How To Properly Lift Weights To Lose Weight

A balanced training routine of cardio and weight lifting – combined with the right nutrition – is the key to successful weight loss. A common mistake that people make when trying to lose weight is attempting to focus all their efforts on dieting and cardio, without giving strength training a second thought. 

Heading into the free weights area can be intimidating if you’re unfamiliar with the exercises, but this shouldn’t be the case. Free weights enable you to work in your own environment at your own pace, limiting the risk of overworking yourself. With a little understanding and a few simple exercises in mind, you can pick up the free weights, build confidence, and start seeing results.

Strength training, like lifting weights, ends in excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), which means your metabolism runs at a higher rate long after your workout is complete. This means you’ll continue to burn calories at an elevated rate following your session, and will lose weight more easily.

Cardio Before Vs. After Weight Training: Which Is The More Beneficial?

You can't target where you lose fat but building muscle through lifting weights can help burn to increase the rate at which you burn calories (your metabolic rate), which in turn will help with overall fat loss - some of which may be around the stomach.

To burn fat most effectively you should be lifting weights at least twice a week. It’s essential that you let your muscles recover in between sessions, which means giving yourself a couple of recovery days between sessions.

The best free weights routines for weight loss are simple to pick up – the challenge comes when you increase the amount of weight you’re lifting. Try these five free weight exercises in however many reps suit your strength and stamina, then take a short recovery and repeat.

How Weight Training Burns Fat

Lunges work your quadriceps, glutes, and hamstrings to the limit. Choose a barbell that feels appropriately heavy to increase the impact of your workout.

The ultimate lower body workout, squats and great for toning up thighs and glutes without weights. If you’re ready to step up your squat game, using a weighted barbell is a great way to increase the intensity.

Rowing actions activate multiple muscle groups including the back, shoulders, arms, and core. If you’re trying to tone up your back, this is a great place to start.

Lift Weights To Lose Weight

Whether you’re trying to lose weight, train for an event, or improve your health, don’t overlook the value of free weight exercise. Find your nearest gym today with and check our best gyms in London,  Manchester gyms or our gyms in Edinburgh.Unlike cardio, which stops fighting fat as soon as you get off of the treadmill, serious strength training pulls 24/7 overtime to help you reach your goals. That's because, apart from burning calories in the gym, weight training builds lean muscle. That fat-free tissue is the key to stoking your metabolic fire, hacking your hormones, and helping you slash calories like whoa.

When you’re strapped for time (a.k.a. always), spending five, 10, or 15 minutes on a warm-up feels like an act in weight-loss futility. But a proper warm-up can help you get the most out of every rep and bead of sweat, says certified strength and weightlifting coach Lisa Reed, C.S.C.S.

Apart from increasing your heart rate and literally heating up your muscles, warm-ups prime your neuromuscular system to perform better, your anaerobic system to recover faster, and enable every muscle fiber to contract with force. And, don’t worry, a good warm-up will actually burn calories, too.

How To Lose Arm Fat, Per Trainers

Your perfect pre-strength warm up: Start with a few minutes of light, aerobic activity on the elliptical, stationary bike, or treadmill. From there, you can get into dynamic moves like bodyweight squats, lunges, butt kicks, high knees, incline pushups, or whatever uses the same muscles you are going to hit during your lifting session, she says. Try to spend 15 minutes warming up prior to lifting.

When it comes to fat loss, squats, deadlifts, lunges, hip thrusters, bench press, pullups, and rows are where it’s at. These “big lifts, ” involve large muscle groups across multiple joints for more muscular and hormonal benefits than small, isolation exercises. “Big lifts trigger testosterone and human growth hormone secretion, both of which boost fat metabolism, ” says Gilles.

Make these moves the focus of your lifting sessions by doing them often and early in your routine. “By doing these moves in the beginning of your workout, you maximize the amount of resistance you use without getting tired, ” says Reed.

Weight Lifting For Weight Loss: Which Exercises & Workouts Are Best?

With strength training, more is not always better. Adequate rest between sets, exercises, or entire workouts is clutch for preventing overtraining. Rest also gives you more energy to perform each rep with your best effort for optimal fat-loss results, says Reed. How much rest you need is based on individual factors, like your strength training experience, how much you’re lifting, and even genetics. That's why it’s so important to listen to your body.

That said, try to give yourself 30 to 90 seconds between each set and exercise. The closer you get to your one-rep max (the most you can possibly lift for one repetition), the longer your rest periods will need to be. If you're new to weight training, lift three times per week with one rest day between sessions. Intermediate and more advanced lifters can strength train more frequently. Just divide up your routine by working different muscle groups on different days, she says.

Put down the little dumbbells. One of the best ways to push yourself and get results faster is by dialing up the weights, says Gilles. Heavy lifting with fewer reps builds more lean muscle, which is ideal for boosting your weight-loss hormones. Also, it forces your body to burn extra calories as it recovers

Resistance Training: Here's Why It's So Effective For Weight Loss

The beauty of this is that whatever feels heavy to you, works. What's most important is that you choose a weight you can move

For all of those reps, says Reed. If you can’t eek out all of them without breaking form, you need to go down in weight. On the flip side, if you finish all of your sets with more in the tank, slightly increase the weight the next time around.

“To lower fat while increasing lean muscle, you should be consuming more protein, ” says Reed. The American College of Sports Medicine suggests that people who resistance train on the regular need 1.2 to 1.7 grams per kilogram of body mass daily. Translation: that's 0.5 to 0.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight. So if you weigh 180 pounds, you should be eating between 90 and 144 grams of protein per day. (FYI: A four-ounce serving of chicken breast contains about 30 grams.)

Signs You're Becoming More Fit

After all, that nutrient is literally what builds your muscles between every lifting session. “After your workout, your body will pull in the nutrients you consume, much the way a dry sponge soaks up water, ” she says. “A whey protein shake is best for post-workout because it absorbs easier and is used by the body faster.”

To get the most benefits out of your lifting routine, all of your meals should be rich in protein. By spreading your protein intake throughout the day (rather than eating the bulk of it at dinnertime), you increase your rate of all-day muscle growth by about 25 percent—even without consuming extra protein or calories, according to research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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An Inclusive Guide To Weight Lifting For Weight Loss

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As a female in the exercise science field for the past 12 years, I have learned a thing or two about the importance of weight training. When the end goal is weight loss (or pretty much any end goal), a weight-training program is a must. 

Can Weight Lifting Help With Weight Loss? An Expert Pt Explains

Let’s get real. Sure, you can cut your calories in half, or spend your morning or evenings doing cardio to lose some pounds, but I can promise you both will not last nor will they give you a healthy looking and functioning body. 

When it comes to weight lifting for weight loss, it is important to put a few key points out there. First, you will not get BIG