Choose strength training for burning fat, they are the most effective. Strength training for weight loss: sets of exercises for men and women

The current problem of losing weight, most women seek to solve with the help of low-calorie diets, developed in large quantities. In parallel with the diet, aerobic exercise, or cardio training, is increasingly being used: their popularity is constantly growing, and more and more different cardio machines appear in sports stores, from cheap to very expensive.

Cardio exercises help us lose weight and become leaner, but there are options that are noticeably ahead of them in terms of effectiveness. These are strength training for weight loss with weights - it is worth saying that experts consider their reasonable combination with cardio training to be the best option for women.

What is weight loss? In scientific terms, this process is defined as a decrease in the body weight of a living organism, intentional or spontaneous - we are interested in the first option. But body weight can decrease (if you do not take into account water) due to a decrease in the volume of various tissues - fat or muscle.

When dieting, body weight often decreases due to the “shrinkage” of muscle tissue, which leads to weakness and loss of endurance, but does not improve the figure as a whole. The problem is exacerbated by sagging skin on thinner parts of the body; in women, the chest especially suffers - hardly anyone needs such a result. This is where strength training for weight loss can help.

Dispelling delusions

However, many women consider this type of training to be masculine, or think that strength training is good for bodybuilders with huge muscles, when this is not at all the case. In addition, information disseminated through the media often feeds this misconception, and women do not even want to hear about strength training for weight loss.

The prospect of becoming “pumped up like a man” scares many in earnest, but you should not be afraid. Nature has arranged everything wisely - so that the woman always remains "by herself": the level of estrogen in the female body is such that it will not allow the muscles to grow and swell.

True, if you make muscle building a goal, it will work out: for this, a woman will have to work with heavy weights - much more than 15 kg, and use special sports nutrition, including various types of proteins.

If you eat normally - as in the generally accepted "female" workouts, and do strength exercises, fat burns, and muscle mass increases gradually - at most 500 g per month. Many are also frightened by the fact that in the first months of training, weight increases - by 1-2 kg, but there is nothing to be afraid of here either: the body is unaccustomed to the power load, and fluid accumulates in the muscles - you need to help him get rid of it. After training, take a warm sea salt bath and massage; in a few weeks, when the body starts to get used to it, everything will go “as it should”.

Another misconception stemming from the first is that strength training is not for weight loss. This is also not true. When the muscles are actively working, calories are consumed, fats are burned: the body takes from fats the energy needed by the muscles to withstand the load and strengthen. At the same time, the metabolic rate increases much more noticeably: compared to cardio, after strength training it is 15% and even 30% higher.

The fear of joint damage is also unfounded. The joints in women are not as strong as in men, but here it can be repeated: only large weights are dangerous - no one forces you to work with them. Small and medium weights for women do not pose any danger if you do the exercises correctly and engage in "without fanaticism."

How do they affect weight loss?

A little more about increasing the metabolic rate. After strength training, it remains elevated for many hours - calories are burned even during rest. This does not happen with aerobic exercise: fat is consumed while you are moving intensively, but after the workout is over, the metabolic rate quickly returns to "as usual".

The next positive point: muscle mass is strengthened during strength training, and not lost, as during diets, or when addicted to cardio. Often, trying to improve results, women try to do cardio for as long as possible, or run longer distances. If this is done for the sake of endurance - everything is fine, but the desire to "lose more weight" can lead to loss of muscle mass; in addition, low-calorie diets are observed in parallel, so that not only fat is lost. For example, you can enjoy losing 4-5 kg, but with high-intensity cardio training, almost 1/2 of this weight is usually muscle mass, which is then very difficult to restore; fats return "on one or two".

The results of special studies have shown that long-term aerobic exercise plus a low-calorie diet leads to a loss of muscle mass twice as large as the same exercises with a regular diet. True, in the latter case, weight loss also goes twice as slowly, but with the least losses; in addition, in the first case, the metabolic rate also decreases by almost 10% - you can get into a "vicious circle".

