Burn More Calories by Lifting Weight

Most people thinks of lifting weight to build muscle and doing cardio to burn fat. That may be true at the first look.

Adding weight or losing weight is a simple matter of calorie surplus or deficit.

For a long time, we know that the calorie burned in a weight training session is most likely less than that of a cardio session. But we also know that the EPOC (excess post-workout oxygen consumption) effect for an intense weight training session could elevate basal metabolic rate and keep calorie burning for as long as 48 hours. This is the so called "after burn" effect.

A recent study showed that the caloric expenditure from a weight training session is higher than the researchers originally estimated.

Reference: Contribution of anaerobic energy expenditure to whole body thermogenesis, Christopher B Scott, Nutrition & Metabolism 2005, 2:14

"It has been concluded from exercise oxygen uptake-only measurements that a one-set circuit weight training regimen consisting of 8 exercises was 15 kcals short of meeting the energy expenditure criteria for a healthy lifestyle in men (i.e., 150-200 kcals per exercise session). However, these criteria would appear to have been met if an estimate of rapid glycolytic ATP re-synthesis were included with the exercise oxygen uptake measurements. Depending on the size of the exercising muscle mass, my students and I have found blood lactate contributions to a single bout of weight training exercise (i.e., 1 set) to range from 3 to 12 kcalories in men; a minimal contribution of 3 kcal per exercise would result in an increase in energy expenditure of almost 25 kcal for this weight training circuit.The use of both an anaerobic estimate and an aerobic measure of energy expenditure would provide support for regular circuit weight training as an effective method of obtaining a healthy lifestyle in men. The anaerobic energy expenditure component needs to be large to make a significant contribution to total energy expenditure and this is best seen during brief heavy to severe exercise (total energy expenditure includes exercise anaerobic and aerobic energy expenditure and an acute measure of EPOC)"

It implis that a circuit of 8 exercises has been shown to burn about 135 calories when using a measure of oxygen uptake (how we classify caloric burn of aerobic work).

But when you add the Rapid Glyoclytic ATP Resynthesis, you will burn another 3 to 12 calories per single set, or 24 to 96 calories per 8 exercise circuit. Therefore, a circuit of eight exercises could result in a total energy expenditure of 159 to 231 calories (and note that an eight exercise circuit would take around 8-12 mins or so).

The study looked at weight training using a 15-rep max. It wouldn't be hard to assume that a heavier load could burn more calories per set. You would burn more calories during free weight training because of greater overall muscle recruitment but this has been ignored up until now.


Conclusions:

Even you want to lose weight, combining strength training with cardio exercise will give you the maximum fat burning 24/7. And the program would really help you shape up to a nice figure, not just a smaller version of your former self.

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