Can You Burn Fat With Weight Training?
People looking to lose weight often have two preconceptions. First, they need to eat much less and, second, they need to move much more. In order to do this, not only do many people start crash diets and cut out vital nutrients from their diets, but they also start doing cardio like crazy, only to discover that they’re not shifting the pounds as quickly as they had hoped.
Yes, cardio can burn fat and help you to lose weight, but running endlessly on a treadmill at the same speed isn’t the most efficient way to make the most of your time and energy. With regular cardio, you’ll start seeing changes, but when you burn fat with weight training it will maximize the efficiency of your workouts.
What Is Weight Training?
Weight training, sometimes referred to as strength training or resistance training, refers to exercises where you lift or push weights like push-ups, leg presses, dumbbell exercises, etc. Basically, weight training exercises are those that get progressively more difficult as you do them.
The idea behind the exercises is that they help you break down your muscles so that they can rebuild themselves bigger and stronger. A lot of people ignore strength training in favor of pure cardio because they assume that strength training is just for those who want to really build muscle, but this is wrong.
Free Report: The Best Type of Weights for Your Workout
How Does Weight Training Help?
The great thing about weight training is that you can burn calories long after you’ve finished your workout. With cardio, once you step out of the gym or return from your run, you won’t be burning calories any longer. With weight training, you can burn more calories for up to 48 hours after you’ve finished exercising. This is great news for people who don’t enjoy going to the gym.
Another way that you burn fat with weight training is that it helps to build muscle. When your body builds muscle, it turns the excess fat you have into muscle instead. Even if you don’t see a change on the scale, you’ll definitely see a change in your shape and size. Fat takes up a lot more space than muscle does, so you’ll weigh the same but you will look and feel smaller.
Doesn’t Weight Training Make You Really Big?
People who want to lose weight, particularly women, shy away from any type of weight training since they believe it will make them bigger. Even though they believe that they will build muscle rather than fat, the idea of getting even bigger really puts them off. It’s important to note that you would have to lift very heavy weights for long periods of time in order to build any real amount of muscle mass, so the danger of getting ‘too large’ building muscle is very unlikely.
So, You Can Burn Fat With Weight Training. What Else?
There are a lot of benefits to weight training and everyone can benefit from adding some weight training exercises to their workout routine.
Boost Your Energy Levels and Your Mood
Believe it or not, weight training can actually make you feel more energized and improve your mood. Weight training, because it’s so intense, triggers the release of endorphins in the brain. These endorphins don’t only give you a rush of energy, but they also improve your overall mood. People often talk about a “runner’s high” for long-distance runners. Well, the same thing exists for people who train with weights.
It Keeps Your Bones Healthy
In the same way that weight training can keep your muscles healthy, it can also keep your skeletal system healthy. As you age, your bones start to lose density. Eventually, this can turn into a serious issue. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this is just an issue for older people either. People start losing bone density as early as age 30.
It’s Good For Your Heart
Weight training can be helpful for your cardiovascular system as well. It really gets your blood pumping. Likewise, it can help keep your cholesterol levels low and your blood pressure stabilized. These many not be a pressing concern for you when you’re younger, but taking steps to improve your cardiovascular health at an early age can help you later on in life.
The Best Equipment To Burn Fat With Weight Training
Regardless of what you’re trying to achieve in your workout routine, weight training is an important part of becoming healthier and fitter. Unless you have a health problem which prevents you from lifting weights or using objects with resistance, everybody should be incorporating some form of weight training into their workout regimes.
The best way to burn fat with weight training is to use a variety of weights. To help you choose the right weights for your goals download my free report, How To Choose The Best Weights to help you get the body shape you want.
