If you are struggling to lose weight and change your body shape it may be because you aren't lifting weights effectively!
So many people are surprised when they come to see me and I advise them that one of the most effective things you can do to lose weight is to lift weights. There are a few reason why, but first lets address why many people do not.
One of the most common things I get is that women don't want to gain too much muscle or look bulky. For a person without high levels of testosterone to put on muscle is amazingly difficult, it is even difficult for people with high levels. What is more likely to happen is that the muscle you have is going to tone up and give you better shape.
What most people don't know is one thing that raises your metabolism significantly is weight training. The surprising thing is it can raise it for 5 days while cardio may only last 12 hours! For most people, even if you are not sore, recover from a weights session is at minimum 72hours, for most recovery peaks at 72 hours which means you have another 72 hours of recovery where your metabolism is still elevated! That means you will be burning more fat in your sleep. How good is that? Not strength training can drop your metabolism by 5% a decade according to researcher Dr Wescott, the inverse is that just 1.5kgs in more active muscle tissue means you can eat 15% more calories (or get 15% better weight loss results, your choice there)
Light weights and high reps don't work!
One of the other mistakes many people make is they have been sold this myth of high reps for toning. Other than making your muscles burn, you are not really achieving much with that kind of strength training. That burn is just lactic acid accumulating and you aren't really getting stronger or burning fat. When you lift weights it needs to be short and heavy (for you) to be effective. There aren't 200 exercises that you need to do, only 3-5. But when you do them well, with great technique and loaded correctly the results you get are amazing!
When it comes to the magic fountain of youth, lifting heavy weights may be the secret ingredient! One of our clients Dawn started with us at 80 and not only has she lost more than 10kgs, she is fitter, faster and much stronger and that has improved her quality of life massively! Here are some of the amazing benefits of lifting heavy things:
- Increase bone mineral density. Up to 13% in just 6 months! Prevent osteoporosis
- Improve glucose metabolism. As high as 23% increase! Stop and manage diabetes better
- Increase gastrointestinal transit time. 56% increase means lower risk of colon cancer
- Reduce your blood pressure. Reduce your risk of heart attack
- Improve blood lipids. Better fat burning and lower fat storage
- Reduce back pain. The stronger you are the less likely you are to have this injury
- Reduce arthritis pain. Stronger joints ache less
- Slow the ageing process. As we get older a big contributor to a reduction in independence is the lack of strength. Poor balance, slower reflexes and loss of strength are all improved when you lift weights.
Do your body a favour, lift weights at least once a week, twice if you can. It is the best bang for your buck when it comes to weight loss and in as little as 30 mins you can work your whole body and burn more fat for the next few days! Sounds pretty good to me.
*research data and stastics credited to Dr Wayne Wescott
*Disclaimer: Individual results vary based on agreed goals. Click here for details.
