Many people exercise with the specific goal of losing weight. Exercise is a great way to burn calories, so it can help you generate the calorie deficit necessary to lose body fat. However, when it comes to choosing the best type of exercise to lose weight, most people assume that you really have to focus on cardio. While cardio exercise such as running, cycling, rowing, swimming, and stair climbing can all be great ways to burn calories, it’s also possible to lose weight by lifting weights. If you tend to gravitate towards strength training more than cardio workouts but still want to lose weight, keep reading to learn how to lose weight by strength training.
Can you lose weight lifting weights?
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One of the top weight loss tips that any health and fitness expert will recommend is to incorporate exercise into your weight loss program. Most people assume that this means cardio exercise rather than strength training, as it’s somewhat counterintuitive that you can lose weight lifting weights. After all, the goal of strength training is often to build muscle mass, and if you’re increasing your muscle mass, your body weight will increase.
However, this assumption does not take into account that as long as you follow a healthy, calorie-controlled diet and do the right type of strength training workouts, you can burn calories through weightlifting workouts and lose weight at the same time.
How lifting weights can help you lose weight
Strength training can be a really effective form of exercise for fat loss and body recomposition. Here are the ways in which resistance training workouts can help you lose weight.
Lifting weights burns calories
Like any form of exercise, strength training burns calories because your muscles need energy to contract, which requires burning stored fuel (glycogen and adipose tissue) to generate ATP (cellular energy).
The number of calories you burn in a strength training workout depends on numerous factors, such as your body weight and composition, the intensity of the workout, the specific exercises you perform, and the duration or training volume of the workout.
You will burn more calories if you have a larger body size and a higher percentage of lean body mass relative to fat mass. In terms of the structure of …….