A less muscular body cannot burn as many calories during aerobic exercise as a muscular body. Yet, since the early 80s, cardiovascular/aerobic exercise has been touted almost exclusively as the way to burn calories and become more fit. To burn through the sugar and encourage the body to use stored fat for the rest of the workout, incorrect information has stated that at least 12-15 minutes of aerobic exercise a day is recommended. As a result, many Americans have incorporated aerobics classes and other forms of cardio into their days in an effort to become fit.
Here’s the problem with an aerobics-only workout: Have you ever looked at the number of calories you burned while using a treadmill or other piece of aerobic equipment? In an hour-long workout, 600-800 calories might be burned. This amounts to the caloric worth of a bagel and cream cheese! Before anyone panics about needing three or four hours of cardio a day, it’s worth noting that the body also burns calories during non-exercise activities like sleeping, driving, watching TV and even eating. Resistance training is the best way to increase the amount of calories burned during these non-exercise activities. Instead of lifting weights, however, many exercisers try to combine a restrictive diet with their aerobics-only exercise.
A calorie-restrictive diet will actually lower the basal metabolic rate, which is the number of calories that the body can burn when it is at rest. The body’s top priority is to preserve life, and to preserve life, the body needs a supply of energy. The response to a decreased caloric intake is the same self-preservation mode the body uses to respond to actual famine or starvation. It will try to conserve the calories it has stored, while converting muscle mass into calories. Maintaining muscle uses more calories than maintaining fat cells, so in self-preservation mode, the muscle cells are used before the fat cells. At the end of the restrictive diet, the body has less muscle mass and cannot burn as many calories as it could when it had more muscle.
Once the body senses that the danger of starvation is gone, the basal metabolic rate does up-regulate, however, the calorie-burning muscle mass has now been downsized. Dieters are proud of having “lost weight,” but actually, their body composition has been compromised. (See “A New Take on Weight” for more information about body composition.) Caloric intake immediately following the restrictive diet will be converted to fat, unless there is a need for the caloric intake to be converted to muscle. Resistance training creates muscle.
In the same way that the body perceives a need for increased/decreased muscle mass, it also monitors bone density. Unless there is a structural need for strong bone density, calcium will not be used efficiently by the bones, or preserved as well. Working out with resistance builds more muscle mass. The body will have to respond with increased bone strength to support the increased muscle density. For anyone who is concerned for their bone density, resistance training can help the body to absorb more calcium and build stronger bones.
As you build muscle density you will get heavier and more solid. There’s no denying that muscle weighs more than fat! However, rather than getting bigger, it is likely that your body will actually trim down. Many women are concerned that resistance training and building muscle will make their bodies will get BIG. The truth is that building a body with big muscles takes a long time, requires a huge caloric intake, and for most professional bodybuilders, pharmaceuticals. A body can be dense without being big, and resistance exercise will build a dense body with muscles that have real calorie-burning potential. Even though you will weigh more, clothes will fit better, and your body will be able to burn more calories even when you’re not exercising!
Now if you’re an endurance athlete and you do spend hours running, riding, and/or swimming then your workouts are probably enough to stay in shape. These types of athletes train seven plus hours a week and are usually in good or great shape to begin with. Their metabolisms are already high do to the tremendous demands that they place on their bodies. Endurance athletes are the exception to the rule, but they are usually in the gym in the offseason to resistance type train so that their joints, core and muscles stay strong and help in preventing injury. If these athletes ever stop their endurance training and become more sedentary, they too will benefit greater from resistance type training.
It’s time to get fit and healthy! Want to learn more? Call/email Ultimate Test Lab to find out when we’ll be in your area.
