It's basic exercise knowledge that to gain muscles, you strength train, and to lose fat, you do cardio -- right?
Not necessarily, a new UNSW study published this week in Sports Medicine suggests.
In fact, the study -- a systematic review and meta-analysis that reviewed and analyzed existing evidence -- shows we can lose around 1.4% of our entire body fat through strength training alone, which is similar to how much we might lose through cardio or aerobics.
"A lot of people think that if you want to lose weight, you need to go out and run," says senior author of the study Dr. Mandy Hagstrom, exercise physiologist and senior lecturer at UNSW Medicine & Health.
"But our findings show that even when strength training is done on its own, it still causes a favorable loss of body fat without having to consciously diet or go running."
Dr Hagstrom and her team pulled together the findings from 58 research papers that used highly accurate forms of body fat measurement (like body scans, which can differentiate fat mass from lean mass) to measure the outcomes from strength training programs. Altogether, the studies included 3000 participants, none of which had any previous weight training experience.
MY TAKE: I have worked with hundreds of clients who have complained of the scale either increasing or staying the same as we start training together. This makes the athlete believe that the training “isn’t work.” The truth is actually to the contrary and it’s actually the limitations in accurately measuring the athletes body fat that cause concern. The gold standards for bodyfat measurement are dexi scanning or bod pod. from there skin fold testing or bio-impedance testing are “ok” for measuring your current body fat. What do I use? Simple. How do your clothes fit? 99% of the time when the scale hasn’t budged when a client has been exercising regularly, eating right, and the scale hasn’t moved, the client tells me their clothes are fitting more loosely. This is a great sign and shows that the real changes are happening despite what the scale says.
Want to get yourself moving on the path toward feeling and looking better? I’m here to help! Click the link below to get started.