Weight lifting is a great way to lose weight and get in shape. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that to lose weight, you should do 45 to 60 minutes of cardiovascular exercise at least five days a week, with resistance training added to an aerobic exercise program. Weight lifting not only burns calories, it also helps to increase the amount of calories burned when you are at rest.
Why Weight Lifting?
Weight lifting increases your body's ratio of muscle to fat, according to the ACSM. That ratio is important because lean mass is much more metabolically active than fat mass, meaning it burns more calories at rest. Furthermore, if you lose weight from diet and cardiovascular exercise alone, you will most likely lose muscle mass along with fat. That can cause your metabolism to slow down, thus halting your weight loss. Therefore, weight lifting very useful because it not only helps you to lose the weight, it also helps to keep it off because it keeps your metabolism from slowing down.
Getting Started
For those new to weight lifting, you should choose eight to 10 exercises and complete one to three sets of eight to 15 repetitions, according to ACSM. That means that you should be using a weight that is heavy enough that you cannot complete more than 15 repetitions before exhaustion. The exercises should include all of the major muscle groups and should be performed two to three non-consecutive days a week. Try to space the days out as evenly as possible throughout the week, so that you never go more than two or three days without a workout.
Safey First
To ensure a safe and effective program, all exercises must be performed with proper form. That is best achieved by using only slow and controlled movements (three seconds on the lifting phase and three seconds on the lowering phase) through the full range of motion. Proper breathing is also important to avoid significant increases in arterial blood pressure, so never hold your breath. Always allow enough time for rest between sets so that every set can be performed properly, and always use a spotter when necessary.
Continued Improvement
To ensure continued improvement, gradually increase the intensity of the weight-lifting program. That can be done by increasing the number of sets, repetitions, or the amount of weight lifted. ACSM recommends an increase of no more than 2.5 lbs. to 5 lbs. when the desired number of repetitions can be completed with good form. Another way to increase intensity is to decrease the amount of time between each set. As you become more advanced, the frequency of weight lifting sessions should also be increased.
Which Exercises are Best?
Contrary to many of the claims made by weight-loss programs, women do not need to perform different exercises than men. The best exercises to increase lean mass are large muscle group exercises such as squats and dead lifts, according to the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Those are also the exercises that will burn the most calories and create the best hormonal environment to burn fat. In general, try to stick to exercises that use more than one joint or muscle group. If you are going to perform isolation exercises (one muscle group), do those at the end of your workout to avoid fatiguing muscles that you might need for a more complex lift.
Don't Stress Over Weight
Although weighing yourself is the most common way to track progress, it does not always tell the whole story. As stated earlier, lifting weights can add lean mass to your body, which will actually raise the number that you see on the scale. Just because your weight hasn't changed does not mean you are not making progress. If you gain a few pounds of muscle and lose a few pounds of fat, you just made a significant change in your ratio of muscle to fat, even though your actual weight did not change.
References
- "ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription" Barry A. Franklin, PhD, 2009
- "Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning" Thomas R. Baechle, 2008
- "Advanced Fitness Assessment and Exercise Prescription", Vivian H. Heyward, 2006
Member Comments