Lifting isn’t good for muscle only!
It can trim flabs by slightly pushing your metabolism up a notch.
There is a solid relationship between weight lifting and metabolism.
Physical activity nourishes and conditions lean muscle to promote the muscularity of your physique, but it isn’t all. It accelerates the trimming of body fat reserves by stimulating metabolism.
Jacking up muscle while eradicating body flab with strength training can offer wonderful results. In fact, the craze to achieve the mentioned goal using weight training is increasing insanely in the fitness industry.
But, how does weight lifting increase metabolism?
A thorough scientific analysis can help uncover the actual truth behind the claims. This blog focuses on finding the relationship between the two. We will start with the obvious question, what is the link between lifting weights and metabolism?
Weight Lifting and Metabolism: The Truth
Weight lifting and metabolism are related. We will understand the two and then jump to the possible connection.
First, understand how weight lifting works…
Weight lifting is the finest strength program to train muscle mass. It focuses on different muscle groups to train them. In general, lifting weight causes muscle damage. The natural body response turns to repair the micro tear.
The process ends up adding more micro muscle fibers. Eventually, this improves the leaner muscularity of the physique. This process leads to hypertrophy or the development of particular muscle tissue.
However, after a certain time, the body fails to cause similar damage with the same weight.
One needs to keep increasing weights from time to time to cause muscle damage, which is the basis of muscle repair and rebuilding.
In short, using progressive overload is the key to gaining muscle with weight lifting.
There is a small kick here. As the muscle mass increases, your body fat naturally reduces.
With more lean muscle, the proportion of body fat reserves decimates as fat remains the same while muscle increases the whole time with the training program.
How does metabolism work?
Metabolism is a natural process determining the natural fat-burning rate. Basically, it turns the consumed food into usable energy. In absence of food, it utilizes body fat reserves to fuel the body for energy requirements.
An active lifestyle burns more body fat than a sedentary life. Indeed, weight lifting does provide certain boosts to metabolic processes. It eliminates existing body fat to improve the shape of the targeted muscle tissue.
The link between metabolism and weight lifting is evident. Indeed, the strength-training program offers a clear edge to the fat loss goal as well. A boost in metabolism directly stimulates the elimination of fat reserves.
But, how does lifting boost metabolism, let’s get into details.
Does Weight Lifting Increase Metabolism?
Lifting benefits mainly muscle repair and rebuilding. The main focus is to cause maximum muscle tear.
Eventually, this leads to intense muscle repair, rebuilding, and re-healing. Protein supplementation, in such a case, helps the procedure.
Certainly, it has something to do with metabolism. As with an increase in muscle mass, the body fat reserves degraded gradually. It is impossible to eliminate flabs without boosting metabolism.
So, how does lifting weights speed up metabolism?
There are two different aspects to the relationship between metabolism and strength training.
Firstly, lifting weight proportionally increases male hormone production and secretion as well.
Secondly, increased muscle mass elevates energy expense, which has another positive impact. Let’s get into detail.
#1. Lifting Heightens Testosterone
Strength training does increase testosterone production. The higher quantity of the male hormone improves bodyweight and physique. It plays a major role in fat, carbs, and protein metabolism.
On top of that, it benefits body fat composition by promoting muscle growth and shrinking fat reserves. A higher T-level is a strong assurance of a robust metabolic process. The male hormone even improves BMR [Basal Metabolic Rate] to accelerate the fat loss process.
#2. Lifting Increases Energy Expense
Weight lifting or strength training activates muscle mass metabolism. It increases energy expenditure in general while spiking resting metabolic rates. Your BMR goes to the top due to a highly active and energetic session.
With intense lifting, fat burning continues long after the session ends.
Also, with maximum bulk post 6 months, the larger muscle groups expense more calories leading to more fat burning. This is another aspect of the boost in metabolism.
There is a lack of studies to analyze the relationship between metabolism and weight lifting. Apart from the discussed areas, other aspects can further elaborate the discussion.
Does lifting weights boost metabolism? It definitely elevates the metabolic process while accelerating resting metabolism. Some scientific evidence does confirm the claims.
