DO CARDIO TO LOSE FAT and do weightlifting to gain muscle, right? New research from Australia suggests that we may be off that mark. While my headline may overstate the case, it appears that resistance training burns fat. Turns out that if you want to lose weight, you may want to add some weight training to your routine.
A recent systematic review of existing evidence shows that we can lose approximately 1.4 percent of our total body fat through strength training alone. This reduction is similar to the amount we might lose through aerobic activity.
Dr. Hagstrom and colleagues aggregated the findings of 58 research studies that employed highly accurate approaches to body fat measurement to measure strength training program outcomes. The studies included 3000 subjects, all new to weight training.
For the strength training, programs varied, but participants worked out for about 45 to 60 minutes each session for an average of 2.7 times weekly. The programs spanned about five months.
On average, participants lost 1.4 percent of their total body fat after training. This reduction is the equivalent of about 0.5 kilograms for most participants.
This improvement with weight training is good news for those of us that enjoy lifting weights. Of course, if you want to lose fat, it…
