How to Lose Weight Using Weights

Using weights to achieve weight loss promotes maximum fat burning.

Using weights to achieve weight loss is far more rewarding than losing weight through calorie reduction alone. Working out with weights transforms your body into a calorie-burning machine, making it healthier, stronger and leaner. Eating a healthy diet provides you with the nutrients needed to hasten the progress toward your ultimate goal.

Difficulty:

Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Dumbbells
• Home gym
• Elastic tubing

1. Get advice on proper form and technique from a personal trainer, recommends MayoClinic.com. If you are new to using weights, even if you have previous experience, discuss your weight-training goals with a professional and learn how to avoid injury and reduce the potential for sprains, fractures and the possible development of future physical problems.

2. Choose an alternative method for learning proper form and technique without the expense of visiting a personal trainer. Purchase weight-training videos developed by popular physical fitness experts, like Jillian Michaels' "Shred-It With Weights," or Tom Venuto's ebook, "Burn the Fat," to learn correct form and avoid injury while working out. Another alternative is Exercise4WeightLoss.com, which offers free fitness videos online.

3. Use weights to increase your basal metabolic rate (BMR), the minimum number of calories required to keep all bodily processes functioning in a state of rest. Working out with weights enables you to increase lean tissue mass (muscle), which is what stimulates the increase in your BMR and the number of calories burned each day -- without dieting. Even at rest, you will continue to burn more calories. Metabolically active tissue (muscle) burns more calories than any other type of body tissue. Tom Venuto, in Iron Magazine online, says, "Low calorie dieting and aerobic training without weight lifting can make you lose muscle," which slows down your metabolism.

4. Use weights to increase and prolong fat burning. In 2007, the "Journal of Applied Physiology" published a study that linked elevated fat loss to weight-training exercises. Tests performed on study participants following performance of weight-training exercises, such as chest presses, lateral pull downs, leg presses, shoulder presses, leg extensions and leg curls, revealed that increased fat burning continued for 40 minutes after the participants had finished their workouts.

5. Choose weights you can lift 12 to 15 times without incurring muscle stress, recommends MayoClinic.com. Begin with one to three sets of 12 repetitions. Increase the size of your weights and the number of sets as your strength increases. Exercise two to three times a week, with each session lasting 20 to 30 minutes. Use free weights, such as dumbbells, home gyms, which provide resistance weights, and elastic tubing to force contraction of your muscles and increase lean tissue mass as you continue your workouts.

6. Perform a full-body workout for each session or work specific muscle groups on alternate days. For example, you may choose to work your upper body muscles -- arms and shoulders -- on Monday, your abdomen and back on Wednesday and your lower body muscles -- legs and buttocks -- on Friday. Allow one day in between sessions to give your muscles a rest.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not hesitate to use weights for weight loss out of fear of developing unwanted muscles. Muscle building requires serious dedication and years of intense effort to achieve the results seen in bodybuilders. Using weights for weight loss requires a less extensive and less strenuous regimen.

• Before beginning any weight-lifting regimen, consult your physician to rule out any medical issues that may prohibit this form of exercise. A 2003 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association alleges a connection between aortic dissection and excessively strenuous weight lifting. Age, a family history of cardiac or vascular problems and high blood pressure are among the prohibiting factors for lifting heavy weights or performing strenuous exercise.

References

• Mayo Clinic: Weight Training -- Improve Your Muscular Fitness, Page 2
• Exercise 4 Weight Loss: Free Fitness Videos Online
• "Iron Magazine"; Lift Weights to Lose Fat; Tom Venuto; August 1, 2004
• "Journal of Applied Physiology"; Fat Metabolism . . . in Trained Men; Michael J. Ormsbee, et al.; January 15, 2007
• "Journal of the American Medical Assoc"; Weight Lifting ... Aortic Aneurysms; J. A. Elefteriades, MD, et al.; Dec. 2003

Resources

• Mayo Clinic: Weight Training -- Do's and Don'ts of Proper Technique
• The University of New Mexico: "Physical Activity and Weight Loss", Len Kravitz, Ph.D.
• "The Daily Telegraph"; Muscle Up to Lose Weight; Linda Drummond; May 02, 2010
• Exercise Goals: Weight Training Tips to Build Muscle & Lose Weight Faster