Many people believe cardio is the best way to burn fat. It is true to some extent, but it may not be the best way to achieve your weight loss goals. You will be better off engaging in high intensity strength training because it causes excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) that helps you lose weight while you are not doing anything. The process takes place when your body requires energy to repair your muscles, and the best thing to start this process is to lift weight. Keep reading to learn the secrets behind calories burned lifting weights will cause.

How Many Calories Are Burned When Lifting Weight?

When you talk about losing weight, you indirectly talk about burning calories. Burning more calories than you take in will help create a caloric deficit that helps you lose a few pounds. For how many calories will it burn, besides the duration, intensity, the weights you lift, your body weight plays a role in calories burned lifting weight. For instance, in a regular 30 minute session with the same weight, you will lose 90 calories by engaging in weight lifting if your body weight is 125 pounds. You will lose 112 calories doing the same lifting if your body weight is 155 pounds. Similarly, someone with a body weight of 185 pounds can burn up to 133 calories engaging in regular weight lifting exercises.

Here is a calculator to help you determine calories burned according to the weights you lift and duration of the strength training session:

http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/activity/calculators/weight_lifting

It is important to bear in mind that you will end up burning more calories if you lift heavy weights. That is mainly because of the fact that lifting heavy weights is more likely to create a longer and more profound EPOC effect. You can go as heavy as you want but you should ensure that you maintain a good form throughout each exercise. Another great idea is to alternate weight training with cardio days to burn twice as much fat than cardio alone.

How to Lift Weights for Best Results

To make your strength training work, you need to maintain proper form throughout your workout session. Screaming, grunting, and rocking back and forth will not help even if you are lifting heavy weights. Always keep the following tips in mind to improve the number of calories burned lifting weights will lead to.

• Be sure to warm up before you start lifting weights. Five minutes spend in aerobics activities will do the trick. Simply spending five minutes in doing arm circles will prepare your upper body for a more strenuous workout.
• Maintain good form when lifting weight. Never strain your neck, avoid arching your back, and make sure to keep your body still while lifting weight.
• Increase weight gradually. Do not make quick changes to how much you lift or you will end up sustaining an injury.
• Be sure to exhale through your mouth when lifting and inhale through nose as you lower the weight. Proper breathing will provide your muscles with enough oxygen to continue with a strenuous workout.

Using Proper Technique When Lifting Weights:

Here are some interesting tips that will improve the number of calories burned lifting weights make.

• Maintain proper intensity while lifting weight. You need to work to some level of muscle fatigue irrespective of how many sets or repetitions you do. Muscle fatigue is the point when you feel slight pain in your targeted muscle group and cannot do another rep. You need to keep in mind though that you should not sacrifice form in order to reach muscle fatigue.
• Select weight, sets, and reps carefully. How much weight you lift and how many reps and sets you perform will determine the overall effect of your workout. The best thing is to select weight that lets you hit muscle fatigue in a pre-established rep range. If you have selected lighter weight, continue until you reach the level of muscle fatigue. The recommendations is that the weight should be heavy enough for you to hit the level of muscle fatigue in about 8 reps. Remember, the higher the intensity, the fewer the reps you need to reach the level of muscle fatigue.
• Be sure to take adequate rest after your workout session. Not taking adequate rest will hurt your body and cause injuries. You need to take enough rest from set to set and workout to workout. Always start with a 5-minute warm up activity and start your first set right after the warm up session. Be sure to take at least 3-minute rest between sets if you are lifting heavy weight. Similarly, it is a good idea to stick to 2-3 full body workouts a week with at least 48 hours of rest between workouts. Ideally, you should rest for at least 48 hours before training the same muscle group.
• Stick to multi-muscle movements. It means you should select exercises carefully and ensure that they target more than one muscle group. It means, instead of spending so much time doing bicep curls to train your biceps, you should focus more on bench presses or other exercises that automatically use your biceps. Training larger muscles with greater intensity will help burn more calories.

Tips to Maximize Results with Multiple Exercises

Now, you already know how you can increase the overall calories burned lifting weights make, but you should keep some other things in mind to complete your workout session in the optimum way. For instance:

• Build muscles because muscles help burn calories even when you are resting.
• Include some cardio and aerobic exercises in your routine to burn more fat.
• Try high-intensity cardio for better effects. It involves doing cardio training with more intensity for a short time to rev up the metabolism. Sprinting for a short time may help more than spending hours on a treadmill.
• Always go for a full range of motion in every exercise. Just bear in mind that you should avoid going past your natural range of motion while lifting weight or doing other exercises.