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Weight Loss Exercise

How to Lift Weights to Lose Weight




Weight training or to lift weights to lose weight plays an important role in your goal to lose weight. While many people are aware that cardiovascular exercise and a healthy diet are important in weight loss, they may not realize that lifting weights can help you lose weight. The most efficient way to burn fat is to combine cardio workout and weight lifting. When you gain lean muscle mass, your body will get stronger and turn into a fat-burning machine.

 Lift Weights to Lose Weight

How to Lift Weights to Lose Weight

Lift Weights to Lose Weight

Lifting moderate weights is a great way to lose weight. Many people are concerned that weight lifting will cause them to grow big muscles and gain weight. Women, in particular, are afraid of developing a muscular physique even if lift weights to lose weight is really effective. This is unlikely to happen because women do not have enough testosterone for that kind of muscular gain. With the proper technique for lifting weights to lose weight, men and women can develop lean muscle mass that burns more calories.

Significance of Metabolism

Your metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories. Even when you are resting, your body continues to burn calories to sustain life. This is your Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR. People with more muscle mass burn more calories than someone who has more fat, even if they weigh the same. If you want to increase your metabolism and burn more calories, it’s important to lift weight to build more muscles. Even additional pound of muscle burns an extra 35 to 50 calories per day, even without additional activity.

High Repetition Intense Workout

One of the most effective ways to lift weights and lose weight is by high-rep intense training. Exercises such as bench press, rows, squats, leg press, and military press workout the major muscle groups of the chest, shoulders, back, glutes and legs. Exercises that isolate specific muscles should also be done, such as barbell curls and leg curls.

To lift weights to lose weight, do two sets of each exercise using light weight for 15-20 reps. Limit your rest period to 30 seconds betweens sets. After completing all exercises, rest for 3 to 5 minutes and then repeat. The high-rep intense workout should take at least 20 minutes. This will elevate your heart rate and cause your body to start burning fat.

Beginners can reduce the number of exercises or increase the rest period.

Circuit Training

Circuit training is another way to lift weights to lose weight. Circuit training is a highly-intense exercise routine that should include 8 to 10 different exercises or stations. The circuit should include exercises for the major muscle groups and body weight exercises like crunches and push-ups. Do 15 to 20 reps per station and the maximum number of crunches and push-ups that you are capable of doing. Do not rest between stations.

After completing the first circuit, rest for 3 to 5 minutes and then repeat two or three times. Circuit training involves high-rep and light weights that will elevate your heart rate and burn more calories for weight loss.

I have tried to give you a lot of tools, especially for women that may be nervous about lifting weights. Always remember that it is a great method to lift weights to lose weight.


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General Weight Loss Tips

Calendar Love

I’m more likely to complete a task when it’s in writing and I give myself the opportunity to check it off. What is it about calendars? Back when I did 14 weeks of Insanity, I felt like I had to do it because there was a calendar with a task and I needed to check it off. It adds pressure and makes me feel like I’m skipping out on myself when I miss an appointment.

My mid-September calendar has been so helpful this week. Granted, it’s only been a couple of days of check-offs, but it’s working in it’s own way. For example, I didn’t finish my Jillian workout until about 8pm last night. I was busy most of the day and really just wanted to settle in for the evening. But, the calendar hanging on the refrigerator was calling to me.  I could not end the day without checking exercise off my list. I’m restarting c25k again today and I’m excited because the weather is perfect. I’m restarting because 1) I want to participate in the 5k in Winston-Salem in December again and 2) I think I’ve been invited to do a 5k in Cincinnati in May. It’s time to prepare!

How do you stay accountable for exercise?

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Weight Loss Exercise

How Is Stress Affecting You? | stress affects



Stress affects is something everyone deals with off and on throughout life. Stress is how our bodies react to the ever changing external influences in our lives. Depending on how we view it, stress can be positive or negative. Most of the time when we feel stressed, we know it. We can consciously say, “I am stressed out.” But sometimes, our bodies do the talking for us loud and clear.

There are many physical symptoms that can be stress-related

How Is Stress Affecting You?

Stress Affects

  • headaches
  • muscle tension
  • poor sleep patterns
  • rashes
  • high blood pressure
  • chest pain
  • stroke
  • stomachaches
  • ulcers
  • possibly diabetes
  • possibly certain types of cancer

Mental symptoms can include

  • anxiety
  • panic attacks
  • depression
  • suicidal thoughts
  • paranoid thoughts
  • apathy
  • relationship issues

Everyone is different in what they consider stressful and in how they handle stressful situations. Stress can never be totally avoided, and some stress is good because it helps us to grow. Stress can be caused by a loved one’s death as well as a move to a bigger house or starting a great new job.

Short term Stress Affects

Short term stress is easier to manage because the end is in sight and the person knows it’s temporary. When stress is seen as long-term, such as a life-long disability, the person needs to learn ways to handle the stress.

There are many acceptable ways of dealing with stress and it’s a matter of finding what will work in each case. It would be wise to learn several coping techniques so that if one doesn’t work, another can be tried. Sometimes it will take several of the techniques to make a dent in the stress.

What triggers the stress?

Examine the triggers and put a name to them so that they’re not lurking in the subconscious. Sometimes it’s best to walk away or avoid situations that can become stressful.

Meditation is a huge stress reliever as well as a stress preventative. Meditation can be practiced for short time periods and still be effective. Keeping the routine going is key.

Exercise is a good coping mechanism, especially when the “flight or fight” response is racing through the body. Taking a brisk walk, running up some stairs, playing a game of racquetball, or following an exercise tape can work.

Sometimes the answer is a vacation to give the body a break from the stress and give the mind a chance to have a fresh perspective on the situation. Even just a day off doing something entertaining can mean a decrease in stress levels.

Talk it out with an understanding and empathetic friend. It feels like such a relief to get it “off your chest”, as long as both people then move on and don’t keep rehashing it.

There are times when it’s best to seek help from a qualified professional. They can offer even more positive methods of dealing with stress.

Some stress is a natural part of everyone’s life and even helps us to take action and grow. When your body is giving you physical or mental signs of too much stress, be kind to yourself and try the coping methods for stress affects mentioned in this article.


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