Most people don’t think of weight training when they think about ways to lose weight and body fat. But not to strength train if you want to slim down would be short-sighted. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn throughout the day, even when you aren’t lifting weights. The effect is modest, but it’s healthier for your metabolism to have more muscle.
When you have more muscle on your frame, you are stronger, but you also have more muscle cells to take up glucose. That’s beneficial for you, but it also makes it easier to control your weight, since it improves insulin sensitivity and lowers your insulin level. That makes it easier to lose body fat.
Now, let’s look at how you can use strength training to lose weight, and the right type of weight, body fat.
Do More Multi-Joint Exercises
There’s a reason that exercises like squats and deadlifts are the “king” of exercises. These strength-training exercises work many muscle groups simultaneously. For example, when you deadlift, your upper body and lower body muscles get in on the action, but so do your core muscles. The more muscles you work simultaneously, the more calories you’re burning.
Many fitness trainers believe 75% of a workout should be multi-joint exercises and only 25% isolation exercises. Isolation exercises are those that work only a single muscle group, like biceps curls, triceps extensions, leg extensions, leg curls, and abdominal crunches. They don’t give you the same calorie and fat burning as multi-joint movements.
Compound, or multi-joint movements are the most effective and timesaving in the gym, as they target multiple muscle groups with one movement. They also build functional strength, whereas isolation exercises do not.
Increase the Intensity
You might think that using lighter weights and doing high reps is the key to fat loss, but the opposite works better. For fat loss, you must use enough weight to stimulate muscle growth. Plus, lifting heavier ramps up hormones, like testosterone and growth hormone, and these are key to muscle growth and fat loss. You won’t get the same hormonal boost when you work with light weights and do more repetitions. To build muscle, choose a weight you can lift only 6-8 times before your muscles fatigue. That’s the key to building muscle.
Focus on Working the Larger Muscles in Your Lower Body
Working larger muscle groups burns more calories than training the smaller ones. That’s not hard to believe, right? Compare the size of your biceps muscles with your hamstrings, the muscles in the back of your thighs. The latter is larger, so it takes more energy to work those muscles. That means more calorie burn. Plus, there’s evidence that working large muscles creates more of a hormonal response, and that means a boost in fat-burning hormones, like testosterone and growth hormone.
Don’t Restrict Calories Too Much
Some people believe drastically reducing calories is the key to losing weight and body fat. It doesn’t always work in your favor though. Your body adapts to whatever stress you place on it. When you semi-starve yourself, your metabolism slows to compensate. Your body goes into energy preservation mode and weight loss slows. Plus, you’ll have a hard time building metabolically active muscle when you don’t consume enough calories.
Make sure you’re consuming enough protein and never reduce your calorie intake by more than 500 calories below maintenance. If you make the right food choices, no empty-calorie, unprocessed junk, you should be able to lose body fat through exercise without dieting. Focus on making healthy choices rather than eating less.
Get Enough Sleep
Unless you get enough quality sleep, you’ll have a harder time building muscle and losing weight. When you toss, turn, and skimp on sleep, it increases the stress hormone cortisol. When cortisol rises, it causes muscle breakdown (so fewer benefits from weight training) and boosts your appetite. Then, you crave more sugary foods. Insulin sensitivity goes down too when you’re sleep-deprived, and that also makes it harder to lose weight.
You might think of sleep as an afterthought when you’re busy, but it’s important for maintaining a healthy weight. Studies show that people who don’t get enough sleep are more prone to obesity. So, don’t let your sleep habits work against your efforts to lose weight. Turn in at the same time each night and make sure the temperature of your sleeping area is cool. Studies show people fall asleep fastest in a room where the temperature is around 65 degrees F.
The Bottom Line
Now you know why strength training is so important if you’re trying to lose weight, and how to get the most weight loss benefits. When you strength train, you’re adding more lean muscle mass to your frame, which helps you burn more calories and helps you maintain your weight loss. It’s also a terrific way to help your bones and joints. Keep doing cardio, but don’t skimp on the weights!
You’ll get extra perks from strength training. Strength training benefits include improved balance, stronger bones, greater strength, better metabolic health, and improved self-esteem. As they say, strong is the new skinny! Be strong, be proud, and keep strength training.
References:
- Vargo K. Weight lifting for weight loss. American Council on Exercise. Published Mar 25, 2015.
- Miller T, Mull S, Aragon AA, Krieger J, Schoenfeld BJ. Resistance Training Combined With Diet Decreases Body Fat While Preserving Lean Mass Independent of Resting Metabolic Rate: A Randomized Trial. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2018 Jan 1;28(1):46-54. doi: 10.1123/ijsnem.2017-0221. Epub 2018 Jan 24. PMID: 28871849.
- Westcott WL. Resistance training is medicine: effects of strength training on health. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2012 Jul-Aug;11(4):209-16. doi: 10.1249/JSR.0b013e31825dabb8. PMID: 22777332.
- “Strength Training is Fat Loss Training – Bret Contreras.” 07 Apr. 2016, https://bretcontreras.com/strength-training-is-fat-loss-training/.
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