Hi Sue! I know that all of this information can definitely get confusing, but basically to lose body fat and tone muscles, you need to participate in an active balance of weight training and cardiovasular training. You also need to eat a healthy and balanced diet that coincides with your activity level. Now the magic is in finding that perfect balance that works best for your body type. I can tell you that generally speaking, 3 to 5 cardio days per week and 1 to 3 total body weight training workouts per week pretty much will bring most people wonderful results. But because everyone is so genetically different plus each having their own workout preferences, the way you design your workout will reflect these considerations. And once you do find the "magic workout blend" for your body, you will need to vary your workouts to constantly keep your muscles challenged and responding. The changes don't have to be huge but whenever you find your body settling into a routine you have to "ruffle its feathers a bit".
So now going back to your exact questions, you can use the new Slow/Heavy workouts as a way of "ruffling your feathers". The new slow heavy series is a much much more intense way of training and therefore may only need to be inserted for about one to three weeks to shake things up. Also, if you ever find your muscles getting larger than you like, simply cut back on the amount of weight that you are using for your workouts.
A weekly combination of cardiovascular training and weight training will always burn fat and develop muscles (as long as you are eating sensibly too). You will need to do a bit of experimenting to find the right combination of both to bring on the true results that YOU are looking for.
Muscular endurance training and muscular strength training are just different ways to challenge your muscles. They both promote muscle tone, shaping, strength, calorie expenditure, fat loss, improved bone density and more. Their difference is that muscular endurance is more of a high repetition form of training (going longer with less weight and less rest period between sets) and muscular strength is lower repetitions (going slower with heavier weight and longer rest periods between sets). Muscular endurance training is popularly used for general shaping of the muscle as well as overall conditioning of the body as it engages in repetitive daily activities in life. Muscular strength is popularly used for encouraging hypertrophy of the muscle(growth)and serious strength improvements. But both are good to use for an overall well rounded program. Hope this helps and good luck with everything
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