Combining cardio and strength training for weight loss, you can: get rid of fat; preserve muscles and improve their condition; make your body stronger, more resilient, stronger and more beautiful. The diet followed will not harm the muscles, but you can additionally take sports nutrition - for example, fat burners with L-carnitine, chromium, Omega-3 fatty acids, etc., or vitamin-mineral complexes for women with soy isoflavones.

Beneficial combination of strength training and cardio

Experienced trainers recommend doing both cardio and strength training for weight loss 2-3 times a week. They can be alternated by day, or can be done on the same day, and even in one workout. An excellent option for cardio instead of exercising in the gym would be walking or jogging in the air, cycling or visiting the pool.

Strength training should be built in such a way that almost all muscle groups work - then the effect will be the best. You can train with weights freely or on simulators, but it is important that the training lasts no more than an hour and no less than 40 minutes. Standard sets of strength exercises are easy to find on the net, but beginners are better off with a trainer - at least for the first few workouts.

Fundamental rules

However, let's say a little about what to look for for those who are just starting their weight loss with the help of strength training.

For a month, it is worth working out without weight, mastering the correct technique.

Then you need to choose the right weight: it should be such that you can do 12-15 exercises per approach, gradually bringing their number to 25. Fatigue should be felt by the end of the approach - then the weight will definitely decrease.

At the beginning of the workout, while there is no fatigue, more complex exercises are performed; problem areas need to be worked out more thoroughly - then other muscles can be given a lighter load.

At the end of the workout, be sure to do stretching exercises to allow the muscles to recover.

And you also need a good rest, normal sleep and proper nutrition: without these conditions, strength training will be ineffective for losing weight and even dangerous to health.

What workouts are most effective in helping you lose weight? Many will answer that cardio is the best way to burn fat. Find out if this is true?

Do you want us to change your entire worldview regarding fat burning with one question? Then answer: what is better for weight loss - strength or cardio?

The average gym visitor will answer that the best fitness for weight loss is cardio, and strength training is needed only for those who want to gain muscle mass or make a relief body. But is it really so? Is it possible to use only strength training for burning fat, without cardio loads? Do not doubt it is possible.

The best fitness for weight loss

Ideally, a combination of cardio and strength training. Let's take a closer look at why it is worth choosing one or another type of load.

Strength vs. Cardio

So which is better for the figure: cardio or strength? Resistance exercise increases your metabolic rate, burns more fat, and gives your body a beautiful shape. As you can see now, most women are afraid of what they really have to do. Girls who are reading this article right now, aren't you making the same mistake?

Workouts for weight loss and health

And the last aspect that we will consider in our article is health. This is where cardio wins. It is this type of exercise that has a beneficial effect on health and aerobic endurance. Of course, strength training is extremely beneficial, but cardio brings great benefits to the cardiovascular system. Therefore, you should not completely exclude cardio exercises from your program, the best option is alternating cardio and strength training for weight loss.

It is not in vain that advanced bodybuilders train on a strength program on the main days, and on rest days and even before the main classes they perform cardio, for example, on special cardio machines for weight loss.

It's time to say goodbye to the stereotype that cardio exercises contribute to weight loss, and strength - only muscle growth and weight gain. Most often, fat loss and muscle building are more dependent on nutrition and regimen. Set a goal and stubbornly move towards it, and then the question “What is better for losing weight?” will not stand in front of you.

After all, everything is simple: healthy weight loss is a complex of strength and cardio training, diet, sports supplements and sleep. Keeping this balance will bring you perfect shapes and good health!

If you decide to take your figure seriously, then you should know about benefits of strength training for weight loss. So, let's try to talk in a simple and accessible language about all the benefits of exercising with dumbbells and barbells.

