Weight Loss & Effective Workout Gym Programs For Men

Exercise and weight loss go hand in hand -- if you work out correctly. Muscle building and calorie burning occur differently, so you'll want to focus less on the traditional male weightlifting workout. Combine cardio and muscular endurance workouts to lose weight and burn calories at the gym.

Weight Loss

You lose weight burning more calories than you eat each day. Men should aim for 2 to 3 lbs. of weight loss per week as a realistic and healthy goal, according to Page Love, a registered dietitian and owner of Nutrifit Sport Therapy. Superior upper body strength allows men to do more resistance exercises, including chin-ups, pull-ups, dips and presses. Adding muscle building will help with weight loss, since a pound of muscle burns more calories each day than a pound of fat.

Calorie Burning

For most men, aerobic exercise is the best choice for calorie burning. You do aerobic exercise at a high intensity, breathing hard and sweating, but able to talk, for 30 minutes or longer. The American Heart Association recommends regular aerobic exercise for 60 minutes or more to lose weight and keep it off. The amount of time you need to exercise depends on how many calories you eat each day, how much you weigh and how much weight you want to lose. Aerobic exercise affects the body the same way in men and women; however men may be able to perform more upper-body resistance work without fatiguing to failure.

Target Heart Rate

For decades the most popular way of calculating target heart rate for exercise has been by subtracting your age from 220 to get your maximum heart rate. In 2010, researchers from Northwestern Memorial Hospital found a more accurate formula for women, while in 2007, researchers at John Moores University in Liverpool determined that men should subtract 55 percent of their age from 202. Once you know your maximum heart rate, multiply it by .70 and .80 to find your target heart rate range for aerobic exercise. Stay in this range once you have completed several minutes of warm-up for the most effective calorie-burning workout.

Circuit Training

A popular workout at the gym for men is circuit training, or moving from exercise to exercise or machine to machine. A gym offers many equipment options, and may offer a running track or pool. Because men play many recreational sports such as pickup basketball, tennis and racquetball, you might want to create a muscular endurance workout. Perform one exercise for 30 seconds, then move on to another. Work at 40 to 70 percent of your maximum intensity for two or three minutes, then take a two- to three-minute rest. Continue moving from circuit to circuit for the duration of your workout.

Cross Training

Men can also marry aerobic exercise and muscle building with cross-training. Use exercise machines such as treadmills, ellipticals, rowing machines and exercise bikes for cardio, and free weights or weight machines to build muscle. If you do aerobic and muscle work during the same workout, be careful not to lift weights immediately after a tough aerobic exercise if you are fatigued.