Last Updated on November 7, 2022 by
weight lifting is good for weight loss because it helps to build muscle, which increases your metabolism and makes it easier for you to burn fat. Because muscle burns more calories than fat does, building muscles through weight lifting can help you lose weight even in the absence of calorie restriction.
Weight lifting is an essential part of any weight loss program. At the same time, it is important to use the right weight for your fitness level and for overall health. As with any other exercise, you don’t want to push yourself so hard that you become injured or ill. Taking it slow and easy is best when you first begin using weights. Want to know Is Weight Training Good For Weight Loss and Weight Lifting For Weight Loss Female, make sure you read this article.
Is Weight Training Good For Weight Loss

Time to hit the weight room.
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Weightlifting is the exercise that if you’re not already doing, you should be. Though weight rooms can feel intimidating, everyone deserves to reap the benefits of picking up and putting down iron. It’s the type of workout that can help you lose weight, boost your mood and generally improve your life — and it’s easy to get started even at home.
You may have heard the common myth that lifting weights makes you “bulk up.” It doesn’t — in fact, it can actually help you lose weight and slim down. Beyond the purely physical, lifting weights can improve your bone health and increase your metabolism, just to name a couple of benefits.
For those curious about weightlifting who want to hear more, I rounded up some of the most common questions about lifting weights that I hear as a personal trainer and CrossFit coach. By the end of this guide, I hope you’re ready to pick up some dumbbells (or a couple of wine bottles) and start building muscle.
Does lifting weights help you lose weight?
Any form of exercise can help you lose weight, weightlifting included — as long as you burn more calories than you consume each day, you’ll remain in a calorie deficit and lose weight.
Lifting weights has a unique weight loss advantage that makes it superior to other forms of exercise for weight loss: When you lift weights, you build muscle and lose fat. Muscle tissue is more metabolically active than fat tissue, so over time, as you build more muscle, your body will burn more calories at rest than it did before you built that muscle.
This results in a greater resting metabolic rate (your metabolism when you’re just sitting or sleeping) and more calories burned each day. It’s not an incredibly significant difference, despite long-standing myths, but it does help.
Just know that lifting weights isn’t a magic ticket to weight loss: You must sustain a calorie deficit over time, so if you’re lifting every day but still eating more calories than you burn, you won’t see the progress you want.
Should you lift weights or do cardio first?

This really depends on your goals. In simplest terms, lift weights first if your primary goal is to build muscle or get stronger. Do cardio first if your primary goal is to build speed or endurance.
In reality, the question of “Weights or cardio first?” requires individualized answers, but you can’t go wrong with a balanced approach that includes both weights and cardio throughout the week. You don’t have to do both at every gym session.
Is it better to lift light weights or heavy weights?

This, too, depends on your goals. One really isn’t better than the other unless you’re aiming for a very specific goal. For example, if I wanted to compete in a powerlifting competition, where the barbell back squat is one of the main events, I would lift heavy most of the time.
If I wanted to run a marathon, I would lift light weight for a lot of reps to get my heart rate up and train my legs to handle stress for longer periods of time. If you don’t have a specific goal in mind, you can benefit from lifting both heavy and light weights.
How many reps should you do when lifting weights?

Oh look, another question the answer to which depends on your goals. Catching a theme? The answer to “how many reps should I lift?” coincides with your answer to “Is it better to lift light or heavy weights?” because of one simple reason — if you’re lifting light weights, you should be doing more reps.
Endurance-based goals like improving your running capacity require more reps at lower weights, while strength-based goals like maxing out your deadlift require fewer reps at higher weights. Goals with both endurance and strength components — like running an obstacle course race — require both types of training.
Can you get fit without lifting weights?

Sure thing! Lifting weights is a fantastic way to build muscle mass, get stronger and become healthier overall. But if dumbbells and barbells just aren’t your jam, you can certainly get fit with bodyweight workouts.
High-intensity interval training is one (extremely effective) way to do so. You can get your HIIT fix with a workout subscription app, a free YouTube channel or even from your favorite trainers on Instagram.
Can older adults lift weights?

Not only can older adults lift weights, they should lift weights to maintain their health and fend off degenerative conditions like osteoporosis. Lifting weights in middle age and beyond can really amp up your health and fitness: You’ll combat age-related muscle loss, reduce your risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, fend off chronic disease and improve your overall quality of life. What’s not to like?
What are the best weightlifting movements?

