So, why is weight training for weight loss important?
I’m assuming since you’re reading this, you’re trying to figure out a way to finally lose weight and keep it off for good.
If that’s you, what I’m about to share with you is going to be the key to getting a lean body you are confident in for life.
We’re going to get into 4 reasons weight training is important for your weight loss goals.
Start Weight Training for Weight Loss Now
I have been working out now for over 12 years now. In both my personal workout journey and as a coach I made many mistakes when I was first starting out.
Luckily, starting with weight training was not one of them. It has been the foundation of my training and every workout program I have ever given anyone.
There was no worry or focus on how many calories I was burning or how tired I was at the end of my workouts. I focused on executing basic exercises with proper form. Each workout was fun and exciting because I was getting stronger and gaining confidence in my body. Being able to add 5 pounds or do a couple more reps than the previous week gave me a jolt of energy and joy. I would practically be skipping to my car after each workout. A far cry from the crawl to the car you see most people doing these days.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Doing just weight training is leaving some holes in your fitness. I waited too long to start doing some mobility work and aerobic conditioning, but if I started with cardio and mobility, I would have gotten bored and not seen the changes in my body’s strength and probably would have quit.
The fact that weight training provides confidence in your body and mind is important.
Importance of Weight Training for Weight Loss
Weight training isn’t just necessary if you want to build the biggest muscles possible. Unfortunately, the bodybuilding world is associated the most with resistance training, which turns many people off.
The truth is, whether you need to lose 100 pounds, 10 pounds or just want to gain some functional lean muscle and keep those results, weight training is essential.
We need to get out of our head the idea that our actual training sessions are burning fat. This just isn’t how it works. You can do all the burpee, crawl, hop, skip, get yelled out, and roll around on a gym floor you want…
It isn’t going to make you burn any more fat.
You need to exercise to build and preserve lean muscle so you can ensure that when you lose weight through proper nutrition portions, most of the weight loss is coming from actual body fat.
Doing just cardio based training in a medium and high intensity in conjunction with restricting calories too much will result in losing muscle.
This muscle loss is why so many people workout, see some weight loss on the scale initially but don’t look any different.
Everyone you see that has that lean, athletic look does some form of resistance training.
Resistance training is the most important part of your workout program if lasting weight loss is your goal.
It isn’t complicated, trendy or fancy. You just need to learn basic, simple weight training exercises that provide slight overload to the muscles over time.
4 Reasons to Start Weight Training for Weight Loss
1.Build Lean Muscle
The first and most important factor to understand is the importance of building lean muscle. This is what gives us the “toned” lean look. If you just lose weight and have no muscle, you will be disappointed.
Beyond vanity, lean muscle also helps make us stronger and more resilient to aging. Studies have shown that as we age, we naturally lose muscle over the years unless we do something about it. Resistance training is shown to reverse this by increasing lean weight, improving resting metabolic rate, and reducing fat weight.
2.Ensures Your Weight Loss is From Fat
Cardio is great to improve your heart health and build your endurance. Many others also enjoy the sport of running as a competitive outlet or something fun to do with friends. But, trying to use cardio alone to get lean for life is not ideal.
Here is how it works:
- To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume.
- When you create this “deficit” of calories, your body has to get the energy (calories) it needs from somewhere, and it can get it from stored fat or muscle.
- So when you are doing a ton of cardio and strict dieting, you can make your weight go down, but there is no guarantee that you are losing mostly body fat.
The problem with losing muscle mass in addition to the fat is it will lower your resting metabolism and the efficiency of your workouts. When you are contracting and using your muscles your body gets signals that it needs that muscle. It also gets more efficient at storing energy nutrients you consume (carbohydrates and fat) in those muscle tissues so they can better do their job. This need to utilize and preserve muscle leaves stored fat as the ideal source of energy for your body to burn off to compensate for the calorie deficit. Your body now needs your muscles and will prefer not to breakdown muscle tissue.
Utilizing resistance training will help you hold on to your muscle tissue while you lose fat. If you are a newbie to resistance training, you might even gain some muscle while you’re restricting your calories! This is the holy grail, burning fat and gaining muscle at the same time. The key to this is making sure you are eating enough protein and getting enough sleep.
3. Optimizes Your Hormones
Hormones are the most overlooked aspect when it comes to trying to crack the health & fitness code, so to speak. Our hormones are the master switch of sorts for the body and the impact resistance training has on them is big.
Studies have shown that consistent resistance training has a significant impact on our hormonal system, which controls our mood, energy, health and helps make us more efficient at burning fat and building muscle.
- Starting our resistance training workout sets off a series of events that leads to an increase in several hormones that help deliver needed carbohydrates for energy to the muscles, making us more insulin-resistant.
- Heavy strength training stimulates our growth hormone and testosterone. Growth hormone boosts the immune system, increases fat metabolism, and promotes stronger muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Testosterone supports muscle growth while boosting mood and energy.
- Resistance training dominant exercise helps keep cortisol in check. Cortisol is a hormone that can help burn fat as well as store it. When cortisol elevates too high for too long, it causes a lot of stress on the body. If it is too low for too long, it can cause thyroid issues. Resistance training provides the perfect environment to spike cortisol for the short term to get the fat burning benefits, but then balanced out with low-intensity workouts and not training for too long can help keep it from being too elevated.
4.Gives You Confidence
No one can explain to you the feeling of confidence you get knowing you can move your body through space or handle an external weight that once scared you. Building your physical strength and eliminating doubt about what you are capable of is an amazing mindset to have.
Strength from resistance training provides a confidence that will last forever. You carry it with you everywhere you go. With resistance training, working out isn’t about punishment or something we have to do to balance out our Ben & Jerrys habit.
Instead, we do our workouts to find what our body is capable of and celebrate our ability to move, apply force, and build dedication.
The dedication needed to build strength and change the way your body looks with resistance training will carry over into other areas of life. It helps re-train your brain that if you apply a certain level of dedication to anything, you can achieve it.
What To Do
As you can see, resistance training plays a huge part in building a lean, strong body that lasts. But you don’t need to be in the gym pumping away with Arnold 6 days a week to reap the benefits. While I love resistance training and consider it the foundation, we need room for balance.
For the perfect balance and amount needed to maximize benefits and sustainability, focus on these basics:
- Strength train 3 days a week, on non-consecutive days. Ex., Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
- Utilize compound, free weight, and body weight exercises
- Focus on performing 3-5 sets of an exercise
- Perform between 5 and 15 repetitions majority of the time. (depending on the exercise)
- Rest 30 seconds to 2 minutes between sets (depending on the exercise and goal)
- Strive to learn and use proper form.
- Overtime aim to use more weight or harder variations.
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