Although cardiovascular exercise is the first advice one will get when one wishes to lose weight, we should not undermine the benefits of weightlifting. We should not underestimate the benefits of powerlifting for weight loss. Heavy weights are often objects of many misconceptions, which are related to rapid muscle gains. If you could think, ‘I am already fat, what do I get when I become even bigger, muscular, I am going to look big anyway’. This is where you have to stop and reject the disinformation you gathered for years. Let me explain what good can happen when you get some muscles?

What are the benefits of powerlifting for fat weight loss?

Muscle is dense, so it occupies less space than the same weight of fat. If we compare two persons with the same weight, one can look skinnier than other just because it has more muscles. Moreover, one can look skinnier and weight even more than fat person, just because fat has a bigger volume. So, don’t trust the scale, the mirror is the only relevant witness to your fat loss. You won’t get big, you will just get toned. Weightlifting for weight loss is not a bulk plan and it won’t make you gain tons of muscles. Muscle gains don’t happen by accident, it demands a lot of devotion followed by a great diet and lifting plan.

5 lbs of fat VS. 5 lbs of muscle

Muscles boost your basal metabolic rate

Muscle increases your basal metabolic rate, so you will be able to burn more calories while doing nothing. Some studies estimate that weightlifting elevates your metabolism up to 38 hours after training. Study at Southern Illinois University found that exercisers who did a 15-minute resistance workout burned 100 extra calories a day for three days afterward. Let’s re-calculated that – if you do resistance training 3 times per week, you will monthly lose a pound of fat, just as side effect which doesn’t include calories you burned through workout or calories you cut from your diet.

Muscle ‘eats’ fat

One pound of muscle burns 10 calories a day, which is small amount daily, but it causes 3650 calories consumption per year, that is equivalent to a pound of lost fat. If we take into account that an average male who starts lifting can gain 2,5 pounds of muscle per week and women who is a gym newbie can gain a half of that mass, it sounds great and can make you rush into gym. More experienced lifters gain less, but if you are new to the gym, you can gain all those benefit of weightlifting.

Improve your lifts:

• Use compound powerlifting exercises such deadlifts, squats and bench press, so you will burn more calories other than doing isolated movements
• Don’t use too light weights and high reps, because sweating won’t help you burn additional calories. Instead, choose heavier weights and shorten rest time, it will make your training more intense. Alternating between heavy sets and rest time, you will get HIIT effect.
• Switch to the supersets and giant sets to put more intensity into your workout. Also, doing supersets you decrease your workout time, which should stay below 45 minutes per session.