and weigh-training is a necessity due to the fact that we need muscle to burn fat. By lifting weights, we burn fat even when we are at rest. When you do cardio, you only burn fat during that workout time. Furthermore, we need to lift weights to build sustainable lean muscle for toning your body.

Question three: How long should my training sessions be?

If you are just starting out your fitness journey, my suggestion would be to begin with 30-minute workout sessions. This will help you build up your fitness levels. As you get fitter, move up to 45-minute sessions. If you are wondering about the time it takes to burn sufficient fat during a workout, it is essentially up to you. Burning fat is dependent on the intensity of a workout and not necessarily the duration. You can burn just as much fat in a 30-minute session, as you would in a 45-minute session, if your workouts are high-intensity.