How Does Strength Training Help You Lose More Fat?

How Does Strength Training Help You Lose More Fat? - A Midlife Wife

The older I get, the harder it is to lose weight. I read a lot about different weight loss programs and studies and it frustrates me to no end.

The truth of the matter is that we must cut calories or burn more fat to lose the weight. I’ve tried cutting calories and I stall out. I increase exercise and nothing seems to happen. It’s a frustrating cycle.

The good news is there is proven fact that strength training will help you lose more fat, which in turn will help you lose weight eventually.

Here are some facts.

Consider the following:

• 1 in 3 people are overweight or obese

• Strength training burns fat faster than cardio, interval training, and other forms of exercise

With that, an understanding of how different types of exercise lead to health and wellness is required. let’s explore more.

How Does Strength Training Help You Lose More Fat? - A Midlife Wife

How Does Strength Training Help You Lose More Fat?

• Cardiovascular exercises are those which you can perform for a prolonged period of time. They elevate your heart rate, and keep it up. Dance aerobics, jogging, and running on a treadmill are all forms of aerobic exercise.

• Interval training requires altering your rate of speed and intensity. You sprint or do push-ups at your highest intensity for 30 seconds, then follow that up with 90 seconds of jogging or resting. You follow that process for 15 to 30 minutes.

Strength training requires pushing or lifting weights through space. This could be as simple as curling a set of dumbbells, or performing body weight exercises. Strength training often involves cyclical forms of exercises, performed in sets of a certain number of repetitions.

The way strength training outperforms other traditional exercises in the fat burning department has to do with Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). Very little of this occurs after cardio exercise. You do burn calories and fat while you are enjoying a cardio workout, but this stops shortly after your exercise is over.

Interval training is much better than cardio exercises at burning calories and fat after your workout is over. Your metabolism functions at a higher rate for hours and hours after your interval training session. Unlike many cardio sessions, which can go for 45 minutes or over an hour, interval training sessions are recommended for 30 minutes or less.

Weight training, especially those movements that work multiple muscle groups, are even better than interval training for long-term fat loss and calorie burning. Health professionals now understand that after a weight training session, you can expect to burn calories for anywhere from 24 to 38 hours after you have finished your workout!

How Does Strength Training Help You Lose More Fat? - A Midlife Wife

Weight Loss Comes From Metabolism Boosts and Muscle Building

The long-term weight loss benefits come from a metabolism boost, and the fact that you are building muscle. Muscle burns a lot of fat, even when you are just sitting around. As your muscles are repairing over the next day or day and a half after you strength train, they require fuel to repair themselves. This comes from your fat cells, and the process burns calories as well.

So it makes sense to choose weight training over other forms of exercise for maximum fat burning potential. It does not have to be heavy weight that you lift. Resistance bands are a wonderful tool to use and perfect for people of any age. Light weights with multiple repetition works great too!

What are you doing to build muscle and strength that will carry you through your life? Me? I getting back to the weights, pronto!

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