The news is in! Studies have shown cardio to not be enough to control your weight gain as you age. So, what do you do next? Lucky for you the study also found three quick ways you can burn that excess fat you call your thighs and turn that fat into pure muscle.
It was found that to boost fat burn and muscle gains, you have to lift weights. By lifting weights your body boosts the muscle fiber activation causing your body to increase in strength almost immediately. Basics of fat loss state that muscles require calories of energy to function, and the more muscles you pack, the more calories (or fat) you burn. This way, even if you don’t notice well-defined muscles, you know you are stronger.
There are three simple tricks to lose fat and gain muscle by lifting weights:
1. Increase Your Lifting Weights
The way you gain muscle and grow stronger is to push yourselves during your workout. So, while the 5 lbs. dumbells can be part of your workout, they can’t be your whole workout. Be sure to challenge yourselves and your muscles but don’t bite off more than you can chew. When you try to lift more than your capacity, you are probably going to have bad form which could lead to you injuring yourself.
Experiment and find the sweet spot where you are pushing yourself but not overexerting yourself. The simple way to find out is to pick a weight and do 10 reps. If you find it difficult to do that last few reps, then that is the weight for you. But most important to lose fat, build muscle and avoid injury is to have good form by keeping a neutral spine and engaging your core.
2. Increase Your Weight Training Frequency
Doing weight training once a month or every two weeks is probably not going to be enough. Try for 2-3 times a week with going for 2 or 3 sets of 10 reps of your chosen weight. Another thing to remember is that curls and presses aren’t the only way to train and build muscle, you should try more complex compound movements as they help improve muscle engagement giving you better fat burn and muscle gain.
3. Introduce Variety To Your Workouts
If you aren’t one of those who is a masochist who enjoys their gym pains, you will probably hate going to gym. But even if gym time isn’t as appealing as sleeping in, you still get up and go, because you know that your gym training is what is keeping those love handles from being your defining feature.
So, if you get bored with the same routines at the gym, change it up with some variety. As you work out during your routine, you will experience fewer and fewer gains as time goes by. This is because your body gets accustomed to the particular movements. Every few weeks, you should consider changing your gym routine but if that’s too much planning, simply join a premade program like The DailyHIIT Show which will get your muscles growing and fat burning faster than ever.
Weights may look intimidating but think of them as tools, just like your gym shorts, they are available for you to use them. Once you start using weights, you can truly experience the thrill of pushing yourselves. However, don’t worry about turning into the Incredible Hulk with weight training, because weights help improve your strength, lean muscles and burn your fat. high-Intensity Intermittent Exercise (HIIE) is also an excellent training method that has studies proving its effectiveness. Weight training is good for your weight management as well as developing a strong healthy body so get started with weight training to lose fat and get strong muscles fast.
Have you had experience with weight training and seen weight loss benefits? Let us hear your story by commenting below.