Weight training is one of the best exercises for weight loss. These types of exercises can lead to fat loss and even muscle building. In the following, we will to talk about the most important tips to lose weight with weight training.
Why is weight training effective for weight loss?
As we said, weight training is one of the best exercises for weight loss. You may wonder why these exercises are effective for weight loss. This question is asked while most people think that weight training is only for building muscle and not burning fat!
Weight training can lead to fat burning in several ways:
After burn effect
One of the important effects of weight training is the afterburn effect. When you do high intensity weight training, your body’s metabolism will increase even after workout. In a study, it has been reported that the metabolism after weight training will be high even up to 24 hours later. This can help you lose weight faster.
Boosting metabolism
Another effect of weight training is boosting metabolism. As we said in the article how to lose weight fast, one of the side effects of calorie deficit is metabolism reduction. To prevent the metabolism reduction, building or protecting muscles is the best solution. The more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolism will be. Weight training and eating enough protein will be helpful.
Calories burned
Weight training burns calories like any other exercise. The more calories you burn, the more fat you will burn.
Tips to lose weight with weight training
You can experience weight loss using a regular workout routine. But if you want to lose weight fast with weight training, you must follow several important rules. The mentioned rules are all tested and effective, so you can use them safely.
Use Compound exercises
Movements with weight can be divided into two categories, compound and isolation exercises, according to the number of joints involved in the exercise. When only one joint is involved in the exercise, we call that an isolation exercise. If more than one joint is involved in the exercise, we call that a compound exercise.
exercises such as flies, pullovers, lateral raises, etc. are among the isolation exercises.
Squats, deadlifts, chest presses, shoulder presses, dumbbell rows, etc. are examples of compound exercises.
Which exercises are best for weight loss?
Both groups of exercises can help you lose weight, but you can experience more fat loss with compound exercises. These exercises involve more muscles so can increase your metabolism more. Because of this, you can experience more fat burning. After all, you can use heavier weights in compound exercises that help increase strength and muscle building.
So, if you want to lose weight with weight training, it is better to choose 80% of the exercises of your workout from compound exercises. Exercises such as squats, lunges, deadlifts, dumbbell chest press, barbell chest press, incline dumbbell press, dumbbell shoulder press etc.
Combine weight training with cardio
In a research, it was shown that a combination of weight training and cardio resulted in the greatest amount of weight loss. The reason for this result is probably the increase in metabolism and calorie burning due to the combination of weight training and cardio. Cardio exercises can burn significant calories in a short period of time.
Use interval training
If you decide to combine cardio with weight training, it’s best to use cardio interval training. As we said in the article “Interval vs. endurance training“, this type of training can lead to more fat burning, more calorie burning and less muscle loss.
You can use these cardio exercises:
- cycling
- Running
- Brisk walking
- Jumping jacks
- Burpees
- Jumping rope etc.
Do cardio after weight training
It is a wrong belief: “only cardio leads to fat loss”. Weight training can also help you burn fat. Now the question may arise whether cardio training should be done after or before weight training.
As we said muscle loss has a negative effect on fat loss. If you lose a lot of muscles, your metabolism will definitely slow down, and as a result, your fat burning will stop completely. To prevent this from happening, you must be able to do high intensity weight training.
Now let’s assume that you first do a high-intensity cardio workout, then you want to do weight training. In this situation, you have lost your energy to some extent and you cannot do weight training with maximum intensity. For this reason, the possibility of muscle loss increases.
So if you do weight training first and then do cardio, you can protect or even build muscle.
Lift heavy weights
It is widely believed that weight training should be done with light weights and high repetitions to lose weight. This belief is somewhat wrong. Heavy weight training can also lead to fat burning. In fact, maybe this model of training can create more fat burning.
First, training with heavy weights can increase the afterburn effect compared to training with light weights. In this situation, more muscle fibers are called and the fall causes more damage to the muscles. This issue leads to an increase in the afterburn effect.
Second, heavy weight training can increase muscle building. This leads to better body shape and increased metabolism. So if you want to lose weight with weight training, it is better to use heavy weights
This does not mean that you should only use heavy weights to lose weight. You can use both heavy weights and light weights, but it is better to emphasize on heavy weights.
Train to failure
In the previous section, we said that probably training with heavy weights and repetitions less than 14 will cause more fat burning, but now we want to add an important point. Training to failure is the most important tip for weight loss with weight training. If you want to experience the fastest fat burning, you need to train until complete failure.
If you decide to train until failure and burn a lot of fat, you should also pay special attention to recovery. The higher intensity your workout, the more recovery you probably need. For better recovery, you should pay attention to rest, sleep and nutrition.
Use high-intensity training systems
One of the ways to increase the intensity of training is to use high intensity training systems. Some training systems such as Supersets, Tri-sets, Drop sets, Giant sets, etc. greatly increase the afterburn effect. As we said in the previous sections, this can help increase metabolism as a result of burning more fat.
Two additional points to lose weight with weight training
We have discussed the most important training points, but we must also pay attention to two additional points. Sometimes, athletes follow all the above tips completely but do not see significant fast loss. If you have encountered this problem, read these 2 additional points carefully.
Calorie deficit is the key!
As we said before, the only way to lose fat is a calorie deficit. A calorie deficit means you eat less than you need. In this situation, the body uses energy sources stored in the body, such as fat and muscles, to compensate for this deficiency. If you consume enough calories and protein, most of this energy comes from fat.
Most of the time, even intense exercise does not result in significant fat loss. So, if you want to lose weight with weight training, you must control the amount of calorie intake from your diet.
Here is some perfect tips for your weight loss diet:
- It is better to provide about 20-30% of the calories from the best high protein foods for weight loss.
- Eat foods high in fiber to keep you feeling fuller for longer.
- Eat a meal of protein and carbohydrates after training to improve recovery and muscle protection.
Focus on fat loss instead of weight loss
If you want to lose weight with weight training, you should focus on fat loss instead of weight loss. What is your main goal? Most likely, your goal is to reduce body fat percentage. As a result of this fat loss, in most cases, weight loss is also caused. So why do I say it’s better to focus on fat loss?
In weight training, two things happen that probably lead to preventing weight loss. But don’t worry, the fat loss that is your main goal will definitely happen!
The first event: as a result of weight training, there is a high probability of muscle building. It means that the weight of muscles increases, but the weight of fat decreases.
Second event: Intramuscular water increases.
As a result of these 2 events, you may not see maximum weight loss, but if you do high intensity training and follow a proper diet, you will have experienced a lot of fat burning.
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