Why Resistance Training Is The Key To Getting Lean

"Be the change you want to see in the world.

-Gandhi

Being overweight is associated with more then 400,000 deaths per year and an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, colon, breast and endometrial cancer.   These numbers illustrate why achieving and maintaining a lean physique and leading a healthy lifestyle is so important.

Most women and men who work out to loose body fat and get lean direct the majority of their energy on aerobic exercises like jogging, swimming or biking. These exercises are important and provide for cardiovascular strengthening but are narrow in scope and benefit.   The superior exercise choice is resistance training, which can be performed with free weights (barbells, dumbbells and cables), weight machines, resistance bands, medicine balls or your own bodyweight.   There are numerous benefits for the practitioner of chronic resistance training, but the most important reason as it relates to decreasing body fat, is increased hypertrophy (muscle building).   The amount of muscle one possesses is the basis for one's resting metabolism, which accounts for approximately eighty percent of one's total metabolism.   Contrary to popular belief, the dominant factor that contributes to the rate of one's resting metabolism is not related to a thyroid condition or even age.   Instead it is the amount of calorie "thirsty" muscle that one carries on his or her skeleton.   Additionally, muscle tissue takes up, pound for pound, 18% less space on your body then fat tissue.   The result is not only a stronger body, but a smaller one. Simply put, if one aspires to get leaner, she should perform muscle building exercises a minimum of three days per week.

The issue of muscle tissue and metabolism in women struggling to control their weight or body fat as a percentage of their weight is particularly important for two reasons.   The first is most women are reluctant to engage in an intense resistance training program fearing that if they pick up anything heavier then a ten-pound dumbbell, they will immediately grow bulging biceps, huge traps, sprout chest hair and start talking in a baritone voice.   The fact is that very few women have the ability to get muscular at all, and even within this elite group, it takes a massive commitment of training over the course of many years to achieve a true level of muscularity.   The reality is, women simply lack the hormones, principally testosterone, to get muscular.   Still woman as well as men should train for increased muscularity due to its great benefit.   A question for women who are concerned about getting too muscular is, how many women do you know how are too muscular?   For virtually all women the answer is none.   The fear that many women have of becoming overly muscular is pervasive, irrational and harmful to women.

In my many years as a fitness and conditioning professional, I have worked with hundreds of women and only four had a truly accurate body fat measurement of 15% or less.   The number of healthy well conditioned women with a body fat percentage this low comprises less then 1% of the female population. It is important to note that all have been committed to resistance training programs for many years.   Additionally they all challenged themselves to build muscle that would drive their metabolisms for maximum benefit.   These women were routinely complimented on their physiques yet not once did I ever hear them referred to as overly muscular.   They all consumed well rounded diets and never denied themselves a rich meal on occasion.   Three of these women are in their thirties, the other is forty-six.

The other reason that women should place focus on resistance training to build muscle is that they are starting off at a considerable disadvantage.   On average, muscles comprise 40% of a man's body weight but only 26% of a woman's.   Furthermore while women tend to have strength in their lower bodies that is similar to that of men, their remains a relatively large discrepancy in upper body strength.   This is a rationale for women to focus on development of the upper torso, which has a more complex network of muscles.

The process of adding muscle tissue to the human skeleton is a complex and challenging endeavor, yet one that is necessary not only for athletes but also for the entire population whose physicality has been severely reduced in recent decades.   The process starts with eliminating the false notion that lifting weights makes one "muscle bound" and replacing it with the reality that resistance training makes people look good, feel great, leaner and more resistant to disease.   This process can only be achieved with the execution of an exercise system specific to maximum hypertrophy.   This includes but is not limited to exercises popularized by bodybuilders and fitness contestants such as squats and lunges for the lower body and shoulder press, chest press and lat pull downs for the upper body.   An emphasis on exercises that require many muscles to be recruited simultaneously known as compound exercises, provide for an increased opportunity to build muscle tissue.   Other relevant guidelines include utilizing a repetition range of 8-12 and sets totaling 2-4 per exercise.   The total number of sets per workout should range between 24-36.   The amount of recovery time between workouts is crucial whether training the entire body in each workout or splitting it into two or three sessions.   The key here is allowing for a minimum of 2 days recovery for the trained muscle groups between workouts and a maximum of 4 days before the next training session.   Also a variety of exercises are recommended to address the complexity of the muscular system of the human body as well as avoid neural adaptations that halt the muscle building process.  

If one is unsure about how to organize a resistance training program or unfamiliar with proper lifting technique, they should call on the assistance of a reputable fitness and conditioning professional to ensure absolute safety and maximum results.   If you haven't committed to a resistance training program by now, it's never too late.   Start building your muscles and metabolism today!

Thoughts and comments are welcome and encouraged at pete@petekoch.com 

Yours in Health,

Pete