When you think about weight loss, you may not ordinarily make the link between that and strength training. But this is where you could be going wrong. Find out why strength training for weight loss may be the routine change you need to see results.
When you think about weight loss and exercise, you may automatically think cardio workouts are what you need to do. After all, a cardio workout gets your heart working harder, which ultimately helps to burn calories, right? Right!
But strength training is another tool that can bolster your weight loss goals and give you that extra boost. But why is it worthwhile? I wanted to give you the low-down on strength training for weight loss and how you can get started.
Why to Use Strength Training for Weight Loss
Strength Training Helps to Build Lean Muscle
While cardio and aerobic exercise are always going to be a great way to burn those calories and encourage weight loss, it also means that you may lose muscle in the process. By doing this, you could effectively be slowing down your metabolism, which means that your body won’t burn off and process the food you eat at a fast enough rate.
Alongside aerobic exercise, strength training can help to build lean muscle. As you use weights and resistance training equipment, you are encouraging your muscles to adapt and form in a different way. It becomes leaner and stronger, without losing the muscle mass that you need.
More Muscle Means a Higher BMR (Base Metabolic Rate)
Leaner muscles are able to burn more calories when you are at rest. Having more muscle increases your BMR, which is your base metabolic rate.
For those who are unsure what that is, it is the base amount of calories that your body can burn even if you do nothing all day.
The more your body can naturally burn off, the more able you will be to lose weight, or keep your weight at an optimum level.
Your muscles are always being broken down, synthesized, and regenerated, and the more muscle you have, the more energy it requires to complete the process. Again this results in more calories being burned off day-to-day.
You Will Still Be Burning Those Calories and Here’s Why
While we have already explained that leaner muscle means more calories being burned off at rest, you can still burn off a lot of calories during a strength training session.
There are a few ways you can do this, such as moving faster between sets, moving quickly during each set, choosing heavier weights, or increasing the number of reps you do. However, ALWAYS weight train with care. SAFETY should be your top priority.
Cardio will always get a big credit for burning off more calories, but strength training can be just as provident.
How to Add Strength Training to Workouts
The fact of the matter is that you need to burn off more calories than you take in to lose weight. While a decent cardio workout training schedule will help you do that, adding strength training into that schedule 3-4 times a week will help you be in a better position to create leaner muscle for long-term weight loss and help you maintain what you achieve.
Combining cardio and strength training to your overall workout schedule will help you achieve this in the best possible way.