If you're a member of a gym, I'm sure you've seen plenty of people on the treadmills. Many people choose to focus strictly on cardio for their workouts. It's usually the people who want to lose weight who believe solely in cardio too. But actually, cardio alone won't help you shed those extra pounds. A successful weight loss program combines strength training with cardio.

Light cardio is the perfect way to begin an exercise program because it helps raise your heart rate and burn calories at a faster rate. After about 10-20minutes of cardio you will be ready to begin your strength training and muscle building exercises to begin burning that excess fat.

Before we continue, I need to clear up a few stereotypes and misconceptions about strength training and muscle building. For women, there is a pretty common fear that by toning up your muscles and doing strength training exercises, you'll gain so much muscle mass that you'll be all big and bulky like men. That's just not the case for most women, obviously excluding those women seen on muscle fitness magazines whose aim is to build muscles to the extreme).

Women do not have the physical capacity to become big and bulky unless performance enhancing drugs are used. Also, it is important to note that working to build muscle is the most efficient way to increase your metabolism all day, every day, thus enabling you to burn fat 24 hours per day.

Whereas the fat burning effects of light to moderate cardio are apparent while the exercise is being performed, the fat burning effects of weight lifting and anaerobic type exercises can last 24-72 hours after your workout!

Choosing and creating your own muscle building training regime can be difficult in the beginning; it can be hard to know where to start. First, it is important to know that when it comes to building muscle you have to give your body sufficient rest in between workouts; nothing more can be accomplished by wearing out your muscles and working out each and everyday. This resting period can be anywhere from 24-48 hours after an intense workout and will vary based upon your exercise intensity.

With that being said, many fitness professionals choose to work out a different muscle group each time they visit the gym. By setting up a strict schedule you can cover each and every muscle group in turn and repeat this cycle each week. A more efficient approach however is to use total body movements such as squats, deadlifts, pull-ups/pull-downs, and various presses.

Total body exercises are crucial to transform your body and work it in ways that go beyond just athleticism. They are the secret to increasing your body's ability to burn fat outside of the gym, without breaking a sweat!

No matter what you think your problem areas are, you still want to cover your entire body and every muscle group. Whether you choose to start with your legs or arms or glutes does not matter as long as everything gets covered during a week of working out. Let's start with your abs.

When it comes to achieving great abs, consistency is very important. You will be amazed just how much ground you can lose by skipping your abdominal routine for only a week. With that being said, your abs should be worked on at least 2-3 times a week.

Whether you choose to do crunches, sit-ups or hanging abdominal exercises the best way to start for beginners is to do 1-3 sets of 12 repetitions and then work your way up from there. Many people prefer to use the stability ball when it comes to abdominal workouts to put less pressure on their backs, this is your choice, and the results are arguably the same. Essentially, if you are a beginner, any exercise will do the trick!

Your arms and back can be done together or on a different workout day. For many people their backs can be quite sensitive and even problematic and by working out the back muscles you can lessen the occurrences of back pain. Your goal should be to both lengthen and strengthen the muscle groups in both the upper and lower back.

If you're a member of a gym, there should be weight training machines that focus on strengthening your back. If you're a home-gym kind of person, you can complete body weight exercises to achieve similar results. These exercises can be anything from leg lifts to back extensions.

Your butt, hips and thighs can be grouped together and there are many different exercises for these muscles groups which allow you to constantly switch up your routine if you begin to become bored with it. Squats and lunges are perhaps the best exercises that work the major muscle groups of the legs.

You can choose to use extra weights for more resistance but this is not necessary for beginners. Simply conduct 2-3 sets of 12-25 repetitions and feel free to escalate as your body progresses. If you do have a gym membership you can consider adding weights to your squat and lunge movements to make them more difficult.

Starting off slow is always the best way to go and be sure to add some type of progression to increase the intensity of your workouts as you become stronger. Remember, consistency is the key. Just visualize yourself adding more calorie burning muscle mass to your body and you will be on your way to using this powerful concept of muscle building to elevate your weight loss to an entirely new level!