How to Lose Fat With Weightlifting

Importance of Exercises

If you want to lose fat with weights you should incorporate compound exercises which work out multiple muscle groups. To lose fat you must burn more calories than you consume. When the end goal is weight loss, a strength training regimen is very important.

Combine Them

Doing cardio and cutting the calories is just not enough for proper weight loss results and a well functioning and healthy body. All in all, you should combine these three things for a sustained and successful result.

When To Lift

Only lift 2 to 3 times a week so you give your body enough time to recover and you don’t hurt yourself by overworking your muscles, give them time to rest. On average giving your body 2 days in between workouts is enough to recover.Rest for a minute or less for each set.

Important tips

First let me let you know that you will not get big by just lifting weights, instead you get big from the over consumption of calories, which can be transformed into muscle or fat based on the exercises you do and the foods you consume. Second, get ready to feel sore the next day or 2 after the workout. This is called delayed onset muscle soreness and it’s a normal response to weight training. Finally, you can lift more than you might think and that is accomplished with the help of a spotter. Be sure to stretch, drink plenty of water, and have good nutrition to help your body recover between workouts.

Rest

Remember to rest for a minute or less between each set. For weight loss purposes it’s not recommended to rest for more than a minute, if you feel that you need to rest for longer, that means you’re lifting too heavy.

Lift Heavy

You absolutely need to lift heavy if you want to lose weight because the more weight you lift the more muscle mass you will gain, the more muscle mass you gain the more your metabolic rate increases, the more your metabolic rate increases the more calories you will burn and ultimately when you burn more calories than you consume the more weight you will lose.

So if you want to lose weight effectively you NEED to lift heavy rather than light.

Add Cardio

Lifting weights helps you to burn calories and build muscle but cardio is also helpful if you are trying to lose fat. There are many ways to incorporate cardio into your weightlifting routine, choose a program that best suits you.

A good way is to run on the treadmill or the elliptical for 5 minutes in between lifting sets.

You can also do 10 minutes of the treadmill or elliptical before each workout and 10 minutes after.

Finally, you can do cardio for 30 minutes on the days that you don’t work out, about 2 to 3 times a week.

Intensity

You don’t have to have a 2 or 3 hour workout routine. Just lift weights for 30 to 45 minutes 2 to 3 times a week. As a matter of fact, you can even cut down to about 25 to 30 minutes. It’s important to minimize rest, and to work hard the entire time. Also keep in mind to keep your heart rate elevated.

Do Hybrids and Supersets

A superset is doing 2 or more exercises that target the same muscle group one after the next with little rest in between. For example, doing a set of lunges followed by a set of squats is called a superset. A hybrid is combining 2 or more movements into one movement. Combining a shoulder press, followed by a squat, and then a lunge is an example of a hybrid exercise.

Putting these into your weight training workout will increase the intensity of your training which is important for weight loss.

Do Compound Exercises

Deadlifts

Deadlifts are good to work your glutes, hamstrings, and quads.

1.Stand straight with your feet just a bit separated.

2.Hold the dumbbells with your hands facing towards you.

3.Bend your legs slightly lowering the weights down to your knees.

4.Slowly rise up to a standing position.

Do about 2 to 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps each if you are using heavy weights and about 12 to 16 if you are using lighter weights

Dumbbell Rows

1.Stand in the feet shoulder width- apart position.

2.Grab a dumbbell in each hand, with your arms down in front of your body.

3.With your back straight and your knees slightly bent, lean forward while keeping your chest pointing down and your abs tight.

4.Pull the dumbbells up until your shoulders are squeezing together, hold for a second before lowering them down.

If you are using light weights go for about 2 to 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps, and for heavier weights do 3 to 5 sets of 6 to 10 reps.

Track Your Calories

Track the calories that you consume using an app or a weight loss website. Use an online calorie tracker like with the app Myfitnesspal to know what you eat everyday. Record how many calories are in each drink or meal and add the number of calories burned per exercise.

Know that muscle weighs more than fat, so as you get heavier and are building muscle you may still be losing fat.

Body Fat Measurements

In order to track your progress use body fat measurements. Since muscle weighs more than fat when you build muscle you will weigh more even if you are losing fat.

Some common measurements include:

Getting a dexa scan from a doctor.

Undergoing water displacement at a health facility

Using body calibers at the gym

Circuit training is an effective way to incorporate multiple exercises. You can focus on your entire body, upper, or lower. But don’t forget to use heavy weights all the while.

If you incorporate the tips, advice, and guidance given in this post you will definitely be that much more successful in losing weight using weight lifting as the means.