Weight and strength training are among the exercises that can help you shape your body as you desire. Exercises that you can perform with free weights, fixed weights, or just your body weight allow you to increase your muscle resistance. Offering health benefits as well, weight training is quite popular among athletes. If you’re wondering about questions like “What are the benefits of weight training?”, “How many calories does weight training burn?”, or “How to properly perform weight training?”, you can take a closer look at the article to find immediate answers to all your questions.

What is Weight/Strength Training?

Weight training primarily helps you build stronger muscles. It can enhance your bones or joints, enabling you to maintain a healthy physique. As you age, you may feel your strength diminishing; weight training allows you to quickly achieve your desired fitness level and maintain your strength.  Weight training is essentially a workout done with weights. Strength training, on the other hand, is a type of exercise that involves using your own body weight. It is a special form of exercise that helps build muscle mass. When you combine both, you can develop a more robust structure and achieve the appearance you dream of.

When performing weight training, you’ll need extra equipment like dumbbells, barbells, or similar. Weight training, which plays a significant role in bodybuilding, allows you to achieve your desired results more quickly with the support of additional equipment. Weight machines also help you perform these exercises. If you don’t have this equipment, you can still train using your body weight through exercises like push-ups. Strength training consists of movements like pull-ups or sit-ups, which use your body weight to increase muscle mass.

These workouts are typically for those who want to be healthier or lose weight. If you also want a fitter body, you can benefit from weight/strength training. People who want to develop muscles in specific areas like the shoulders or arms can also rely on weightlifting exercises. Weight and strength training help reverse age-related muscle mass decline, increase bone density, and enhance joint flexibility. Additionally, they enable you to control your body weight more easily, allowing you to maintain your balance without strain. Generally, in weight and strength training, you work out the muscle groups you want to strengthen to achieve the desired results [2]. Once you understand which muscle group an exercise affects, you can reach the efficiency you want. Focusing on performing the exercise correctly rather than the number of repetitions can help you develop your body more quickly.

What Are the Benefits of Weight Lifting?

When done correctly, weight training offers you several health benefits. However, incorrect execution or overexertion can lead to injuries such as sprains and even more severe injuries like fractures. If you want to learn more about weight and strength training, you can examine the list below and start gathering information about its benefits.

• Working out your muscles can boost your metabolic rate.
• It strengthens your bones and connective tissue.
• It increases muscle endurance, making your daily activities easier.
• It helps improve coordination and balance.
• It boosts your self-confidence and self-esteem.
• It accelerates calorie burning

According to a 2017 study, exercises similar to weight training also have a positive psychological effect. They can reduce anxiety, helping you feel better [4]. If you’re feeling down, weight training can help improve your mood. Strength and weight training not only enhance your body but also offer health benefits. They regulate your insulin levels, reducing your risk of diabetes. As with any activity, your quality of life improves when you engage in weight training. It protects your joints against injuries, allowing you to perform various movements more comfortably. Developing your muscles helps maintain your body balance, thus reducing your risk of falling. Strengthening your muscles and joints can help you maintain your independence as you age and make it easier to perform daily tasks. Strength training can reduce the signs and symptoms of many chronic conditions such as back pain, obesity, depression, or diabetes, helping you take preventive measures against potential ailments. An important detail everyone should know is that weight training is not just about bodybuilders lifting weights in a gym. Regular strength or resistance training is crucial for everyone because it helps prevent the loss of lean muscle mass that comes with aging. Enhancing fitness and improving body functions are among the prominent aspects of weight training. It helps you become stronger and fitter, which is why including weight and strength training in your exercise programs is recommended. It facilitates the performance of your daily tasks and reduces the likelihood of natural muscle loss. Weight training, recommended for both men and women, can help you feel better and enhance your everyday life.

The distinction between cardio and weight/strength training lies in their effects on your body. Aerobic activities like cardio use oxygen to accelerate breathing and heart rate, triggering your body’s need for oxygen. Cardio exercises generally help your heart and lungs use oxygen more efficiently throughout your body. Anaerobic exercises like strength/weight training, however, break down glucose in the body without the need for oxygen, thus allowing you to use more energy in a short period and speeding up your metabolism. If you want to burn more fat and lose weight more quickly, you can benefit from weight training. Cardio helps you burn more calories by sweating during the workout, while strength exercises help you continue burning calories throughout the day. Moreover, muscles help your body burn more calories from fat even while at rest. When you work on your muscles with weight training, you can continue to burn fat even after your workout. Although cardio exercises positively affect your fitness, strength training can increase your bone density, which enhances your strength. Stronger muscles support your joints, reducing the risk of injuries in areas like the knees or shoulders.

You can achieve effective performance by combining strength training with cardio. While cardio accelerates fat loss, weight training supports an increase in your muscle mass. By combining the two, you can gain both fat loss and muscle growth. Although merging these two exercises might extend your workout duration, you can be sure that your time will be well spent. According to a 2019 study, participants who combined strength training and cardio over eight weeks reduced their risk factors for heart disease more effectively than those who only practiced one type of exercise. By integrating both forms of exercise, you can support your heart health. You can achieve your desired fitness and improve your health by combining various exercises, and start seeing efficient results in a short time.

How Many Calories Does Strength Training Burn?

When designing a strength training program, you might want to know how many calories you can burn in a given time. It’s important to understand that these rates will vary depending on your body weight and the intensity of the exercise you perform. Below, you can review the estimated values of how many calories an individual weighing 70 kilograms (approximately 154 pounds) can burn during an average strength training session[7]:

• 37 calories burned in a 5-minute session
• 74 calories after 10 minutes
• 110 calories in 15 minutes
• 220 calories in 30 minutes
• 441 calories during a 60-minute session
• 882 calories after 2 hours of training

Calorie burning during weight training can vary as it helps you burn calories without reducing muscle mass. Furthermore, the way and style in which the movements are performed can also cause variations in the average amount of calories burned. If you want your body to achieve your desired shape without losing muscle mass, you can rely on weight training. The list above can give you an idea of how many calories you can burn during these exercises over time. If you have a specific goal, you can write a personalized program and start achieving the results you want.

Should Strength Training Be Done on an Empty or Full Stomach?

Although it is generally not recommended to exercise on a full stomach, doing strength training on an empty stomach may make it difficult to achieve the desired results. Since the main goal of weight training is to increase muscle mass, you need certain fuel to achieve this mass. If you are new to weight training, it is advised to eat something before starting your exercises. The body offers different effects depending on whether you are hungry or full. Metabolism and energy balance behaviors can vary depending on your satiety state[8]. Some studies argue that exercising on an empty stomach is better, while others say that exercising on a full stomach is more beneficial[9]. Research shows that when carbohydrates are consumed, the feeling of fatigue appears later, allowing for a more comfortable execution of weight training sessions, where endurance is important. The delay in the onset of fatigue is attributed to the increased presence of blood sugar. Although there may not be much difference in short-term endurance training, the negative effects of hunger may become apparent as the duration of the exercise increases. By observing yourself, you can more easily find the definitive answer to this issue, and by exercising both on an empty and full stomach, you can examine the effects on yourself.