Strength Training for Weight Loss: Key Benefits

1. The More Muscle, The Better Your Metabolism

Muscle mass is one of the most important factors in the metabolism. How the more muscle you have, the better your metabolism Because muscle cells consume much more energy than fat cells. For example, 1 kilogram of muscle tissue consumes about 15 calories per day per day, and 1 kilogram of fat - only about 5. Feel the difference?

This means that a person with about The greater percentage of muscle in the body burns more calories, regardless of whether it is in the gym or lying on the couch. Therefore, the main benefit of strength training for weight loss is to improve your metabolism.

2. If you only do aerobic training, you lose muscle.

Aerobic training is an important element in the weight loss system. By doing aerobic exercise, you burn fat. But at the same time, you burn muscles.. And without including strength training in your fitness plan, these muscles don't recover. Roughly speaking, you lose weight, lose weight, but not only at the expense of fat cells, but also at the expense of muscle cells.

That is why, be careful when choosing purely aerobic programs (eg Insanity). Looking at the future, strength training will be much more preferable. For example, the program with Tony Horton is P90X. Also, Jillian Michaels has a lot of dumbbell workouts to strengthen her muscles.

3. Improve body quality

It is strength training that improves the quality of your body. Sitting on diets and doing only aerobic programs, you will not get rid of a flabby body. A beautiful figure is a toned figure. Therefore, if you want not just a visual “thinness”, but an elastic body, then be sure to pay attention to training with dumbbells and barbells.

Your results should not be determined by the numbers on the scale, but by the ratio of fat to muscle in your body. You can lose weight well without strength training, but can you reduce fat percentage in the body? Unlikely.

4. Burning Calories Post-Workout

Burning calories within 24 hours of exercising is another undeniable benefit of strength training for weight loss. If during aerobic programs you burn calories only directly during exercise, then after strength training your body will expend energy throughout the day. This is because the body needs a lot of nutrients to build muscle.

Of course, this does not mean at all that after power loads you can eat everything. Remember that in order to lose weight, you must expend more calories than you consume. This principle is the main basis of weight loss.

5. After strength training, you can keep the result longer

We return to the first point: muscle cells consume b about more energy. Let's say you decide to take a break from fitness, or you don't have the opportunity to exercise yet. You did not work on muscle mass, and it decreased accordingly under the influence of diets and aerobic exercise. What is the result? Your metabolism will be very low.

And here are two options: either you will need to keep yourself on a very strict diet. Or you will gain weight. So always remember that strength training is work for the future. You train your body now, but you can enjoy the result for a long time to come.

All these arguments confirm the importance of strength training for weight loss. If you want to create toned, elastic and beautiful body, then do not be afraid to work with dumbbells.

- to get rid of extra pounds, - to draw muscles, says a common misconception regarding training for weight loss. In fact, these types of loads need to be combined. “Unlike aerobic training, strength training accelerates metabolism and causes the body to burn fat even after you have left the gym: energy is spent during the recovery period after exercise,” explains Olga Kochetova, fitness manager of the personal training studio of the Planet Fitness club chain. Experts notice: it is much easier for people who are trained, with good muscle mass, to lose weight than for those who simply lose weight.

“If you set out to lose weight, then 2-3 times a week you need to do cardio training and the same amount of strength,” says Tatyana Borzenkova, personal trainer and instructor of group programs at the personal training studio of the Planet Fitness club chain. You can alternate cardio and strength training daily or within the same workout. An alternative to aerobic exercise in the gym is swimming in the pool or jogging, cycling, walking, in the fresh air. “Don't forget about stretching after strength training. It helps to restore muscles, ”reminds Elena Khramova, personal trainer of the fitness club "TERRASPORT Copernicus".

Competently build strength training for weight loss

During strength training for weight loss, it is important to use as many muscles as possible. For a harmonious study of the body, 8-10 standard exercises with an acceptable weight for you are enough: on simulators or with free weight - whichever you prefer. The main thing is that the lesson lasts at least 40 minutes and no more than an hour. Strength training classics: squats, lunges, deadlifts, horizontal and vertical traction, pull-ups (for girls - a variant with leg rest), push-ups, barbell or barbell bench press, dumbbell press, exercises for the press. “Use the medium rep mode - 6-12 repetitions in three sets,” advises Olga Kochetova. In order to get the result and not harm yourself, the first workouts are best done with a personal instructor.

