When discussing exercise for weight loss, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and other forms of aerobic exercise receive a lot of attention. But strength training, whether done with free weights or just one’s own body weight, may also aid in lowering the weight.
Find out how by reading on. Then begin strength training for weight loss using our four-week strategy.
Can Strength Training Exercises Help You Lose Weight?
Strength training pushes your body like other types of exercise, which raises your calorie burn. (compared with just sitting still). When you burn more calories than you take in over time, you lose weight. Therefore, you may eventually lose weight if you combine strength training with a moderate calorie restriction.
Strength training typically loses to aerobic exercise when comparing calories burnt only. A 155-pound person burns approximately 108 calories in 30 minutes of general weight lifting, according to calculations from Harvard Health. While cycling for the same amount of time at a moderate intensity, the same person burns 252 calories.
But beyond the straightforward calculation of calories burned, strength training can support healthy weight loss, according to Mike T. Nelson, Ph.D., an exercise scientist in Minneapolis. “I find it a little too reductionist to only consider [resistance exercise] in terms of calories in, calories out.”
According to research, weight loss programs for overweight or obese individuals that include resistance or strength training in addition to calorie restriction or aerobic activity are more successful than those that do not. That’s because, as increasing research demonstrates, strength exercise promotes muscle growth while lowering overall body fat.
Dr. Lyon notes that people typically lose muscle in addition to fat when they attempt to reduce weight through calorie restriction combined with aerobic exercise. However, resistance exercise results in muscular growth, which helps you maintain your strength while also burning more calories. Running, jogging, cycling, and other aerobic exercises all help to improve the muscles you’re working, though usually less effective than resistance training.
The maintenance of lean tissue is the true advantage of strength training for weight loss, according to Gabrielle Lyon, DO, a functional medicine specialist and the founder of the Institute for Muscle-Centric Medicine in New York City.
In other words, compared to weight reduction strategies that only involve calorie restriction or simply calorie restriction and aerobic activity, weight loss via resistance or strength training is more likely to result from fat mass than muscle mass.
What Do the Facts Show?
Why, when strength training is part of a weight loss program, do you typically lose more fat mass than muscle mass? There’s also the matter of your muscle growth. Additionally, muscle is a metabolically active tissue that needs to burn calories to maintain itself. According to a previous report, fat does not, though.
According to Lyon, losing muscle has the unfavorable impact of lowering your resting daily calorie burn, which might eventually cause weight gain (unless you’re also restricting your calorie intake). In fact, previous research has shown that a major factor in why many people gain fat as they age is muscle loss.
According to Dr. Nelson, strength exercise can help you maintain your metabolism and stop unwelcome fat growth.
Researchers collected information from 58 studies that used extremely precise methods of body measuring, such as body scans, for a systematic review and meta-analysis that was published in Sports Medicine in September 2021. (these differentiate between fat mass and lean mass). Their findings show that after five months of simple strength training, participants in the studies shed an average of 1.4 percent of their total body fat.
Those outcomes are comparable to how much weight you might lose by exercising. Although the strength training regimens varied between trials, participants trained on average 2.7 times per week for 45 to 60 minutes each session.
More importantly, the muscle you gain via strength training aids in the use of nutrients from the food by your body. According to Lyon, when skeletal muscles contract, they release myokines, proteins that aid in directing and dividing fuel like carbs (glucose and glucose).
Resistance training, according to research, improves insulin resistance, which is the inability of your cells to react to the hormone insulin, which your pancreas produces to help control blood sugar levels. When your body doesn’t react to insulin, your body has to produce more, which keeps insulin levels high. According to the Cleveland Clinic, elevated insulin levels can lead to weight gain and diabetes. Improvements in insulin resistance may, therefore, aid in both weight reduction and weight maintenance.
a 4-week weight loss strength training program
Lyon advises strength training for 45 minutes, three or four days a week, with the goal of reaching near-total muscle exhaustion for the muscle group you’re working at the end of your sets (or the sensation that you couldn’t perform one more rep). She continues, “This doesn’t mean you have to lift heavy, but you have to exert enough effort to feel challenged.”
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If necessary, you might begin with fewer or shorter strength training sessions. However, as recommended by the physical activity recommendations of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), strive to carry out at least two full-body strength workouts per week. Consider using your own body weight, resistance bands, free weights, or an exercise machine.
For a well-rounded exercise program, add 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise (also recommended in the guidelines) every week.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT), which can count toward the HHS’s aerobic activity requirements, is another proposal made by Lyon. High-intensity interval training, as opposed to steady-state cardio, which requires a lot of time, is a really effective approach to making progress, she adds. Until you reach 10 minutes, try cycling for 1 minute in sprint mode and 1 minute in recovery.
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According to Robert Waskowitz, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist with Orthopedic Associates of Hartford in Connecticut, if you have a preexisting condition like hypertension, diabetes, osteoporosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a heart condition, or another issue that may interfere with your ability to safely exercise, get checked by your health care provider before you start training or change your workout routine. He continues, “Your doctor can review your exercise regimen and offer recommendations regarding what will be safe and beneficial for you.”
When you’re prepared to start, try this Lyon-approved program:
45 minutes of full-body weight exercise plus 30 minutes of cardio on Day 1 of Week 1
Day 2 cardio for 30 minutes
Day 3: 30 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of upper-body weight training
Day 4—30 minutes of exercise
Day 5: 10 minutes of HIIT and 45 minutes of lower-body resistance training
Day 6: 20 minutes of exercise
7th day: Rest
Week 2 Day 1: 30 minutes of aerobics and 45 minutes of full-body resistance training
Day 2 cardio for 30 minutes
Day 3: 30 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of upper-body weight training
Day 4—30 minutes of exercise
Day 5: 10 minutes of HIIT and 45 minutes of lower-body resistance training
Day 6: 20 minutes of exercise
7th day: Rest
Week 3 Day 1: 30 minutes of aerobics and 45 minutes of full-body resistance training
Day 2 cardio for 30 minutes
Day 3: HIIT for 10 minutes and 45 minutes of full-body resistance exercise.
Day 4: 45-minutes of cardio
Day 5: 30 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of upper-body resistance training
Day 6: 10 minutes of HIIT and 45 minutes of lower-body resistance training
7th day: Rest
Week 4
Day 1: 30 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of full-body resistance training
Day 2 cardio for 30 minutes
Day 3: HIIT for 10 minutes and 45 minutes of full-body resistance exercise.
Day 4: 45-minutes of cardio
Day 5: 30 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of upper-body resistance training
Day 6: 10 minutes of HIIT and 45 minutes of lower-body resistance training
7th day: Rest
