Lift weights to lose weight

Yes this is a thing, and it’s so efficient it will make your head spin. I think most people associate cardio with weight loss and lifting weights with bulky muscles. This thinking along with the emergence of wrestler “China Doll” or some of the female Crossfit athletes has created the incorrect narrative that if you lift weights you will bulk up. This isn’t a thing for women, as they do not have enough testosterone and would need to inject all kinds of things in their veins to have this happen so quickly or even at all. 

The common thinking is that the best thing you can do exercise wise, to lose weight is to do cardio and if you lift one weight, BAM giant muscles. These people who look muscular train for hours using methods regular people do not do. I’m not even going into how they cater their lives to perform at their level.  It is their profession, it isn’t yours so you can’t compare yourself and think you can just pop in the gym a couple times and you leave looking like Thor. 

Sometimes what people can manage is going to the gym and completing cardio, and we’ll take it. They are creating and maintaining their habit of going to the gym and that habit is the bones.  This is about misinformation as it pertains to lifting weights not about being negative about what people are choosing to do at the gym. 

It kills me when someone has a goal of losing weight and sits on a bench and does a bicep curl on one arm for ten minutes. I think if you’re trying to lose weight you want your effort to not only match your goal, but also to be efficient. 

We have been taught that cardio is king for weight loss and it simply isn’t (in all honesty there is no king there are many facets). If you go an hour on an elliptical you can burn give or take 600 calories, this is general don’t get crazy on the specific numbers. What happens when you are finished is your body doesn’t really care. It doesn’t have a lot to manage here. It is almost unphased that you did cardio as it hasn’t created much for it to deal with. When you lift weights your body is trying to figure out what the heck just happened, and this can take hours. This process burns calories and for some can last up to 72 hours. 

The beauty of lifting weights is it helps change your body composition, this is where I think of the word lean. Meaning not bulging muscles just “healthy” looking, and not skinny fat. Instead of thinking of what muscles look like, think of tissue and how it feels. It can feel soft or it can feel firm. The firm is what happens for a long while before anything grows into something resembling a defined muscle. There is a high chance you will never see a defined muscle bulging anywhere. Just ask the guy who got calf implants.  

Muscle needs to pay a much higher rent (calories) to live in your body, where fat pays substantially less. Again this is in the name of calories which contributes to losing weight. 

It’s like an investment where your money works for you, or having passive income. You can sit back and watch your bank account grow. Meaning sit back and let those calories burn baby. 

Completing supersets is the best way to lift for weight loss. I love lifting in this style especially if I don’t have a ton of time, but want to accomplish a few things. What I like about this is your heart rate can stay elevated so it can also accomplish a bit of cardio for those who want it. I love when people are surprised how hard they breathe from a set of squats. 

The idea is to alternate movements between opposing or unrelated muscle groups. You can really make this your own, and insert whatever lifts you like.  

Here is an example workout:

Lat pulldown

Alternating reverse lunges

Flat bench press

Deadlifts

Seated row machine

Goblet squats

Dumbbell incline press

Step ups

You complete each block of exercises for however many sets you like for however many reps you like. Then move on to the next block of exercises. When you are in your block sets you really don’t rest much. You can add a one minute rest for example between exercise blocks if you like. You may consider setting up each group ahead of time so you can bounce back and forth easily. 

There can be many iterations of this specific workout so you can do movements you like. 

The movements I’ve chosen here use multiple muscle groups, this is what really maximizes time and effort. You will notice there are no concentrated muscles as the idea is to hit the whole body as this leads to weight loss. 

Please enjoy!