Breathe right

“In strength exercises, tension is always done on exhalation, relaxation on inhalation,” reminds Olga Kochetova. Never hold your breath! This is fraught with increased blood pressure, dizziness and even loss of consciousness.

Choose your own weight

Properly selected weight during strength training is the key to the harmonious development of muscles and weight loss. “You need to select it so that in each approach you can repeat the movement 12-15 times,” says Elena Khramova. Technique should not suffer. “It is optimal to keep a training diary and note in it the number of sets and repetitions, as well as the weight of the weights. And gradually increase your own norm, ”advises Olga Kochetova.

recover

A moment no less important than the training itself is recovery after it. “Lack of rest after exercise slows down progress and can lead to overtraining syndrome,” says Tatyana Borzenkova. Therefore, after strength training, be sure to stretch, relax and get enough sleep. “Weight loss is impossible without a full recovery. This process in our body occurs at night during sleep, when the most important vital hormones are produced - somatropin and melatonin, ”recalls Elena Khramova.

Eat Right

Of course, it is associated with proper nutrition. Try to follow the basic rules of the diet for losing weight. First, don't exercise on an empty stomach. But don't come to the gym with a full stomach. It is best to have a snack an hour and a half before class. After training, for 20-30 minutes you need to eat something protein-carbohydrate, for example, cottage cheese, a slice of a banana or an apple, and after two hours, have a more serious meal. Olga Kochetova advises to avoid carbohydrates and give preference to vegetables and protein dishes. “In general, you need to limit the consumption of simple carbohydrates and fats, and shift complex carbohydrates to the first half of the day,” she recalls.

These six simple rules will help make your strength training for weight loss really effective. Follow them, have fun and lose weight!

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What is the best strength training for weight loss? What are their types and what to choose? How do both types affect weight loss while dieting?

Although many are still only interested in the number on the scale, the main goal of the diet is not weight loss, but fat loss, while maintaining muscle.

For decades, the idea has been popular that during weight loss, workouts need to be changed. You need to do more often, work weights - reduce, repetitions - increase, and rest between sets - reduce. Such workouts are called "relief" as opposed to "mass" workouts.

This is how those who used anabolic steroids “dried” in the 70-80s, and this is a completely different physiological state of the body. For the average person, their tricks are a recipe for failure.

Metabolic versus heavy strength training

All strength training can be divided into two categories: metabolic and heavy strength. metabolic involves a high number of repetitions (for example, 4 sets of 15 repetitions), a small working weight, a short rest between sets (30-60 seconds or less). "Heavy" training- fewer reps (6-12), more weight, longer rest between sets (1.5-3 minutes).

Each of these types has its pros and cons for losing weight and maintaining muscle while dieting.

Metabolic training burns more calories, depletes glycogen, and the hormonal response is very similar to interval training, which helps with weight loss. And the lighter loads used here put less stress on the joints.

But there are also disadvantages. The main stimulus for muscle growth is their great tension during work (heavy weights). That is, you need to train hard enough and add weight to the bar over time. All those incentives that help build muscle will protect them during the diet. It is easy to guess what happens to the muscles when you reduce the weight on the bar and go "to relief". You take away one of the main stimuli for muscle maintenance - a lot of muscle tension - and the muscles become smaller. The body no longer has a reason to support muscles that are not being used the way they used to be.

This is the main disadvantage of metabolic training - weight loss. But there is one exception - beginners, who do not have to worry about losing muscle because they have not trained before. Almost any strength training will support the muscles that they have. But for people with strength experience, switching to “light” multi-repetitions for weight loss is a recipe for disaster.

