Train Intensely for Big Muscle Gains and Weight Loss presented by Beyond Raw | Training
Written by Team MD
22 March 2021
Train Intensely for Big Muscle Gains and Weight Loss
Weight training offers many health benefits and is recommended for all segments of the population, including weekend warriors, couch potatoes, athletes and older adults. But like many things in life, you get out of it what you put into it. So work hard when you are in the gym, and stay focused on your workout – think of nothing else but working the target muscle or body part that you are training. While athletes, such as bodybuilders, often spend 12 or more hours a week in the gym, the average person wants to get by on as little work as possible. Health organizations, such as the American College of Sports Medicine, have stated that doing one set of eight to 10 exercises twice a week is adequate for average healthy adults. Dr. Perry Kozirs, at the University of North Texas, summarized several findings showing that you have to train intensely to get maximum gains. Intense training increases growth hormone levels that are important for muscle growth. In tennis players, an intense multi-set program increased serve velocity, while a single set didn’t. In weight training, a high-volume program is superior to a low-volume program for increasing the muscle growth factor IGF-1. Train at a brisk pace and don’t spend more time resting or talking than lifting weights. The time to rest (and recover) is when you leave the gym. Keep moving and train intensely, consistently and with good exercise form if you want results. There’s no substitute for hard work. For most people, under-training is a much greater problem than overtraining.
Weight Training and Weight Loss. All of us have friends or relatives who lost a lot of weight in a short time. Do they look good after their ordeal? Usually, they look like a shadow of their former selves encased in a loose bag of skin. It doesn’t have to be that way. Lift weights when you try to lose body fat, and you’ll look healthy and fit rather than sickly and emaciated. Weight training preserves muscle mass, helps maintain resting metabolic rate and helps burn calories. Also, you won’t have that starved look that’s so common in people on a weight-loss diet. Not all research studies show that weight training maintains resting metabolism during weight loss. These studies suggest that you have to train intensely to maintain metabolic rate. If you want to lose body fat and still look good, lose weight slowly – about 2 pounds a week. Also, train intensely with weights – emphasizing large muscle exercises, such as squats and bench presses, do at least 30 to 60 minutes of cardio nearly every day (depending on how much body fat you want to drop), and take in adequate protein in your diet. Lose weight sensibly and you will keep it off and look good doing it. (Nat Strength Cond Assoc, 24: 31-32; Nat Strength Cond Assoc, 24: 65-69)
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