Can You Burn Body Fat With Weights?

By Steve Menzies


If you have ever asked someone to explain how to burn body fat, the chances are slim that weight training came up in the list of responses.

Yet despite this widespread misconception, weight training remains highly effective for burning body fat.

In fact, resistance training has been clinically proven across many scientific research studies to be highly effective for burning body fat - even more than cardiovascular exercise!

The specific type of resistance training referred to here is H.I.R.T., otherwise known as high intensity resistance training.

Before you go to the gym with ideas of lifting light weights for millions of reps in a Body Pump class, it's important to understand that high intensity resistance training does not involve going light at all. In fact, it's one of the most difficult weight lifting protocols in existence today. But that also makes it one of the most effective.

Whenever we lift weights we create an anabolic response which tells the body to use carbohydrates as our main fuel source during training.

Now, you could see that as a disadvantage if your main goal is fat loss - why wouldn't you want to burn fat as your primary fuel?

The hypertrophy which is caused by our weight training session uses carbohydrates to fuel our muscles while we train. However, the moment we end our workout the body switches to burning body fat and this remains the case for a considerable number of hours thereafter. That's right, we are burning body fat after the gym, not in the gym!

Carbohydrates may be the main macronutrient we use while we are training, but the moment we reach the end of our workout everything begins to change. Fat is then promoted as our primary fuel - and this phenomenon, known as the after burn effect, can last for up to sixteen hours!

But how do you actually do this style of training?



It's beauty is in it's simplicity. Or rather, it's simple to explain - it's not simple to do! The first step is to look at what other people are doing when they train with weights at your local gym. The chances are, they will lift for eight to ten repetitions then rest for a couple of minutes before repeating the process. This is pretty standard gym behavior.

But it is not H.I.R.T. and it is not the most effective training style for fat loss.

Put two or even four exercises together into a series of mini circuits throughout your workout. Avoid performing single set exercises followed by two minutes checking your phone or updating your social media status. Perform exercises back-to-back without rest, reducing your workload time but improving your productivity.

There are now numerous scientific studies which confirm the effectiveness of resistance training for fat loss. In fact, many even suggest it to be greater than cardio. If you train in a mainstream gym then there's a good chance you may never have stumbled across this information before. Use it wisely.




About the Author:



Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire

blogger