Weight training to burn more calories

A proper nutritional diet and cardio exercise are important starts on your quest to lose weight.

However, they are only great starts. People will spend hours, mostly middle-aged men and women, walking on the treadmill, and unfortunately, going nowhere on the journey to physical fitness.

The lack of achievement is not from a lack of effort or will power; it is from not understanding how your body actually works.

Therefore, a third element is very important if you wish to get what you are looking for—weight training.

Weight training or resistance training machines are the all-around solutions for beginners, rehabilitation patients and those serious about bodybuilding.

To be very technical both types involve resistance.

It is just that most people equate weight training with free weights on pulleys and cables and bars while picturing resistance training as something using various springs or bands.

Weight machines are generally found in the gyms and band resistance machines are generally found in the home.

It really doesn’t matter which you use as long as it resistant enough to strain the muscles.

When weight training is mentioned to people, the first thing that pops to mind is images of bulging muscles and bars with 400 pounds of weight on the ends, followed by aching joints and tubes of “Heat”.

This may be fine for some people, but for most, free weights just don’t fill the bill.

Why would I want to build muscle mass?

The reason that you want to build muscle is to increase your metabolism and burn more calories.

Keep in mind that, yes you will burn calories in the gym, but you want to continue to burn calories while you are at work sitting in your office or just being a couch potato.

Muscle mass does just that. It takes calories to maintain your muscle mass.

I do not want to exhibit muscle bulge

Women, in particular, are concerned about “bulking up”. This should be of no concern since women should not have enough testosterone in their system to build large muscle mass.

Building a healthy muscle mass doesn’t mean that you need to have your shirts or blouses ripping at the seams; you just need to be toned and fit. Isn’t this what both men and women want?

Most serious bodybuilders will tell you that nothing beats free weights for muscle building because they allow more freedom of movement.

While this is the most popular school of thought, the advancement in the technology and design of the new machines actually brings this into question.

Why use weight machines?

One of the advantages of a weight training machine is that by nature of its design, it automatically places you in the proper position and form to isolate the muscles to be worked by only allowing movement in one direction.

It is also easier to maintain your heart rate when using weight machines because you don’t have to stop and remove or add weights for your next routine.

With a weight machine, you just move a clip or pin to get the desired resistance.

Safety is another consideration that is seldom discussed.

With a weight-training machine, it prevents you from working your muscles improperly and it’s pretty hard to drop a dumbbell on your foot with a weight machine.

Conclusion

The use of weight training to lose weight is an important part of your program but you should be aware that in the beginning stages you may actually gain a small amount of weight.

Do not let this deter your weight loss motivation. In fact, I would suggest not looking at the scale for a few weeks.

The change in the way your clothes begin to fit and the increase in energy from the addition of weight training is your guide.