Hello Friends,
Quick update on all things Stella…In the midst of a crazy week – all good things – one of those ‘testing’ weeks for me as a business person. Had a couple of interviews. One was for a position to train 10 females taking a weight loss pill, the other a nice chat with a local physical therapist. I am really good at discovering the scope of different companies through research and asking good questions…but I have failed myself when it comes to describing the benefits of my business while in the ‘office’ setting. Going to set out to set up three similar discussions per week until I own it. Which is progress! I have set aside a load of time for practice and will talk to different groups in the area to get some time face to face with folks.
If you know anyone in the Salt Lake area looking for a personal trainer, spread the word of Stella Fitness!
That said, you came here to figure out how to lift weights for fat loss.
I’ve been excited about this one for a while! Not because it is the most efficient means of burning Calories but it also lends a lot of flexibility in how you approach your strength training sessions. Let’s get a few of the common misconceptions and FAQs out of the way…
- A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat.
- Lifting weights will make your muscles grow if you train them to grow. Conversely, if you lift weights to get strong and stay lean, you should lift in that fashion.
- If your goal is weight loss and you weigh in to find that you gained a few pounds this week, it is not because you lifted weights and put on muscle.
- Your fat does not ‘turn into’ muscle. Fat undergoes oxidation and leaves your system as carbon dioxide, acetyl-CoA and energy. Muscle tissue grows through forced adaptation during resistance training. And it is very difficult to achieve both of these at the same time unless you are willing to work!
- Your body is more adept to building a certain fiber type – so when you see people looking for ‘lean muscle’, they are typically referring to developing a lower bodyfat percentage with slightly defined features, brought out more through weight training combined with a healthy, nutrient specific diet.
- Spot-toning does not burn fat in the specified region of your body – but it does make that specific muscle grow larger, thus allowing it to be more defined as you lose bodyfat.
- Burning 1,000 Calories in an hour is BS unless you weight 250+ or have the metabolism of a hummingbird
- When finished with a particularly intense weight training session, your body will require more Calories in order to get back to resting levels (the effect can last for up to 36 hours, burning an extra 150 Calories!)
I am a firm believer in the idea of making use of your body in all the ways it can move. You have to prepare your body for the unexpected, and that requires testing its limits every now and then. My idea of strength training isn’t purely deadlifting with a barbell, swinging a kettlebell or hitting the leg press every day. Strength training is what you do to INCREASE YOUR BODY’S CAPACITY FOR MOVEMENT…pushing, pulling, squatting, hinging, carrying heavy stuff, walking/running and rotating. Your body is meant to move in all of these ways. They are fun, challenging and you should track variations of standardized workouts.
When it comes to strength training for weight loss, choose a movement from the following list:
- Push
- Pull
- Squat
- Hinge
- Carrying stuff
- Running/Gait/Core
- Rotating
Create a circuit from the movement categories and turn it into a game. Maybe your goal is to do 10 reps of each movement for three rounds. Maybe it’s a quick hitting burst of as many reps as possible of one specific movement, 5 minutes at a time. These circuits can range anywhere from 2-60 minutes depending on the specifics of the program and the time you have allotted for exercise. The more intense the workout (ie, weight and rep scheme), the shorter the time frame exercising will be. The idea in these workouts is to get your heart rate up and keep it up. Anyone who has run through an intense, short-rest period strength session can attest to boosting your body’s metabolism and skyrocketing Caloric expenditure. Not only that, you will get really sweaty, really fast.
Below I have attached a few of my favorite strength workouts:
Upper Body Push+Pull Death: 1 Set of 20 reps of each exercise at an intensity that you fail near 20 reps. Maybe leave 2 reps in the tank for each exercise. As little rest as possible between exercises. Set a stop watch for 45 minutes and don’t stop moving until your time is up.
- Pushups
- Pullups/Lat pulldown/Assisted Pullups
- Dumbell Push press
- Dumbell Swing
- Dips/assisted Dips
- Inverted/suspension Row
- Incline dumbell bench press
- Dumbell 1 arm row
- Seated Military press
- Seated Row
- Chest Flies
- Reverse flies
- Machine Push
- Machine Pull
Bodyweight 7s: 7 Rounds, 7 exercises, 7 reps each. GREAT circuit for a park or while you’re on vacation (no excuses).
- Squat Jumps
- Pushups
- Lunges (7 each leg)
- Pullups/Assisted pullups
- Burpees
- Side jumping ‘Skaters’ (7 each leg)
- Full Body crunch
Carry, Thrust, Pull, Run:3-5 rounds of the following exercises
- Farmers carry (100-200 Feet)
- Dumbell Thrusters (10 reps)
- TRX Weight Pull (10 Pulls – attach a few 45# plates to a TRX, place them on the ground, stand a few feet away, and pull the crap out of the weights with your whole body)
- Run 1/4 of a mile
That’s all I’ve got for today folks, let me know what you think!
Grazi,
Goose
Stella Fitness 