Lifting weights has been proven to be one of the most effective ways to burn fat. Anyone can get started with weight training even if they can not handle larger weights yet but taking advantage of low weight high reps for weight loss to help with your fitness journey.

How lifting weights helps to lose weight

Lifting weights no matter your style, light or heavy is going to burn massive amounts of calories.  Lifting weights raises the heart rate helping to burn off more calories while you exercise. After you stop your workout the muscle recovery will continue to burn more calories for the next several hours making this a great way to increase your metabolism. Lifting weights helps to build more lean muscle that burns off more calories even when you are not being active helping you to reach your weight loss goals. And remember that exercise helps you control your food cravings!

For many people starting out the best option is to go with a low weight high repetition routine. This is because the more repetitions you are doing the longer your workout can last and the longer your heart rate will stay in the fat-burning zone. If you are always lifting heavy you are limiting how long you can lift and in turn reducing how long you can stay in that fat-burning so which helps you to lose weight faster. Check out this weight loss workout plan for beginners for a good way to get going.

Even if you can not handle a lot of weight yet you can still get the benefits of weightlifting by option for a low weight by doing more repetitions. This is a great way to increase your metabolism, get stronger, and burn fat even if you have a health condition or physical limitation that does not allow you to lift heavy weight. It’s the beauty of high reps for weight loss.

If you want more of my weight loss story and how I grew up on little Debbies and soda and learned how to change my health and life through exercise and nutrition, check out this nutrition guide. It has some basic dos and don’ts that my wife and I used for me to lose 100 pounds and be on no medication at age 53. There are also some sample meal plans in there. It was a long process, not a quick fix, but if I can do it, so can you!

‘Sets’ and ‘reps’ meaning

In the context of exercise and fitness, “sets” and “reps” are terms used to structure workout routines.

• Reps (Repetitions): This refers to the number of times you perform a specific exercise in a row without stopping. For example, if you do a bicep curl 10 times in a row, you have completed 10 reps.
• Sets: This refers to the number of cycles of reps you complete. For example, if you do 10 reps of a bicep curl, take a break, and then do another 10 reps, you have completed 2 sets of 10 reps each.

Here’s how they are commonly used together:

• Example: “3 sets of 15 reps” means you would perform 15 repetitions of an exercise, take a rest, repeat for a total of 3 cycles.

This structure helps to manage workload and ensure a balanced approach to strength and conditioning training.

The decision whether to use heavy weights or lighter weights depends on if building muscle is your main goal, or if you are working on fat loss. Muscle growth and muscle strength are in important part of your fitness goals, but so is muscle endurance and sculpting the body by reducing fat. Light weights are the best way to add resistance training to your workout routine so you have muscular endurance and build muscle tissue that burns fat.

Heavier loads in strength training at lower reps help increase muscle size and give you bigger strength gains. A good training method will have a balance of both to increase your metabolic rate and increase lean muscle mass. Building strength is good for everyone, even if they don’t want to look ripped. And the number of reps you do with lower weight can be the best approach sometimes. 

How to use low weight, high reps to burn fat

Using low weight, high reps for weight loss and to burn fat with weight lifting does take some time and dedication. High rep workouts take longer and require you to put more time in at the gym. Along with the longer required workouts to get the same strength benefits and burn fat lifting lower weights tasks just as much consistency as other workouts to see results. If you want to work out at home, here’s what equipment you need.

To get the most benefits from weight lifting and to help burn off more fat you need to have a plan and stick to it. You should lift weights 3 to 4 days a week at a minimum and leave room for rest between different groups. To do this work on different muscle groups on different days. Make a plan and stick to it to do weight training every couple of days. As you get stronger you can start to add a couple more days making sure to leave time between muscle groups.

While most people think of 5-pound weights when they think about low-weight training this is not always the right fit. The right weight for you will vary depending on your starting fitness and strength level. Some people will need to start lower than 5 pounds to safely work with weights and others will find that 5-pound weights are not a challenge even with high repetitions.

The trick is to try different weights and look for one that is slightly challenging but does not over-fatigue you by doing 10 to 20 repetitions. If it is too challenging, try going down. If you find that you are not forced to engage your muscles to perform the movement, move up to a higher weight. This engagement is what raises your heart rate and burns off fat during your workout.

Tips to Get the Most From a Balanced Routine

As you get stronger over time you will need to increase the weight you are using to get the same results. Once you stop feeling the resistance that requires muscle engagement, take the time to try the next available weight. For the best results when sticking to a low weight high rep routine look to increase in as small of increments as you can.

To burn the most fat with your low weight high rep workout you will need to work on engaging as many muscles as you can at a time. Limit your use of isolation exercises that are designed to work only a couple of muscles and instead choose exercises that work as many muscle groups as possible.

One great way to do this is to skip the dumbbells and grab a kettlebell. Most kettlebell exercises are fluid movements that work as much of the body as possible. If you choose to use dumbbells, opt to combine moves when you have had a rest day and use moves like a squat press to work for both large and small muscle groups at once.

Exercise is a great way for obese beginners to lose weight. And weightlifting is a great fat burning exercise, so it’s a great place to start. Set short term goals of increasing over time.