The advantage of "heavy" strength is that they support the muscles better on a diet, and this is one of the main goals. Well, the cons are the opposite of what is listed for metabolic training: modest calorie consumption, glycogen is depleted little and there is no hormonal response.

But if you keep in mind the main goal of the diet (lose fat/keep muscle), none of that matters. And if you only have to choose one type of strength training on a diet, let it be "heavy" strength training to protect the muscles, and let the calorie deficit (and optional cardio) take care of fat loss.

But this is if you have to choose. There is no good reason why both types of strength cannot be combined during a diet. This can provide the pros while eliminating the cons of each approach.

How to combine workouts?

For starters, what not to do. Increasing the number of workouts and their duration on a diet is a failed strategy. Recovery during an energy deficit is worse, and trying to do more and more work explains why so many people end up in a state of severe overtraining and exhaustion. In general, too many workouts and too few calories are bad.

The amount of training required to maintain muscle is much less than it takes to grow it: it is enough to leave only a third of what you did before. But it is fundamentally important that the working weights remain the same. For example, for muscle growth, you worked out twice a week and in each workout you did 6 sets of 6-8 reps per muscle group. During weight loss, you can leave only 2 heavy sets of 6-8 repetitions while maintaining working weights and do it once a week. Yes, just two hard approaches.

If training for a muscle group and so once a week, just reduce the number of approaches. If in training you did a total of 20-24 sets per muscle group, 6-8 sets on a diet will be enough. Instead of a 1.5-hour workout, it will be possible to keep within 30-40 minutes, depending on the warm-up and rest between sets. But, again, the weights should remain the same.

As mentioned above, these workouts usually include everything with high repetitions and with a short rest period. But it is important to remember that on a diet, due to fatigue and lack of energy, exercise technique often suffers, and injury can occur. Therefore, only people with very well-established technique can do "complex", complex movements quickly, but safely. For others, exercise machines may be safer. The key is to keep rest intervals short.

Although the duration of the workouts will be short (20-40 minutes), they can be very tiring, which is expected of them. Metabolic Training Options:

• 2-4 sets
• 15-20 reps
• 5-7 exercises
• Short rest intervals (60 seconds or less).

Weekly planning

Now you can plan your workouts for the week. Globally, you can do both types of workouts on the same day or on separate days. Given that most people try to exercise too much on their diet, when in doubt, please err on the side of less. In the long run, this will pay off.

Much will depend on how the "heavy" power ones look. Some people like two or three hard short full-body workouts. But if it takes a lot of time, you are unlikely to be happy after such a workout to do more metabolic. In this case, it is better to move it to a separate day. Another option is to divide training into top-down, and then strength training can be combined with metabolic training in one session.

Examples are in the table below. T - heavy training, M - metabolic. For no particular reason, we will assume that there is no training on the weekends.

• Options 1 and 2- for those who have time to recover from four workouts a week, and those who love full-body workouts.
• Option 3- for those who need more days to recover.
• Option 4 is just one of a million different ways to use traditional bodybuilding split training. One problem here is that metabolic training is usually full-body, so it doesn't always play well with dividing heavy workouts into muscle groups. If the metabolic workout on Monday makes you too tired to train your legs hard on Wednesday, this may not be the best option.

The table does not show all options, but it does show the limit of how much high-intensity work can be done in a calorie deficit. Many people, in their pursuit of quick results, try to do too many things without paying attention to the overall load or the interaction of different components in the program, and pay the price in the future.

Summing up

Both types of training have both pros and cons. Assuming muscle maintenance is one of the main goals while dieting, "heavy" workouts should be in the program. If there is only one type to choose, let it be them. The exception is beginners, for whom any strength training is effective.

The volume and frequency of training should be reduced to a third to avoid overtraining. The main condition is to maintain working weights. From a muscle maintenance standpoint, it's far better to do 2 quality heavy sets than 6 mediocre sets.

Metabolic training can be added to "heavy". The training program will depend on the individual, their ability to recover, their schedule and dietary habits.