Weight Lifting for Weight Loss

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eight lifting for weight loss might seem like a contradiction to most people. After all lifting weights causes you to build muscle which weighs more than fat so how can building muscle help you to lose weight? The answer is that muscle takes more calories to maintain than fat and the more muscle you have the higher you metabolism gets to maintain it. Not only does it cause you to burn more calories while you are not doing anything, but it also helps to shape your body. The key to weight lifting for weight loss is to use full body exercises or compound exercises so that you stimulate the most muscle growth with the fewest amount of movement. When you do multi-joint movements you utilize muscles throughout your entire body which helps you build more muscle faster.

The best compound exercises

As you may have already discovered when it comes to weight lifting for weight loss the squat is at the top of the heap (with deadlifts in a close second) as one of the most effective overall exercises for stimulating body composition changes (muscle gain and fat loss). This is because exercises like squats and deadlifts use more muscle groups under a heavy load than almost any other weight bearing exercises known to man. Hence, these exercises stimulate the greatest hormonal responses (growth hormone, testosterone, etc.) of all exercises.

In fact, university research studies have even proven that inclusion of squats into a training program increases upper body development, in addition to lower body development, even though upper body specific joint movements are not performed during the squat. Whether your goal is gaining muscle mass, losing body fat, building a strong and functional body, or improving athletic performance, the basic squat and deadlift (and their variations) are the ultimate solution.

Squats can be done with barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, or even just body weight. Squats should only be done with free weights – NEVER with a Smith machine! Mike Geary’s e-book, The Truth About Six Pack Abs contains the full story on why machines are so inferior and even potentially DANGEROUS compared to free weights.

The type of squat that people are most familiar with is the barbell back squat where the bar is resting on the trapezius muscles of the upper back. Many professional strength coaches believe that front squats (where the bar rests on the shoulders in front of the head) and overhead squats (where the bar is locked out in a snatch grip overhead throughout the squat) are more functional to athletic performance than back squats with less risk of lower back injury.

I feel that a combination of all three (not necessarily during the same phase of your workouts) will yield the best results for overall muscular development, body fat loss, and athletic performance when weight lifting for weight loss. Front squats are moderately more difficult than back squats, while overhead squats are considerably more difficult than either back squats or front squats.

Okay so enough about squat. Do squats. The next major exercise you need to be doing is the Deadlift. This is such a simple exercise that is just as beneficial as squats. All you need to do is get a weight (a heavy weight) and pick it up. Put it down and pick it up again. You should bend at the knees, keep your shoulder back and lift the weight pushing through your heels. The only word of caution here is don’t overdo it and lift with your legs and avoid hurting your lower back. Your lower back comes more into play when you bend at the waist instead of the knees.

The last exercise for losing weight is everyone’s favorite… the bench press. The bench press targets your upper body and brings most of the same benefits as the squat and deadlift. Make these three exercises a staple in your routine and you are well on your way to losing weight.

For complete descriptions of over 50 of the most effective full body exercises for stripping away body fat while developing a rock-hard body, download The Truth About Six Pack Abs

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