Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Lift Big Weights and Fat Loss

Most people are afraid of lifting heavy weights. Don’t believe me… then take a look
at the squat rack at your gym. How many people do you see squatting? The crickets are chirping right now.Especially, during a fat loss phase when some people adhere to a light weight and more rep routine. It just does not make sense to try and attempt more volumewhen your caloric intake is so low. The risk of burning muscle as fuel is too great. Studies have shownthat testosterone decreases after 1 hour of strength training or physical activity. Why in the world would you want to be in the gym pounding your body for 2 hours when you do not have the nutrients necessary to build muscle?

I do not know about you but I am not a fan of the smoothed out look. I know most are wondering what that is, so Iwill tell you. It is when you see people that have lost weight, are skinny, but do not have any muscle tone. That is not a healthy look to me and muscle is one of the most metabolically challenging tissues in the body. No muscle means prepare forthe metabolism to slow down. How much abuse will the body endure with these marathon sessions before it starts to fallapart? Trust me not too much. Most people say, “Well Jim I am not hurt now and I have been doing this for so long.” Thismight be true but when is the last time you have had an assessment to examine muscle weaknesses and imbalances. I wouldsay a great number of people of people suffer from internal rotation of the shoulder complex and tight hip flexors just by having a deskjob or prolonged sitting at the computer. Man…that got me worked up and I am off topic. The point is if you lift heavy weightswith compound movements you will work more muscle in less time which is advantageous when in a caloric deficit during fat loss.Go ahead…be one of those that have muscle, look athletic, and use the Squat rack. You will not be the majority, but if you look at thefat loss statics I doubt you want to side with the majority.

No comments: