2017
Go Anaerobic for Weight Loss
By Dustin Wenzel
For those who love to lift weights, aerobic training is often frowned upon. When it is time to jump on the treadmill, Assult bike or elliptical the majority of the “weight first” fitness enthusiast do it because they feel they have to. For those who may love those same machines, they operate under the premise that these machines will help them lose weight based on the number on the machine. Valuable time as well as a lot of blood sweat and tears are poured into these machines all in the name of calories burned.
But without aerobic exercise you can’t lose weight right?
Wrong! I will go into the negatives of steady-state aerobics later. But let me explain why I think anaerobic exercise is the way to go. Utilized correctly, the same barbells, dumbbells, and machines we use to induce hypertrophy can also be extremely effective tools for melting fat. The key is to know how to properly encourage the body to tap into fat storage for energy.
H.I.T. Methodology
When utilizing weights to burn fat. It is first important to find and implement a proper training method. High Intensity Training or H.I.T. Is quickly growing into one of the most popular training methods in the U.S. Its growing because of one simple reason, results. Birmingham Ultimate Fitness located in Birmingham Michigan is achieving outstanding results. Using a two sessions a week training system, clients are seeing substantial results in a relatively short period of time. Many other studios in the country are also seeing similar results practicing H.I.T. So the question lies in the how.
The name of the game is to put muscle on your body and work your butt off to earn it. So how does it work:
- Increased latic acid accumulation results in a spike in growth hormone. (GH proven to spike metabolism as well as abilty to build muscle).
- Using a combination of moderate weight and slow deliberate repetitions followed by short rest periods, increases amount of calories burned in a short amount of time.
- Finally, the post-exercise oxygen consumption or E.P.O.C is greater with strenuous interval or weight training opposed to that of steady-state exercises (Elliptical, treadmill, Assult Bike). This leading to a much greater calorie burn in the recovery period.
The benefits of H.I.T. are well practiced and heavily documented. But there is more! In addition, muscle is very metabolically expensive. In fact, for every pound of muscle put on the body, the body burns an additional 50 calories a day at rest.
Conclusion
So this is actually quite simple. Muscle equals more calories burned at rest. Burn more calories, lose more fat. More importantly do it in a way that is more natural and safe for the human body. So, You burn lifting, you burn recovering and you burn sitting and doing nothing. Why do aerobic exercises? How can you still justify painfully watching a single digital number climb? When you could be effectively and efficiently enjoying the exponential fat burning power provided by the H.I.T method and your natural muscle.
