Strength Training for Weight Loss

by Molly Magunga, MS ATC, CPT, CES

Hello everyone! This week’s “Fitness Tip of the Week” is about strength training for weight loss. This is a topic more personal to me because of my own weight loss journey. There are a lot of misconceptions about strength training, as it relates to weight loss. Strength training isn’t something you need to hold off on until after you get to your goal weight. It’s something to incorporate in now to help you get to your goals. I can speak from experience the success you can see by incorporating strength training into your weight loss plan.

The whole goal of weight loss can be simplified by knowing weight loss occurs, for most people, by burning off more calories than you consume. You can either keep your activity level the same while reduce caloric intake, keep diet consistent while increasing activity levels, or a combination of the two. Now, we all know it’s really not that easy and a lot of other factors, like body type or health issues, complicate matters. For this week’s post, I won’t dive into all the other factors that can affect weight loss and simply focus on the benefits of strength training for weight loss.

So why is strength training important for weight loss and what are these misconceptions about it?

When focusing on weight loss as a goal, many people get caught up with the number on the scale. They think getting stronger will cause them to gain more weight and “bulk up.” First off, how much muscle mass you build is largely based on your body type and how your training is structured. Second, focusing on a scale number rather than actual body composition isn’t the best way to monitor weight loss. The reality is doing strength training helps improve your body composition, look leaner, and lose fat weight. The awesome, fun fact about building more muscle is that muscles use a lot of energy, more energy than fat tissue. This means the more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn at rest! This is why you need to strength train if weight loss is your goal. It doesn’t prevent you from reaching your goals; it helps you!

Tips on Strength Training:

Strength training is a very complex form of exercise with many ways to structure programs. So how can you use strength training to help with weight loss? Well, I have a few tips for you.

1. Challenge yourself
   • Don’t be afraid to use weights that feel heavier to you. If you don’t feel much muscle work happening through an entire set, the weights are too light. As long as your form is correct through the whole set, challenge yourself with the weights you use. You won’t bulk up just because you pick up weights. 

2. More Repetitions
   • Incorporate in higher repetitions of an exercise to really feel the burn. Higher reps challenge your muscle endurance, which depletes more energy and creates lean muscle development.

3. Use Complex Movements
   • Picking exercises that use multiple muscle groups is a great, time-saving trick to burn more calories during your workout. The more muscles working, the more energy burned. 

4. Big lifts are Important
   • Big lifts like squats, deadlifts, bench, or pushups are really important to a weight loss strength program. Big lifts are called that, because they involve large muscle groups and require a lot of energy to complete. 

5. Cardio and Weights Together
   • You shouldn’t pick between cardio or weight training when developing a weight loss plan. Variety helps prevent plateaus and the deplete energy in different ways. 

6. Nutrition Importance
   • No fitness plan is complete without nutrition incorporated in. Besides the calorie consumption component, macronutrients are so important with exercise. Muscles need protein. It’s their bricks. You can’t build or repair muscle tissue without it.

If you have any questions on this topic, please feel free to contact me at mmagunga@healthworksfitness.com or comment below!