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The Role of Strength Training in Effective Weight Loss: How Building Muscle Boosts Fat Burn

Feeling comfortable in your skin is one of the biggest goals in life, and sometimes that means working actively on improving your fitness and shedding a few additional pounds. Nowadays, there’s an overwhelming amount of information on weight loss programs and lifestyles that all but guarantee results. The truth is that there’s no one-size-fits-all formula that will ensure weight loss, but there are some pointers you can follow.

Your weight loss journey depends on dozens of factors, including the current state of your metabolism, chronic health conditions, habits, etc. However, no matter where you start, there’s one guideline you can use – incorporating strength training into your workout routine can boost fat burn. This may not be obvious at a glance, so let’s take a closer look at the role of strength training in effective weight loss.

How can strength training help you lose weight?

There’s much more to losing weight than pushing yourself through grueling cardio sessions every other day. It’s important you understand how your body functions and what it needs to be in an optimal state to lose those extra pounds. Enter strength training!

Unlike cardio, which primarily burns calories only while you’re active, strength training has both immediate and long-term benefits on your metabolism. Here’s why!

More Muscle, More Calories Burned

One of the reasons it’s recommended to workout at least three times a week is that this habit allows you to keep your muscles strong and working regularly. Your metabolism needs more energy to maintain muscle tissue, and strength training can help you build muscle. This means that your muscles burn more calories even when you’re at rest, which increases your resting metabolic rate (RMR). 

Simply put, more muscles transform your body into a calorie-burning machine, even when you’re not exercising. This is one of the main reasons strength training is essential – it helps you build and preserve lean muscle, which keeps your metabolism working more effectively and burning fat even when you’re not doing cardio all the time. It’s a good idea to incorporate boxing or a similar sport into your training because you’ll reap both cardio and strength benefits from it.

The Afterburn Effect Is Real

While we’re on the topic of higher resting metabolic rate, let’s talk about the EPOC phenomenon as well. EPOC stands for  Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption, aka the “afterburn effect”. This happens after you’ve had a great strength and resistance workout and after it, your body continues to burn calories faster. 

As a result, you bounce back after workouts more quickly, there’s less muscle soreness, and your energy levels improve. The afterburn effect can last up to 48 hours, significantly enhancing the total calories burned from a single strength training session. If you do this a couple of times of week, you’ll ensure that EPOC works for you.  

Your Hormones Benefit from Strength Training

Insulin resistance has become a prominent health concern worldwide, and people with excess weight can be in danger of developing it. In short, insulin resistance happens when our bodies (namely our muscles, fatty tissues, and liver) have a diminished response to the hormone insulin which regulates our blood sugar levels. The resistance can bring about a series of health issues, including type 2 diabetes. 

Strength training improves your sensitivity to insulin because your body becomes more efficient at using glucose for energy rather than storing it as fat. This not only reduces your risk of diabetes but also prevents gaining weight quickly, especially around your abdomen. Insulin resistance can also be improved through nutrition over a long period of time. If you’re struggling with increased appetite and are in search of help, the best endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty in Tampa can help you approach this issue from a different perspective and solve it once and for all.

Strength Training Helps You Preserve Muscle

When it comes to losing weight, recommendations like “just eat less” or “do cardio, and you’ll be fine” are overly simplistic and not really useful. If you aim to lose fat only through diet or excessive cardio, you risk losing muscle mass along with fat, which is the opposite of what you need.

If you avoid strength training, over time, you’ll reach a plateau on your weight loss journey, when it will be harder to lose weight even when you dedicate yourself to eating clean and doing plenty of cardio. This can be disheartening and even make you give up on your fitness goals. Combining strength training with cardio ensures you preserve and even gain muscle mass while losing fat, so you’ll feel stronger and look more toned, which is always a welcome perk.

Conclusion

Building muscle through strength training is essential in your quest to lose weight. While nutrition and well-timed cardio play a significant role as well, strength training allows you to feel strong and comfortable in your skin. 

The best part is that the stronger you are, the better you’ll perform during your cardio workouts, which will allow you to push yourself and reach new personal records. This combo could lead to even more fat loss and muscle gain over time, leaving you feeling good and confident in the gym and outside of it.

Published by

HoylesFitness

Owner of www.hoylesfitness.com. Personal Trainer, Father and fitness copy writer. Working hard making the world fitter and healthier!

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