For years, weight training was widely associated with bulked-up bodybuilders. In short, nobody else got a look-in.
Suddenly, things started to change. Gyms started to become populated not just with the huge guys lifting monumental amounts of weight, but also everyone else (females included).
In summary, people started to realize that weight training was a powerful tool when it comes to fat loss. According to the guys at Sono Bello, one of the biggest reasons behind people losing weight and coming into their clinic for procedures like excess skin removal is resistance training. It’s almost like the days of running for miles upon miles, in a bid to shift the odd pound, are long gone.
So, does weight training really work for weight loss? Let’s take a look at the subject in-detail.
It helps you burn fat through the rest of the day
There’s no doubt that the biggest advantage in relation to resistance training and weight loss is the fact that your metabolism goes into overdrive.
This is especially important when it comes to losing weight. When you perform cardio training, it’s true that you will burn calories in the moment. However, that’s when the benefits usually stop. With weight training, you’ll still be expending energy through the course of the day. In fact, studies have suggested that your metabolism will be around 7% quicker – which is pretty significant in the grand scheme of things and will help you shift a lot of pounds in the process.
You won’t lose muscle in the process
One of the other perils of cardio training is that you tend to sacrifice muscle as well. Sure, you will lose weight, but some of this weight will include muscle (i.e., the stuff that makes your body look good).
When it comes to resistance training, it stands to reason that this doesn’t occur. Naturally, you are training your muscles, which mean that they are going to grow in size rather than go the other way.
This has been proven in countless studies. For example, one found that over a 12 week period, participants gained 2kg in muscle mass, yet their body fat dropped by 2%. Suffice to say, these are the type of figures that will make your body look great.
Visceral fat becomes a thing of the past
Something that certainly doesn’t make your body look great is visceral fat. In non-scientific terms, this refers to the fat that wraps around your organs. The alternative is subcutaneous fat, which sits underneath your skin. The former is much more dangerous, while it goes without saying that it isn’t particularly attractive either.
Studies have shown that resistance training can help with this substantially. The upshot should be that fat around your abdominal area will shrink. In fact, the studies have been quite specific in their numbers, suggesting that just eighty minutes of resistance training per week will be able to reduce this visceral fat.
