The dilemma is not new. Which lose weight more, cardiovascular exercises or weights? And the answer is surprising. Although aerobic exercises (cycling, swimming, running or zumba, for example) involve a fast and high expenditure of calories, strength training can achieve identical results. Or better. Because, according to specialists – who remember that weight training is essential as the years go by – they can still be more effective. In fact, the strength training is the only “medicine” known to combat sarcopenia or loss of muscle mass, which weakens and, after certain ages, can end even disabling.
The good news for those looking to lose a few kilos is that a well-planned bodyweight workout can ease the path to weight loss because it makes the muscle work intensely, raising the basal metabolism and drawing on the body’s deposits. In other words, glycogen and fat. With the weights you take your work home because the calorie consumption in this type of training does not end when you finish the effort, but rather to recover after an intense session, the muscles continue to need oxygen and the body continues to burn calories to facilitate it. That is why we say that you continue working even when you are at rest.
This is what is known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), also called the afterburn effect: after intense exercise, your body increases its metabolism for a time, consumes more energy and burns more fat.
The HIST method
Yes indeed. To get there, you have to know how to work effectively and plan your training well. There is a method known as the HIST (High Intensity Strength Training) method, which is the most effective, fast and healthy way to increase muscle strength. The exercises are performed at an extremely slow pace, until local exhaustion of the muscles involved. The exercise program works the whole body, generally with a maximum of ten exercises.
The method seeks to stimulate the different muscle fibers as much as possible in an interval that ranges from one minute and a half to three minutes, and involves between 5 and 8 slow and controlled repetitions. That implies the maximum effort on the muscle in a slow, very slow execution, until you notice that burning pain (no pain no gain say the bodybuilders and although in this case the work is different, its premise is more than valid) which indicates that the limit has been reached.
It is stigmatized, but it is essential
The muscle work is stigmatized by those who say that it helps to gain weight due to the known fact that muscle weighs more than fat, but it is essential in training plans. You have to know that Men Tone up workouts do not imply a great increase in muscle, but rather activates it. For this reason, the American College of Sports Medicine emphasizes the importance of combining cardiovascular work of long duration and moderate intensity with muscular exercises to promote the elimination of fat and increase basal metabolism.
The weight that we can lose
But how much can we lose? How much weight do we have to lift? How many days per week? Do workout plans for men and women give the same results? All these questions depend on many factors. That is why personalized work is important. It is very important to note that the amount of fat that can be lost in specific periods depends on age, gender, initial weight, the specific body composition of each person, and also on their medical and sports history. Each one has goals and an ideal weight, which implies different parameters in each case.
