Evolutions Body Clinic

1834 George Ave. Annapolis, MD 21401
(ph) 410-224-7220

Fat Loss Through Strength Training

Did you know that strength or resistance exercise will result in greater fat loss than cardiovascular exercise? More and more recent studies are confirming this fact. It is relatively common knowledge that the key to fat loss is to burn more total calories than you take in. If you consume more calories than your body needs for daily energy expenditure, the excess calories are stored as adipose tissue - body fat. Conversely, if you consume fewer calories than your body requires for daily expenditure, your body gets some of the additional calories it needs from your stored body fat.

It is important to recognize that there are two distinct factors at play here - calories taken in and calories expended. Many of us have learned the hard way that attempting to control calories through dieting is not the answer. Most of the weight lost through dieting is lean muscle tissue and water, and when the diet is over the weight is usually gained back, and then some, in the form of fat. Similarly, relying on cardiovascular exercise alone or in conjunction with dieting yields limited results.

In order to understand why incorporating strength training into your fat loss program will bring you greater and more long-term results, consider the physiology. The immediate goal of strength training is to build more lean muscle tissue. Muscle is metabolically active while fat is not. The more lean muscle tissue your body has, the higher your resting metabolic rate. The higher your resting metabolic rate, the more calories you use at rest and during exercise. Relatively minor changes in resting metabolic rate can have a rather profound effect on fat loss and/or gain because it impacts the amount of calories your body burns throughout the entire day.

Clinical studies show that although we burn more calories during cardiovascular activities like walking or jogging, strength training allows us to burn more calories during the period following exercise, such as at rest. This is due to the effect that strength training has on your resting metabolic rate. The amount of lean muscle tissue lost through dieting (calorie restricting) causes a corresponding decrease in resting metabolic rate, making further fat loss even more difficult.

This is why participation in a consistent strength training program, when combined with proper nutrition, is the most effective way to control body fat percentage and keep it under control. This is not to say that you should disregard cardiovascular exercise. Cardiovascular exercise is essential for increasing your body’s utilization of oxygen and circulation of blood to vital organs and muscle tissue. But it should not be the main focus of your exercise program at the expense of strength training if your goal is reduction of body fat.

Finally, if you are a woman, don’t be deterred by the possibility that strength training will give you unwanted big muscles. Muscle size is largely determined by testosterone levels. With proper training techniques, you can in fact increase the amount of your lean muscle tissue by increasing the density and not the size of your muscles. In other words, you don’t have to look like Mr. or Ms. Olympia to change your body fat percentage.

- Michael A. Sallustio, CNC, CPFT, JD

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