How Building Muscle Helps Burn Fat

Muscle Endurance Increases Aerobic Stamina

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 30 to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise on most days of the week. Increasing the length of aerobic exercise sessions leads to increased loss of body fat. Unfortunately, some people lack the muscular strength and endurance required for longer aerobic workouts. If the hamstrings or quadriceps become fatigued within 10 minutes of cardiovascular training, the benefits of aerobic exercise are minimized. Building muscle can enhance muscular endurance, which in turn allows you to extend the duration of your aerobic workouts.

Muscular Strength Enhances Aerobic Efficiency

The American College of Sports Medicine also suggests that vigorous aerobic exercise sessions be added to a workout. Higher-intensity workouts burn more calories, which in turn leads to greater fat loss. Aerobic intensity can be adding hills, increasing speed and adding upper body movement. These changes in intensity require muscular strength and endurance. Building muscle can correct muscular imbalances while improving muscular efficiency. The improved efficiency enables you to perform more vigorous workouts.

Psychological Factors

Muscle building is often called body sculpting. In fact, the culture of weight training revolves around the body. For some people, the act of sculpting and defining every muscle group makes them less likely to eat fatty foods.

Increased Norepinephrine Production

Norepinephrine is a hormone and neurotransmitter, which is secreted by the adrenal glands. Decreased norepinephrine has been associated with decreased lean muscle mass. Because norepinephrine is secreted through weight training, researchers were curious about the influence of muscle building on increased lean muscle mass. An article in the Journal of Applied Physiology cites research performed at the Department of Medicine, University of Maryland at Baltimore. The study, titled "Strength training increases resting metabolic rate and norepinephrine levels in healthy 50- to 65-yr-old men," put 13 male participants through a 16-week heavy-resistance, strength-training program. At the end of the program, the participants showed a 36 percent increase in plasma norepinephrine levels, a 25.6 percent decrease in body fat, a 7.7 percent increase in metabolic rate and a 60.6 percent increase in fat-free mass.

Increased Metabolic Rate

Your body burns two calories per day for every pound of fat in your body. By contrast, muscle mass has a metabolic rate of six calories per per day. As such, increasing muscle mass increases metabolic rate, which eventually leads to body fat loss.