Strength Training = Best for Those Who Want to Slim Down

Strength Training  = Best for Those Who Want to Slim Down

Strength training, traditionally favored by body builders seeking to bulk up, has become the go-to regimen for athletes, weekend warriors and exercise enthusiasts determined to slim down.

Fitness experts say metabolic strength training, a high-intensity, full-body interval workout, can add definition to the shape of runners, cyclists and other cardio devotees willing to put some muscle into it.

Florida-based trainer Nick Tumminello believes strength training should be the primary form of exercise for everyone except beginners.

If you’re looking to lose fat, go with strength training. Watch your diet to reveal your shape, and strength train to improve that shape.

While traditional strength training uses free weights or weight machine to build endurance and muscles, metabolic strength training combines high-intensity interval circuits with changing combinations and repetitions using free weights, kettlebells, barbells, dumbbells and resistance bands to increase the metabolic rate after and during the workout.

“The body-building model is great for maximizing body building, but for the average individual looking for fat loss, or to feel better, or to improve general fitness, this creates more of a metabolic disturbance,” he said.

“You do need recovery time.  Too many beginners tend to take an all-or-nothing approach. “Try to set a realistic goal.”

Jenn Burke, a San Francisco-based personal trainer and fitness manager at Crunch, a national chain of gyms, said that steady cardiovascular activity, such as running or cycling, is great for burning lots of calories at a time and increasing heart rate and lung capacity.

But unlike cardio activity, strength training will continue to burn calories up to 72 hours after the exercise is over through a phenomenon called after-burn.

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