If your goal is to lose bodyfat and keep it off longterm, there's a crucial element that's often lacking in many weight loss programmes.

The real secret to permanent fat loss is the creation and maintenance of your lean muscle mass - best achieved thanks to resistance training.

So let's find out why this is the case. Plus we'll also dispel some persistent myths about weight training...

Excuses?

Many people have decided - for one reason or another - to shun the weights room. For many women, the fear of adding muscle 'bulk' is one of the biggest deterrants. (pun intended!)

However, the truth is that building big muscles rarely happens by accident. In other words, those people that do "get big" are intentionally consuming additional calories and applying intensive weight training techniques. Contrary to popular belief, women who lift weights will not turn into Ms Olympia overnight!

When a client comes to me wanting to lose weight, what they really desire is to take up less space – fitting into a smaller size of jeans for example. And while there's a good chance that you will lose scale weight, would you be satisfied if you gained muscle, remained at your current bodyweight and yet ended up a few sizes smaller?

Muscle weights heavier and takes up less room than bodyfat!

Five pounds of fat takes up much more space (volume) than five pounds of muscle. For example, someone who weighs 150 pounds (68kgs) with 19% bodyfat will look much smaller than someone who weights 150 pounds and has 35% bodyfat. Even though they weigh the same, their body composition is different. And because muscle is more dense than fat, the person with less fat and more muscle will look and be, smaller!

Muscle is metabolically active!

As well as the beneficial cosmetic changes, studies have shown that for every pound of muscle you add to your body, you'll burn up to 50 calories more per day! So, if you were to add an extra 10 pounds of muscle, you'd burn up to 500 cals more per day, or an extra pound of fat every 7 to 10 days, without making any other changes!

Therein lies a very important point. Muscle is metabolically active. Fat is not. Even at rest, muscle tissue requires energy - enough to significantly enhance your metabolism and the rate at which your body burns calories from day to day.

On the flip side of the coin, if you lost weight while following a diet without including some form of resistance training, two things would most likely occur.

First, at least half the weight you would lose would be muscle. And this causes number two! - A slowed metabolism and the inability to burn bodyfat as efficiently. This results in progress grinding to a halt, and often leads to gaining all the weight back. (This also happens to be the most common scenario with commercial weight loss programmes.)

Regardless of whether you're a man or a woman, building muscle is VERY beneficial.

The benefits of resistance training and building muscle include:

Preventing the loss of lean body mass that occurs through dieting and/or aging
Easier to maintain a healthy bodyweight longterm
Improves your body composition (fat to muscle ratio)
The fastest way to reshape your body
Strengthens bones and connective tissue along with the muscles
Helps keep you strong and active as you get older

Conclusion

Training with weights should not be overlooked as it is an extremely powerful and necessary component of any successful longterm weight loss strategy.

Mark Woodgate is a leading New Zealand personal trainer. He has successfully transformed thousands of people thanks to his revolutionary ‘quality versus quantity’ training principles.

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