Basic is best. Try not to get too into the weeds when deciding what weightlifting moves to add to your routine. The basic compound movements, such as lunges, squats, deadlifts and overhead presses, will get the job done.
As you get more advanced, you can start adding more isolation and accessory work, but CNET’s guide to the exercises everyone needs to get strong should get you started on the right track.
And if you sit at a desk all day, try these moves to loosen up your joints and finish up with some stretches to counteract all that sitting.
Can lifting weights improve endurance?

Totally. There’s a somewhat common misconception that all weightlifters are gnarly masses of pure muscle with 400 pounds on their barbell (cue grunting sounds), but that’s not at all true. Many athletes — both recreational and professional — lift weights as a supplement to their training regimen.
Lifting weights can improve your muscular endurance more than pure cardio can. I, for example, perform high-volume lifting (lower weights, more reps) when training for half-marathons, marathons or adventure races. My running capacity has significantly increased since I started incorporating strength training, and I’m much more confident when tackling hills.
High-intensity weightlifting programs such as CrossFit can also help you build endurance, both muscular and cardiovascular, as can anaerobic fitness classes when weights or plyometrics are involved..
Cardio vs. Weight Lifting: Which Is Better for Weight Loss?
Many people who’ve decided to lose weight find themselves stuck with a tricky question — should they do cardio or lift weights?
They’re the two most popular types of workouts, but it can be hard to know which is a better use of your time.
This article tells you all you need to know about cardio vs weight training for weight loss.

Cardio Burns More Calories per Session
Many scientists have researched how many calories people burn during various activities.
Based on this research, you can use your body weight to estimate how many calories you will burn during different types of exercise, including cardio and weight training.
For most activities, the more you weigh, the more calories you will burn.
If you weigh 160 pounds (73 kg), you will burn about 250 calories per 30 minutes of jogging at a moderate pace (1Trusted Source).
If you were to run at a faster pace of 6 miles per hour, you would burn around 365 calories in 30 minutes (1Trusted Source).
On the other hand, if you weight trained for the same amount of time, you might only burn around 130–220 calories.
In general, you’ll burn more calories per session of cardio than weight training for about the same amount of effort.
Summary: The number of calories
you burn during exercise depends on your body size and how intensely you
exercise. Typically, a cardio workout burns more calories than a weight
training workout of the same duration.
Weight Training Helps You Burn More Calories Every Day
Although a weight-training workout doesn’t typically burn as many calories as a cardio workout, it has other important benefits (2Trusted Source).
For example, weight training is more effective than cardio at building muscle, and muscle burns more calories at rest than some other tissues, including fat (3Trusted Source).
Because of this, it is commonly said that building muscle is the key to increasing your resting metabolism — that is, how many calories you burn at rest.
One study measured participants’ resting metabolisms during 24 weeks of weight training.
In men, weight training led to a 9% increase in resting metabolism. The effects in women were smaller, with an increase of almost 4% (4Trusted Source).
While this may sound good, it’s important to think about how many calories this represents.
For the men, resting metabolism increased by about 140 calories per day. In women, it was only about 50 calories per day.
Thus, weight training and building a little bit of muscle won’t make your metabolism skyrocket, but it may increase it by a small amount.
However, weight training also has other important calorie-burning benefits.
Specifically, research has shown that you burn more calories in the hours following a weight training session, compared to a cardio workout.
In fact, there are reports of resting metabolism staying elevated for up to 38 hours after weight training, while no such increase has been reported with cardio.
This means that the calorie-burning benefits of weights aren’t limited to when you are exercising. You may keep burning calories for hours or days afterward.
For most types of exercise, a more intense workout will increase the number of calories you burn afterward.
Summary: Weight training may
improve your metabolism over time, although the changes aren’t huge. Also, weight
training is typically more effective than cardio at increasing the number of
calories you burn after a workout.
High-Intensity Interval Training Provides Similar Benefits to Cardio in Less Time
Although cardio and weight training are two of the most popular workouts, there are other options.
One of these is high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which involves short bursts of very intense exercise alternated with low-intensity recovery periods (9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source).
Typically, a HIIT workout will take about 10–30 minutes.
You can use HIIT with a variety of different exercises, including sprinting, biking, jump roping or other body-weight exercises.
HIIT May Burn More Calories
Some research has directly compared the effects of cardio, weight training and HIIT.
One study compared the calories burned during 30 minutes of HIIT, weight training, running and biking.
The researchers found that HIIT burned 25–30% more calories than the other forms of exercise (11Trusted Source).
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that other types of exercise aren’t good for weight loss.
HIIT and Traditional Cardio May Have Similar Effects on Weight Loss
Research examining more than 400 overweight and obese adults found that HIIT and traditional cardio reduced body fat and waist circumference to similar extents (12Trusted Source).
What’s more, other research has shown that HIIT-style workouts may burn about the same number of calories as traditional cardio, although this depends on the intensity of exercise.
Some research estimates that you may burn about 300 calories in 30 minutes of either cardio or HIIT if you weigh about 160 pounds (73 kg) (13Trusted Source).
One of the potential benefits of HIIT is that you can spend less time actually exercising, since rest periods are included between the intense periods of activity.
Weight Lifting For Weight Loss Female
If you’re looking to lose weight, you may wonder which type of workout will best help you shed those pounds, and you may have looked into weightlifting for women.
This article explains whether weightlifting helps women lose weight, along with other helpful tips.

