How Do Weightlifters Lose Weight

It is generally advised for people looking to lose weight to focus on cardiovascular activities instead of weight training. It is rightly believed that aerobic exercises burn more calories but weight lifting helps more in building muscles. But having muscle mass also helps in burning fat and in fact, acquiring muscle mass through weight lifting burns fat even when the person rests. That is how weightlifters lose weight.

Some factors such as the type of workout that you do and genetics also play a role in your weight loss. Every individual has a different body type which determines its inclination to gain muscles and its result on your weight.

Calories Burned while Exercising

As large muscle groups are used when a person exercises or lifts weights, lot of calories are burned. So, a person weighing 70 kg can burn around 204 calories in an hour if he exercises with free weights or machines at moderate intensity. If the workout is made more intense, the calories burned can be as high as 408. If this is compared to running, 544 calories are burned in an hour. So, even weightlifting is an effective way of losing weight despite the slower and controlled movements compared to cardio workouts.

Therefore, it is advised that people looking to lose weight learn more about their body type and determine the combination of cardio and weightlifting workout for losing weight. Cardio raises the muscle metabolism during the activity and till a short time later, while weight lifting raises it a long time after the exercise session. In some cases, the extremely high intensity workouts enable the trainers to rise their metabolism for many days after their training session is over. Cardio helps you maintain the workout for a long time, and over many days and the chances of injury are minimal. The correlation between weight lifting and weight loss should be seen in this context.

As, both these methods of losing weight have some advantages, it would make sense to include both depending on circumstances. The fact is that you burn fat when your body does not get the calories it needs. Fat is burned to produce the calories required by the body. So, as long as you are consuming lesser calories than burning, you will lose fat. If you start to eat lots of food without caring about their calorie content, it will not lead to weight loss.

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