Lifting and Metabolism: The Studies
Some researchers investigated the connection between strength training and metabolism. It’s time to discuss them out here.
Study #1: Strength Training and Resting Metabolism in Elders
A study investigated the impact of strength training on resting metabolism in 50- to 65-yr healthy men. In general, resting metabolism lessens with aging.
The aim of the study was to observe any benefits resounding with regular strength training activity. They measured RMR, body composition, and hormones to find the difference. In the end, they observed heavy strength training benefits RMR in older men.
Study #2: Strength Training and Metabolic Health Markers
The researchers aimed to study the impact of strength training on different metabolic health markers in old folks irrespective of workout frequency.
Generally, the frequency of workouts matters to observe differences with strength training. They study the impact of the frequency of resistance programs on inflammation markers, body composition, glycemic, and lipid profile in healthy older folks (65–75 years).
Higher frequency didn’t showcase any intensely positive outcome compared to a normal workout program.
The above-mentioned studies discuss the link between strength training and metabolism in detail. Indeed, weight lifting, which is a kind of strength training, does benefit resting metabolism.
Another study didn’t positively suggest that a higher frequency of workouts would improve the metabolic process further.
So, weight training does increase metabolism? It definitely does improve metabolism, but an intense session won’t assure an extreme metabolic boost. There are more questions to answer…
How Much Does Strength Training Increase Metabolism?
With the above discussion, one thing is evident—strength training does increase metabolism. No more asking does weight lifting increase metabolism or not.
However, when it comes to addressing the phenomenon figuratively, it is going to be complicated. Some studies do mention the figurative increase in the metabolic process as a result of the strength training routine in participants.
According to the first study discussed above, the researchers observed an almost 7.7% increase in resisting metabolic rate when measured by indirect calorimetry.
Another 6-month study, published in the journal of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, researched the influence of 11-minute strength workout sessions performed thrice weekly.
The researchers observed an almost 7.4% increase in metabolic rate in participants on average, which equated to almost 125 calories burned daily.
The above scientific explanation provides an answer to the raised question. It is a significant number when it comes to the metabolic process. Now, there’s another related query requiring an answer.
How Long Does It Take To Lose Weight When Lifting Weights?
Losing weight and losing fat are different things. Also, the main goal of a weight lifter is to add muscle while cutting down flabs.
In the beginning, the body fat decimates causing a significant drop in body weight. It would take 3-4 weeks to observe an initial drop in body weight. The clothes would fit better while your posture improves.
Though, the timeline isn’t enough to showcase any muscle definition.
For a major outcome, it would take 8 to 16 weeks to observe muscle growth. For mega muscle growth and eliminating max body fat, it can take almost 6 months and more.
The timeframes are suggestive. Indeed, it can vary depending on the initial weight, body shape, nutrition, supplementation, workout frequency, efforts, dedication, and commitment.
So, does weight lifting increase metabolism? The resistance-training program can do more than boost metabolism.
What More Does Weight Lifting Does?
Weight lifting isn’t about just gains and fat loss. The strength-building workout program can advance overall health. This section explores the benefits of weight lifting.
- Reduces injury: the workout protects joints, ligaments, muscle tissue, and bones. On top of that, the training program improves its function to limit the possibility of risk.
- Leans up the body: it increases lean muscle production while eliminating unnecessary body fat to provide a better leaner body shape. On top of that, the improvement in muscle fat ratio enhances body weight composition.
- Heightens mobility and flexibility: the exercise even benefits your muscle flexibility and mobility. It improves daily activities while minimizing risk during intense workouts and harsh physical activities.
- Strengthen bones: one of the reasons behind reducing injury is stronger bones. Lifting bones increases skeletal strength to lessen the risk of injury. On top of that, it enables you to lift heavier weights and perform more intense workouts.
- Greater moods and brain health: it lessens anxiety, stress, and bad mood while improving brain health. Moreover, it improves cognitive functions and memory.
- Boosts confidence and overall wellbeing: lifting builds muscle resulting in an increase in self-esteem. On top of that, it even improves overall well-being.