Does lifting weights make you bulky?
Weightlifting — also known as resistance training — was once reserved for bodybuilders due to the myth that lifting weights makes you look bulky.
However, while you can build muscle with weightlifting, becoming bulky is difficult. In order to build substantial muscle mass, you need to lift heavy weights and eat more calories than you burn — and even then, it can take months to years (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source).
Further, women typically have lower levels of anabolic — muscle-building — hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone, which means it’s harder for them to gain muscle mass (3Trusted Source).
Factors such as genetics, diet, and body type, as well as exercise load, volume, and intensity, also affect the rate and extent to which you can build muscle (4Trusted Source).
If you’re worried that you’ll suddenly bulk up from lifting weights, rest assured you won’t.
Does it help you lose weight?
In order to lose weight and burn fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit, which can be achieved in three main ways:
- eating fewer calories per day than you need
- burning more calories through exercise than you consume
- a combination of eating fewer calories and increasing physical activity
Though lifting weights can burn calories, it’s not the most efficient way to do so. Cardiorespiratory training, also known as cardio — which includes running, cycling, and swimming — burns more calories per workout session than weight training (5Trusted Source).
However, weightlifting can support weight loss by building muscle mass. Simply put, muscles are metabolically efficient and support weight loss by burning more calories at rest. Thus, it’s typically best to add both weight training and cardio to your workout regimen (6Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source).
Research also suggests that your metabolic rate is increased after weight training, meaning you’re still burning additional calories hours after your workout has ended. In fact, studies have shown that your metabolic rate can stay elevated for up to 72 hours after a workout (9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source).
When you lose weight, you’re not losing pure fat — rather, you’re losing fat mass, glycogen stores, and muscle. Weight training helps preserve muscle mass during weight loss, thus increasing fat loss and keeping your metabolism from changing too much (11Trusted Source, 12Trusted Source).
Although weight training will contribute to fat loss, you may not see a large change in the number on the scale, depending on your starting weight and goals. That’s because muscle is denser than fat, meaning it takes up less space on your body pound for pound.
Therefore, as you lose fat and gain muscle, you may lose inches from your waistline but see no change on the scale.
All in all, adding weight training to your workout routine along with cardio exercise and a healthy diet is a great way to support weight loss.
SUMMARY
Weight training can support weight loss by burning calories during and after workouts and by preserving muscle mass to prevent your metabolism from slowing down.
Other benefits
Weight training provides numerous other benefits in addition to weight loss.
You’ll appear leaner
Muscle is denser than fat, meaning it takes up less space on your body. Therefore, as you build muscle and lose fat, you will naturally appear leaner and smaller.
What’s more, having stronger and larger muscles will give your body more definition. Contrary to popular belief, you can’t tone your muscles, but building muscles and losing fat showcases muscle definition, creating a stronger, leaner look.
You’ll be stronger
A major benefit of weight training is that you’ll get stronger.
Gaining strength makes daily activities like carrying groceries and playing with your kids easier. Plus, it lowers your risk of falls and injuries since you’re better able to support your body.
Weight training is also crucial for bone development because it puts temporary stress on your bones, which signals to your body to rebuild them stronger. This can reduce your risk of osteoporosis and fractures, especially as you age (15Trusted Source, 16Trusted Source, 17Trusted Source, 18Trusted Source).
Lower risk of chronic disease
Weight training can reduce your risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and age-related conditions like sarcopenia, which is the gradual loss of muscle mass and strength related to aging (19Trusted Source, 20Trusted Source).
Adding both resistance training and cardio to your workout routine may boost your health even more. Both forms of exercise provide many benefits, including improved heart health and increases in lung capacity, metabolism, blood flow, and muscle mass (19Trusted Source, 20Trusted Source).