Resistance Training Is Necessary When Dieting

April is officially upon us. Do you know what this means for a lot of people? PANIC MODE! You see, April is getting that much closer to May… which is that much closer to June… which is Summer… which is beach season! And while there’s no escaping the fact that beach season is fast approaching, many people are not equipped with their beach bodies just yet.

So what’s the first word that often comes to mind when thinking about improving our physiques? Diet.

If you want to lose weight, most of you already know that a calorie deficit must be created in order to do so. In other words, more calories (over a period of time) must be burned than consumed in order to lose weight. This is true. But remember, a Hollywood body is lean but not scrawny. So we want to ensure that it’s fat that’s being lost instead of muscle. In order to signal our body to do so, we need to give it a reason to hold on to the muscle and burn the fat instead.

How do we accomplish this?

By performing regular resistance training. By challenging our muscles with weighted exercsies, the body will realize muscle needs to be kept so this type of work can continue be be performed at an optimum level. By sparing muscle tissue, fat will be the primary source of fuel used to make up that caloric deficit you will create through your diet.

Have you noticed some people who don’t have much fat on them, but not much muscle either? This is what’s called “skinny-fat,” and it does not create a good look. By simply cutting calories and not doing any resistance training, sure you’ll lose weight. You’ll even lose fat – but you’ll also be losing muscle, which, unless you are overly muscular already, we want to try and avoid. If you are too bulky with muscle, and want to lose some of that bulk, I would still suggest you be doing resistance training, but focus on building strength in the muscle by lifting with high-intensity (low reps, high weight, not to failure). A rep/set scheme of 5×5 is great for strength. Over 5 reps, and you’re starting to lean more toward mass building. So this all depends on your goals. The bottom line is that you’ll want to be working your muscles, at least to some degree.

What Type of Resistance Training?

The cool part is there are many different routes to take here. I am a huge fan of body weight exercises like pushups, pullups, and bodyweight squats. But I also think it’s important to use heavy weights as well, so your strength is being summoned to a higher degree. You can mix it up, in fact I recommend doing so. Say you lift weights three days a week. Workout A could consist of a full body high-intensity strength training as mentioned above (low reps, high weight, not lifting to failure). Workout B could be a bodyweight exercise only workout – maybe some sort of interval circuit (20 pushups followed by 10 pullups followed by 30 bodyweight squats followed by a one minute plank… repeat 5 times). Workout C could be another full body attack, but using a slightly higher rep scheme, say sets of 8-12 reps, focusing a bit more on muscle building.

Not only does this type of variable training keep things interesting by switching up the workout, it also won’t allow your muscles to get too used to a certain style of lifting.

Crossfit can also be used as a substitute workout. By performing interval workouts such as Crossfit, you are also reaping the benefits of cardio at a high-intensity level. It’s kind of a double whammy workout. I wouldn’t skimp on the cardio, especially while cutting, but I strongly recommend you prioritize your resistance workouts over your cardio workouts. In order words, if you’re short on time and can only squeeze in time for one or the other, go with the weights. It’s going to be more beneficial to your physique. This goes for men and women alike. As I’ve mentioned before, women are sometimes skeptical to hit the weights for fear of bulking up. Well ladies, fear not, because it won’t happen. Building muscle is no easy feat, even for men, whose bodies carry 30 times the levels of testosterone (an anabolic muscle building hormone) as womens bodies do.

Most Effective Tools for Resistance Training

• Barbells
• Dumbells
• Kettlebells
• Cable Machines
• Resistance Bands
• Bodyweight Exercises

(I’m not a big fan of weight machines – with the exception of cable workouts)

How Often Should I Perform Resistance Workouts?

If your main goal is to maintain the muscle size you already have, then three resistance workouts a week should be the minimum to achieve this goal. Three to five resistance workouts a week is ideal – Three is certainly plenty to maintain your muscle, granted you’re doing things properly in the gym. Four or five times a week would be recommended if you workout strategically and don’t overtrain the muscles.

What About Cardio?

Cardio is not only an excellent calorie burning tool, but also a great health booster. It can be very fun as well – depending on what you like to do. When fast loss is the goal, cardio can be used as a great way to expedite the process, but again, should not be the primary focus. Weight training and resistance exercises should take precedent over cardio, as explained earlier.

You can try high intensity interval training (HIIT) as some of you may be familiar with, steady-state cardio, or anything else to get your heart rate up. Remember, our goal for weight loss is to burn more energy (calories) than we consume. So by doing cardio and burning up more calories, we can achieve that goal faster. Unless…

Don’t Destroy the Work Accomplished Through Cardio by Overeating

A lot of people actually shoot themselves in the foot by doing too much cardio! I’ve seen a lot of people burn up 400 calories on the treadmill – and use this as a reason to eat a 1200 calorie dinner, instead of a regular sized one. This is not good! This will end up causing fat gain instead of fat loss. After your cardio workout is finished, continue to maintain good nutritional habits throughout the day, or risk losing all that hard work.

Don’t Forget What’s Most Important

Remember guys, when fat loss is the main goal – nothing precedes the right diet. That’s going to be the catalyst for your endeavors. However, resistance training is also a very important tool so you can maintain and strengthen the muscle you have.

A final note, people often overestimate the amount of muscle they need to carry to look good! Like I’ve mentioned before, losing 10 pounds of fat will actually make you look like you have more muscle. Definition of muscles creates an awesome look – pair good sized muscles with extreme definition and low body fat percentage, and you will have created an impressive physique.