Strength Training For Weight Loss

many people seeking to lose weight completely under utilise this fun & adaptable form of training. Cardio may help you lose weight, but strength training can help you keep it off.

Why Should I Do Strength Training?

If you’re seeking to shred some fat, cardio might be easier in terms of exhausting calories and expending excess energy – but strength training can bring with it an entire variety of other benefits you didn’t know about when it comes to losing and maintaining weight. It’s also important to note that strength training does still burn a considerable amount of calories and will still contribute to increasing your daily expenditure.

For starters, having more mass burns more calories per day.

That’s right. Having a larger frame and more dense muscles requires more energy to sustain, meaning that your calorific expenditure is increased. When your calorific expenditure is increased, it makes it significantly easier to lose weight. This is why people run in the first place! Except instead of actively preforming an exercise to burn the calories, your body burns them automatically just maintaining your current size.

This is actually traceable too, with every lb of muscle you accumulate increasing your calorific expenditure by up to 50 calories a day.

Less Likely To Get Stretch Marks/Loose Skin

You can reduce the risk of loose skin by replacing the fat with muscle. Sudden decreases or increases in size are likely to damage your skin, especially if you’re not supplementing with collagen. By gradually replacing the fat with muscle and ensuring your skin isn’t rapidly shrinking or stretching you can help stave off some of the damage.

You’ll Be Stronger

This seems like the most painfully obvious benefit when it comes to strength training. But the strength won’t just be limited to your muscles: a stronger core can improve your balance. Studies even show that strength training can increase bone density, making your bones thicker and able to handle heavier loads.

 

Diet

As you most likely already know, you will need to be operating on a calorific deficit to lose weight. Ensuring you don’t eat more than your total daily expenditure is the only way to lose weight. At the same time, due to your strength training you will also need to ensure that you get a complete amino acid profile in order to ensure your muscles are able to recover properly. Branch-Chained Amino Acids work well if you’re looking for a low calorie quick release of the vital muscle building molecules. BCAA’s also have the added benefit of assisting in weight loss due to their appetite suppressing effects.

Approach

It’s important to approach your training methodically and meticulously. Make sure you preform the main compound exercises: Deadlifts, Benchpresses, Squats & Overhead Presses will cover a wide variety of muscle groups on their own. Always record the weights you’re moving and the amount of reps you’re pushing out. Strive to improve these figures every time you work out.

Questions

What Other Types Of Training Burn Fat?

Aside from cardio and strength training, a very popular routine at the moment is HIIT. This stands for high-intensity interval training. You alternate between training at maximum and medium levels of intensity continuously. An example would be running at 80% of your maximum speed for a period of time, dropping down to 50% for a further period of time and then jumping back up to 80% with no breaks. It is understandably very physically demanding and like most exercises can’t be done every day. However the weight loss potential is tremendous and it’s definitely something that should be investigated.

Will Lifting Weights Help Me Burn Belly Fat?

Belly fat will recede as your overall body fat percentage decreases. There is no way to remove fat from an individual area of your body. Lifting weights will increase your calorific expenditure and provided you don’t also increase your calorie intake in conjunction with this, you should see yourself begin to lose belly fat as your overall body fat percentage decreases. It’s worth noting that belly fat is the most stubborn and tends to be the last to go for most people.