Strength Training for Fat Loss

Often, exercise scientists and fitness trainers disagree about workout program design. Sure, they're both interested in real-world results. But the scientist tries to reach his conclusions through very precise methods, while the fitness trainer tries to reach his through experience and instinct.

There are ups and downs to both approaches. The scientist's advantage is that he can take a cold, rational look at all of his data, and in so doing avoid being influenced by preconceived notions and foregone conclusions. The trainer's advantage is that he can get a feel for what actually works and what doesn't with trial and error. It's the classic case of science versus art.

In recent years, both scientists and fitness trainers have come to agree that strength training is the way to lose fat.

The Scientist's Perspective
1) Cardio Burns Muscle Tissue. Muscle tissue is metabolically active, so the more you have, the more energy (calories) your body uses. Intense cardiovascular exercise, however, releases large amounts of the hormone cortisol, which signals the body to cannibalize muscle tissue for fuel. The body has both slow-twitch fibers, which are smaller and weaker, and fast-twitch fibers, which are bigger and stronger. Guess which ones cortisol affects the most? That's right - the fast-twitch fibers. Strength training also releases cortisol, but it counteracts this by releasing other hormones that encourage the body to build new muscle during rest.

2. Cardio Isn't Great for Your Body. The repetitive motions of cardio - especially those that are high-impact, such as running - take a toll on your joints and connective tissue. If you're a Kenyan or a skinny high school freshman, your body can handle all that trauma. If you're several pounds overweight, your body will have a very tough time doing so. In fact, it's just a matter of time before your body breaks down, in the form of heel spurs, shin splints, and bum knees. Strength training, on the other hand, builds your body up. You can't exercise when you're injured, so why would you ever choose a method of exercise that invariably leads to injury?

3. Cardio Is a Drop in the Bucket. Scientists have estimated that a 200-pound man jogging for a half-hour will burn about 325 calories. You can replace those calories with a single donut! (And the worst part? Many 200-pound men can't even jog for a half hour, or if they can, it saps them completely.) The problem here stems from antiquated ideas about energy flow - calories in versus calories out - that don't tell the whole story. Making real changes to the body requires one to stop exercising to burn calories - a losing game - and start exercising to build metabolically active muscle tissue.

The Trainer's Perspective
1. Endurance Athletes Look Rough. Compare the body of a long-distance runner and a gymnast. They both have low body-fat levels, but the gymnast is muscular, powerful and full of vitality, while the long-distance runner is slouchy and haggard. Not everyone wants to look like a bodybuilder, but people trying to drop a few pounds generally don't want to be emaciated either.

2. People Do Cardio for Years with No Results. If you've been a member of a commercial gym for a few years, you can attest to something most trainers have observed. Some overweight people attack the cardio machines daily, with a dedication that borders on fanaticism, and yet they have the same exact body for years. In some cases, they even get fatter. Doing the same exact thing day in, day out for years, and expecting a different result, is what some observers have correctly defined as insanity.

3. Cardio Bores Most People to Tears. With exercise, persistence is key. You can't make changes if you don't stick to the program. Most people would never stick to a cardio program, even if it did cause drastic fat loss (and as I've said several times, it doesn't) because it's mind-numbingly boring. Why are there so many TVs in the gym's cardio room? Why do people listen to their iPods while on the stationary bike? It's true that some people enjoy the head-clearing peace of monotonous cardio, but if you haven't discovered that love by the time you're 15 or so, you won't later. Most people, on the other hand, actually enjoy strength training if they're given proper instruction. It's invigorating and full of variety.

Want more info? There's a free report available on this very topic at this website.

1. Basic Terminology.
Repetition (Rep) - A single movement of an exercise. In a pushup, for example, a rep constitutes lowering your body to the ground and then pushing yourself back up to the starting position.

Set - Several reps performed one after another. The number of reps in a set differs depending on goals, but in strength training typically varies between 2 and 20.

Straight Sets - Performing a set of an exercise, resting for 1 to 5 minutes, and performing another set of the same exercise.

Superset - Performing sets of two or more different exercises with no rest in between. For example, doing a set of 10 pushups and then, with no rest, immediately doing a set of 10 squats.

Volume - The amount of work performed in a single workout expressed in terms of sets and reps. A workout with 10 sets of 10 reps has more total volume than a workout with 5 sets of 10 reps.

One-Rep Max (1RM) - The most weight you can lift on an exercise for a single repetition.

Intensity - Has two separate meanings: 1. The amount of weight you're using in an exercise relative to your 1RM. For example, if you can bench press 200 pounds, using 150 pounds places your intensity squarely at 75%. 2. The amount of effort you're exerting in a set, relative to individual limit. For example, let's say you can do 300-pound squats for a set of 10 before you hit muscular failure. If you do that entire set of 10, you're working out with more intensity than if you only do a set of 8.

Frequency - How often you work out. May be expressed weekly, i.e. "3 times a week" for a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule. Or may be expressed cyclically, i.e. "2 on/1 off" for two consecutive days of training followed by one day of rest.

2. Progression.
The key to any strength training program is progression. For our purposes, there are three basic ways to progress in strength training:

Increasing Resistance - This is the most basic, and most effective, way to improve through strength training. Using heavier weights over time leads to bigger, stronger muscles.

Increasing Repetitions Per Set - Although increasing repetitions is technically an expression of muscular endurance rather than strength, it leads to muscle growth, and in the end results in more strength. Improving from being able to do a set of six military presses with 75 pounds to doing a set of eight at your next workout indicates a muscular improvement.

Increasing Training Density - The reason trainers perform multiple sets is because a single set may not be enough to challenge the muscles enough to cause adaptation. The second and subsequent sets work on a muscle that's already fatigued, so they become more taxing. The amount of rest between sets determines just how taxing. Taking only 30 seconds of rest makes for a much more difficult workout than taking 60 seconds, and this is referred to as increasing your training density. You're essentially doing more total work in a given time frame. Successfully cutting down rest periods indicates stronger, more resilient muscles.

3. Putting it all together.
So with all that in mind, what now? What kind of exercise do you have to do to build muscle and burn fat?

Unfortunately, there isn't a simple answer to that question. There are a lot of factors to consider:

- Your current fitness level

- What kind of equipment is available to you

- How much time you're willing to spend working out

- Your current training knowledge

For some ideas on how to lose fat with only bodyweight strength training, check out Craig Ballantyne's site.