Strength training may not burn as many calories as aerobic exercise, but it can help with weight loss in other ways. Here’s how.
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and other types of aerobic exercise get a lot of attention when it comes to exercises for weight loss. But strength training, whether it’s free weights or bodyweight only, can also help lower the number on the scale. Read on to find out how. Then, use our four-week program to start strength training for weight loss.
Can strength training sessions contribute to weight loss?
Like other forms of exercise, weight training challenges your body, which increases your calorie burn (compared to sitting still). Weight loss occurs when you burn more calories than you consume over a period of time. Therefore, if you combine strength training with moderate calorie restriction, you can lose weight over time. When it comes to calories burned strictly, aerobic exercise usually trumps strength-training exercise. According to Harvard Health estimates, a 150-pound person burns about 108 calories in 30 minutes of general weight lifting. This same person burns 252 calories cycling at a moderate intensity for the same duration.
But strength training can promote healthy weight loss beyond the simple equation of calories burned. Considering resistance exercise only in terms of calorie intake and calorie loss is a bit too simplistic.
Research suggests that when resistance or strength training is part of a weight loss program (along with calorie restriction or aerobic exercise) for overweight or obese adults, these interventions are more effective. Indeed, strength training promotes muscle growth while reducing fat mass, as a growing body of evidence shows.
Typically, weight loss efforts (calorie restriction and aerobic activity) result in loss of muscle in addition to fat. But when you resistance train, you build muscle, allowing you to maintain strength while burning extra calories. Aerobic activities (running, jogging, cycling, etc.) also strengthen working muscles, but generally less effectively than resistance training. The real benefit of strength training for weight loss is in maintaining lean tissue.
Bottom Line: When you do resistance or strength training as part of a weight loss plan, the pounds you lose are more likely to come from fat mass than muscle mass — compared to weight loss plans. weight loss that include only calorie restriction or only calorie restriction and aerobic exercise.
What does the evidence say?
Why do people tend to lose more fat mass than muscle mass when strength training is part of a weight loss program? There’s the fact that you’re building muscle. Furthermore, muscle is a metabolically active tissue that requires energy (calorie expenditure) to be maintained. On the other hand, fat is not.
Losing muscle has the undesirable effect of reducing your daily calorie expenditure at rest, which can lead to weight gain over time (unless you restrict calorie intake accordingly). In fact, muscle loss is one of the main reasons many people gain fat as they age, according to previous research. Strength training can help keep your metabolism high and prevent unwanted fat gain.
In a systematic review and meta-analysis published in September 2021 in the journal Sports Medicine, researchers collated data from 58 research papers that used highly accurate forms of body measurements like body scans (which differentiate fat mass from lean body mass). Their findings reveal that study participants lost an average of 1.4% of their total body fat after five months of strength training alone.
These results are similar to those that can be obtained by doing cardio. Strength training programs differed between studies, but participants trained for about 45 to 60 minutes per session, an average of 2.7 times per week.
More importantly, the muscles you build through strength training help your body use nutrients from food. When you contract skeletal muscles, they secrete myokines, proteins that help direct and distribute fuels such as carbohydrates (glycogen and glucose).
Research shows that resistance training improves insulin resistance, which is when cells don’t respond to insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas to regulate blood sugar levels. . When your body can’t respond to insulin, it has to produce more of it, which keeps insulin levels high. According to the Cleveland Clinic, high insulin levels can lead to weight gain and diabetes. By extension, improving insulin resistance can contribute to weight loss and weight maintenance.
A 4 week strength training plan for weight loss
For weight loss specifically, a 45-minute strength training three or four days a week is sufficient, with enough intensity that you’ll be near total muscle fatigue for the muscle group you’re working by the end of your sets ( or the feeling of not being able to do one more repetition). This doesn’t mean you have to lift heavy, but you have to put in enough effort to feel challenged.
You can start with fewer or shorter strength training sessions, if needed. However, try to do at least two total-body strength workouts per week. Opt for bodyweight exercises, with resistance bands, free weights, or exercise machines. Add 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise per week for a balanced workout program.
Also try to incorporate high-intensity interval training (HIIT) a few times a week. High-intensity interval training is a very effective way to shake things up compared to regular cardio, which ends up taking a long time. Try alternating a one-minute sprint on a stationary bike with a one-minute recovery until you hit 10 minutes.
Before you start training or change your training program, consult your doctor if you have a pre-existing condition such as hypertension, diabetes, osteoporosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease or any other condition that may interfere with your ability to exercise safely. Your doctor can review your exercise program and give you suggestions on what will be both safe and effective for you, he adds.
Once you’re ready to begin, try this repeating routine:
Week 1
Day 1 45 minutes of total body resistance training and 30 minutes of cardio
Day 2 30 minutes of cardio
Day 3 45 minutes of upper body resistance training and 30 minutes of cardio
Day 4 30 minutes of cardio
Day 5 45 minutes of lower body resistance training and 10 minutes of HIIT
Day 6 20 minutes of cardio
Day 7 Rest
Week 2
Day 1 45 minutes of total body resistance training and 30 minutes of cardio
Day 2 30 minutes of cardio
Day 3 45 minutes of upper body resistance training and 30 minutes of cardio
Day 4 30 minutes of cardio
Day 5 45 minutes of lower body resistance training and 10 minutes of HIIT
Day 6 20 minutes of cardio
Day 7 Rest
Week 3
Day 1 45 minutes of total body resistance training and 30 minutes of cardio
Day 2 30 minutes of cardio
Day 3 45 minutes of full body resistance training and 10 minutes of HIIT
Day 4 30 to 45 minutes of cardio
Day 5 45 minutes of upper body resistance training and 30 minutes of cardio
Day 6 45 minutes of lower body resistance training and 10 minutes of HIIT
Day 7 Rest
Week 4
Day 1 45 minutes of total body resistance training plus 30 minutes of cardio
Day 2 30 minutes of cardio
Day 3 45 minutes of total body resistance training and 10 minutes of HIIT
Day 4 30 to 45 minutes of cardio
Day 5 45 minutes of upper body resistance training and 30 minutes of cardio
Day 6 45 minutes of lower body resistance training and 10 minutes of HIIT
Day 7: rest