Resistance Training: The Secret Sauce for Weight Loss

Old habits die hard.

And so do old fitness myths.

One old myth you may have bought into is that in order to lose body fat (“weight”) you need to do tons of cardio.

Wrong approach.

Resistance training is the secret sauce for weight loss.

Why Cardio Won’t Cut It (i.e., the Fat) When You’re Trying to Lose Weight

If you want long-term fat loss, then you need to understand that doing endless cardio is not the way to go.

Resistance training is.

By resistance training, I mean weightlifting - as in using dumbbells, barbells or weight machines at the gym. But resistance training can also be bodyweight training (a great place to start, but it can only take you so far) or training with bands, or kettlebells or other heavy objects.

More particularly, resistance training refers to exercise that increases muscular strength and endurance.

Studies have established that resistance training for older adults is beneficial both physically and mentally.

Training with weight is fantastic because it increases your metabolism which is the rate at which you turn food into energy.  It also builds muscle. And muscle takes up less room in your body than fat (making you smaller and more compact) and, unlike cardio, it burns calories all day long. The bottom line: muscle helps you burn fat.

 With cardiovascular exercise, your body can quickly adapt to the stress you put on it.

So, for example, if you start jogging for 30 minutes a day or several days a week in order to lose weight, you’ll find that at the beginning of your endeavors, you will see some weight loss. But after several weeks, (assuming nothing else changes) your weight loss will stall.

Why?

Because your body has adapted to the 30-minute jog.

So now you have to do 45 minutes of jogging to get any change in your body. And so it goes with cardio. You have to do more and more because your body adapts to it.

Plus, the problem with more and more cardio is that the body will break down your muscle to use as fuel for your cardio.

And that’s not a good thing.

Especially if you are a woman over 50.

You need all the muscle you can get. The last thing you want to do is put yourself in a place where you are losing what little strength you have.

Build Muscle, Lose Fat.

With strength training (or weight training or resistance training) the resistance (dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, weighted vest etc.) you train with has the opposite effect.

It stresses the body and causes it to respond by building muscle. To build muscle the body needs energy. It gets this energy from your fat stores and from what you eat and drink.

You may, of course, adapt to your lifting routine especially if you do the same thing over and over with no change at all. But with weightlifting, it is easy to keep the body from getting adapted and not making any changes. All you have to do is change up your routine every 6-8 weeks or keep the same routine but add more weight or add more repetitions.

Of course, you do not have to stop doing cardio. In fact, you should keep cardio in your routine as well.

But what you should do if you want to lose body fat is to prioritize weightlifting over doing cardio.

So, go for your jog, sure. Just make sure you do that after you lift, or, better yet, do it on a day that you do  not lift.

Make resistance training your priority.

Because resistance training is the secret sauce when it comes to weight loss.

If you are looking for some help, I am here for you.  You can reach your fitness goals at this age. We all can. It just takes some effort and time. And a little help can go a long way.

Fitness Programs That Fit You and Your Goals

At Strength & Balance for Seniors, I help other women over 50 transform their lives and bodies one rep at a time. I work with clients one-on-one and provide the individualized attention you need to reach your fitness, health, and longevity goals. Connect with me here or on my Facebook page, Strength & Balance for Seniors.