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...By Karli Taylor
You come to the gym three days a week and you walk on the treadmill for an hour. You just want to lose a little bit of weight, so that’s really all that you need to do right? If I told you that lifting weights would help you lose weight would you believe me? Many people are afraid that lifting weights will “bulk them up” instead of slim them down, but the opposite is actually true.
In fact, whether you’re trying to lose weight, improve your muscle tone, improve your mobility, or prevent injury, incorporating weight lifting into your exercise routine will give you added benefit than just doing cardio.
Yes, it is true that cardio is the best way to burn a lot of calories in a given period of time. You will burn more calories in 30 minutes of cardio than you do in 30 minutes of weight lifting-BUT there is an after-burn involved in weight training that blows that associated with cardio clear out of the water.
Weight training is about changing your body composition to add lean muscle. Not only will that make your body look leaner and tighter, but lean muscle burns more calories throughout the day than fat.
By adding one pound of lean muscle to your body, you will burn an extra 50 calories a day without moving any more than you do right now. 50 calories doesn’t seem like much, but over a month or a year- it adds up to significant weight loss!
Don’t have time to add extra workout days to your schedule? Try weight training before you hit the treadmill. Split your hour in half and lift for 30 minutes before walking or running for 30. You will get the most out of your hour every time you hit the gym.
