Benefits of Lifting Weights

Lifting weights to lose weight –
How you can get results fast!

There are many benefits of lifting weights. In fact, it is arguably the best exercise for people of all ages. Even better still, lifting weights to lose weight is probably the most under-estimated way to get results fast!

When it comes to losing weight and keeping it off, exercise and lifting weights are essential components. Any exercise is beneficial because it increases the number of calories burned up during the session, which makes it easier to create an energy or calorie deficit and therefore lose weight.

It is also beneficial because it keep your metabolic rate elevated for some time post-exercise as well, which means the overall calorie expenditure is increased even further.

The number of post-exercise calories burned up is determined primarily by the intensity (how hard) and the duration (how long) of the exercise.

Weight training (also known as resistance training or lifting weights) has these benefits but many other benefits as well. Unfortunately though, many people never consider lifting weights to lose weight because of the number of popular myths surrounding this form of exercise.

It is believed by many that the consequences far outweigh the benefits of lifting weights. Becoming ‘muscle-bound’, losing flexibility, bulking up, looking like a man and growing facial hair are just a few of myths associated with lifting weights.

Despite these incorrect beliefs that are held by many, there are many benefits of lifting weights that make it one of the best forms of exercise for people of all ages to help them lose weight, stay in shape as well as improve their body functioning and sports performance.

Probably the biggest benefit of lifting weights to lose weight is the fact that it preserves your muscle mass as your body weight decreases. You see, if someone uses other methods to lose weight like nutritional principles, aerobic exercise and perhaps some supplements, they will lose weight.

Unfortunately though, the weight they lose will come from both fat tissue and muscle tissue; the body will indiscriminately lose both tissues. This means that the person’s metabolic rate will slow down substantially because muscle is one of the most ‘metabolically-active’ (this means it burns up the most energy) tissues in the body.

For example, if a person loses 10 kilograms on a weight loss program and the program doesn’t include any weight training, then up to half of the weight lost may come from muscle tissue, i.e. they may lose 5 kilograms from fat and 5 kilograms from muscle!

However, if just a few 20-30 minute weight training sessions are added to the weight loss program every week this loss of muscle may be reduced substantially. This means that if they lose 10 kilograms (as in the previous example), they may lose 9 kilograms of fat and only 1 kilogram of muscle. They still tend to lose some muscle; it’s inevitable, but the weight training ‘forces’ the body to preserve its muscle mass and preferentially lose other tissues (mainly fat).

To take this one step further, if you increase your muscle mass through lifting weights, you will also have a corresponding increase in your metabolic rate, which will further contribute to your overall calorie/ energy expenditure and therefore assist your weight loss efforts.

Keep in mind though that if you are following a Weight Loss Nutritional Plan, as you should do if you want to lose weight then it is highly unlikely that you will increase your muscle mass at all.

The exceptions are of course beginners (beginners tend to build muscle even in a calorie deficient state perhaps because it is such a shock to the body) and someone who dramatically changes the macronutrient profile of their meals, i.e. more protein and less carbs (people with a low protein intake tend to change body composition to more muscle and less fat when they increase their protein intake and reduce their carbohydrate intake).

There are numerous other benefits of lifting weights in addition to its ability to promote weight loss. These other benefits were demonstrated by researchers at Tufts University (as well as many other tertiary institutions since then).

The researchers were studying ‘biomarkers’, which are the major symptoms of biological ageing. The results of their research were quite remarkable. They found that lifting weights could help to reverse the typical signs of biological ageing.

The following physiological and anatomical factors were all improved by lifting weights:

• Muscle mass
• Strength
• Blood pressure
• Blood sugar tolerance
• Basal metabolic rate
• Body fat
• Bone density
• Aerobic capacity
• Body temperature regulation
• Cholesterol/ HDL ratio

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