Why You Should Use Resistance Training To Lose Weight

Many people believe that to Cardio exercise such as cycling, running, aerobics etc is the best choice for reducing fat. Whilst it is important to exercise and maintain a healthy heart, you should not neglect resistance training when on a fat loss program. Besides making your body appear more toned, muscle developed by resistance training speeds up your metabolism so that you actually burn more calories.

If you were to add a pound of lean, healthy muscle tissue to your body through resistance training, your metabolism goes up approximately 37.5 calories per day. If you were to add six pounds of muscle to your body over time, you would then burn over 200 extra calories per day! The last thing you want to do when trying to lose fat from your body is to lose lean muscle tissue. Not only will you not loos, feel, and perform as well, you will reduce your metabolism and gain fat more easily.

This is why you should start a resistance training program, either in the gym or at home. Obviously in the gym you have access to a wider range of equipment, but you can still get an effective workout at home using dumbells and resistance bands.

Don’t worry about ending up having “bodybuilder” type muscles. This is unlikely to happen. What you are trying achieve is assist the fat loss process by maintaining and adding calorie burning lean muscle tissue. The result will be a more toned, firmer look. Because resistance training stimulates your metabolism, the foods you eat are less likely to be stored as fat.

The message is simple – if you want to lose fat, get out those dumbbells!