Indeed, with the above-mentioned advantages, weight lifting becomes the best workout program. The best part is it improves various facets of health.
The main benefit of weight lifting is still muscle building. It advances the muscle-boosting process to improve muscle mass and muscular power.
It does definitely boost metabolism. So, no need of asking does weight lifting increases metabolism. There are other ways to advance metabolic processes.
How to Increase Metabolism Naturally? Things to Know
Weight lifting is a great way to enhance the natural metabolic process. In fact, any strength training or resistance workout kick-starts metabolism. Apart from that, various simple activities stimulate the fat-burning process.
This section aims to discuss the top ways to boost metabolism.
1. Consume More Protein
More protein in the dietary intake enhances metabolic processes naturally. Surprisingly, the human body burns more calories when digesting protein leading to a huge metabolic boost.
2. Sufficient Calorie Consumption
More foods pressurize the body to convert them into energy at a faster pace. This accelerates metabolism faster than normal.
3. Drink Plenty of Water
It keeps your body hydrated while replenishing the water requirement of the body. On top of that, it boosts metabolism.
4. Caffeinated Beverage
Caffeine is supposed to stimulate the metabolic process. Try having green tea, coffee, green coffee, or other caffeinated beverage. Don’t take sugar and milk along with the drink as it can hamper your weight loss goal.
5. Eat Regularly
Rather than having meals 3 times a day, distribute the meals 5 times. This keeps the metabolism in motion throughout the day increasing its rate.
6. Lessen Stress Level
High-stress level increases the secretion of cortisol a stress hormone. It can decimate the current metabolic rate while hampering the muscle-gaining process. So, try to deal with anxiety and stress.
7. Adequate Sleep
Inadequate sleep can lead to the secretion of a hormone called ghrelin, which stimulates hunger-disturbing metabolism. So, it becomes necessary to sleep for adequate hours.
8. Add B Vitamins
B vitamins are essential for a well-functioning metabolism. This includes b2 (riboflavin), b1 (thiamine), and b6 (pyridoxine). Add bananas, eggs, peas, whole-grain foods, peanut butter, spinach, and more to your diet for nutrients.
9. Cardio
Cardio is a great way to boost metabolism and burn body fat. Try having a daily cardio session. Perform cardio activities like cycling, swimming, walking, running, or hiking as per your preference.
10. Build Muscle
The finest way to stimulate metabolism is to gain muscle. A higher muscle ratio directly stimulates fat burning process due to heightened metabolic activity. The studies and pieces of evidence are shared already.
11. Spice It Up
Certain spices directly stimulate metabolic activity. Try to add chili, black pepper, piperine, and more to the meals to accelerate metabolism.
READ MORE: Ways to Speed Up Your Metabolism for Weight Loss
Boosting metabolism is possible, but it isn’t a one-day job. The above-shared tips can naturally elevate your metabolic process. However, this happens when imbibing them in your lifestyle rather than sticking around it for a day.
Practice dietary tips daily to boost metabolism. On top of that, perform cardio, build muscle, and stay active to kick-start metabolism.
Now, you know how weight training boost metabolism. Try to train muscles by lifting heavier weights.
Our discussion on ‘does weight lifting increase metabolism’ wraps up here. It is time, to sum up, important facts.
Wrapping Up
There is a strong connection between metabolism and weight lifting. Any physical activity can stimulate the metabolic process, but strength training delivers an impressive boost. This occurs due to two possible reasons.
- First is the heightened testosterone level due to heavy weight lifting. Male hormone directly promotes metabolic process.
- Secondly, weight lifting increases energy expenses resulting in a metabolism boost. This leads to greater fat loss, reduces fat reserves, and prevents further fat storage.
However, weight lifting isn’t the sole way to spike the fat-burning process. Try different dietary changes, workout programs, and lifestyle changes to experience further elevated metabolism.
Knowing how weight lifting increases metabolism helps to receive the benefits, but practice other tips for a further edge.
Do you have anything to add to the discussion? Why not share with us in the comment section!