Resistance training may help you develop a leaner, more toned body, which can make you feel more confident and at ease in your own skin. Bodyweight exercises, resistance bands, dumbbells, or other kinds of resistance are used in resistance training for weight loss at home to challenge your muscles and help you burn calories.
Furthermore, You may boost your metabolism and burn more calories even while you’re at rest by boosting your muscle mass.
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What is Resistance training?
Resistance training is a type of physical exercise that uses resistance to cause muscles to contract. It is an effective form of exercise for increasing muscle mass, bone density, and strength.
Resistance training is also known as strength training or weightlifting. It involves using weights or other forms of resistance to increase muscular strength and endurance. While many people associate resistance training with building muscle, it can also be an effective way to lose weight, especially when combined with a healthy diet and other forms of exercise.
Can resistance training help with weight loss?
The answer is yes! Resistance training can aid with weight loss by increasing muscle mass. Muscle mass burns more calories than fat, so increasing muscle mass can lead to weight loss by increasing the number of calories your body burns each day.
The best way to incorporate resistance training to loose some weight depends on your personal needs and preferences. Also, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, such as genetics, body type, and so on. But, some pointers on how to go about it include starting with light weight and progressively increasing the amount as you gain strength and better form, as well as increasing reps. Picking exercises you enjoy so you will be more likely to stick with them, and rotating between resistance and HIIT routines to keep your metabolism guessing.
Types of Resistance Training Exercises
As previously stated, resistance training refers to any activity that works your muscles by applying a resisting force. This can take various forms, some of which require some equipment and others do not. Hence, even in the comfort of your own home, resistance training can help you lose weight.
1. Body Weight Resistance Training:
Your Body Weight can be used to achieve various resistance training. Resistance training include exercises such as sit-ups, squats, push-ups, leg lifts, and planks. These sorts of resistance exercises can simply in a small room.
2. Resistance Bands
These are small, portable pieces of equipment that create resistance when stretched. They are available in the form of rubber bands or tubes, sometimes with handles and attachments, and occasionally as a continuous ring. They take relatively little room and are simple to use wherever you are.
Personally, I prefer these since you can use resistance bands to simulate practically any workout that can be done in a properly equipped gym while still hitting major muscles.
3. Using Weights
Dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, medicine balls, weighted bars, and other objects with sufficient mass to make your muscles work a little harder are examples of these. At home, however, you can use water bottles, bean cans, or even potato sacks instead of the common gym equipment like sandbags, tires, and rubber cylinders with handles!
4. Gym Weight/Resistance Machines
You’ll typically see these equipment in a gym, so it’s a good idea to have a staff member explain how they each work. They create resistance for your strength exercise by using either weights or hydraulics.
5. Suspension or TRX Resistance Training
TRX (Total Body Resistance Exercise) is a unique training technique that utilises gravity and your body weight as resistance to increase strength, balance, coordination, flexibility, core and joint stability.
6. Suspension Training Equipment
These resembles robust straps and provide resistance for a solid strength training by utilizing gravity and your body weight. These pieces of equipment are exercises for the entire body. You’ll see these in gyms hooked to frames, and you can buy them for home use to put over doors and the likes.
Simple resistance training workout plan for beginners at home
Here’s a basic resistance training plan for beginners that can be done at home without any equipment:
Warm-up:
5-10 minutes of light cardio (e.g. marching in place, jumping jacks, or jogging in place)
Workout:
Perform each exercise for 2-3 sets of 12-15 repetitions, resting 30-60 seconds between sets depending on form. If any exercise feels too difficult, feel free to modify the movement or reduce the number of reps.
1. Bodyweight squats: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your arms at your sides. Lower your body by bending at the hips and knees, keeping your chest up and your knees over your toes. Push back up to the starting position.
2. Push-ups: Start in a plank position with your hands shoulder-width apart and your feet together. Lower your body by bending your elbows until your chest touches the ground then push back up to the starting position, repeat.
3. Lunges: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your hands on your hips. Step forward with your right foot and bend both knees until your back knee is hovering just above the ground. Push back up to the starting position, then repeat on the left side.
4. Plank: Start in a push-up position, then lower yourself onto your forearms. Engage your core and squeeze your glutes as you maintain a straight line from your head to your heels.
5. Glute bridges: Your feet should be flat on the ground as you lay on your back with your knees bent. Squeeze your glutes as you raise your hips up toward the ceiling, then lower them back down to where you started, then repeat.
Cooldown:
5-10 minutes of stretching, focusing on the muscles used during the workout (e.g. quads, hamstrings, chest, triceps, and glutes).
Always pay attention to your body and stop any exercise that makes you feel pain or discomfort. You can gradually up the reps or sets as you get stronger, or you can add resistance by using weights or resistance bands.
What are the Benefits of Resistance Training?
Resistance exercise can be utilised to accomplish a range of good results, and most people would benefit from one to three resistance sessions per week, in addition to regular aerobic activity. Given that most of us aren’t intending on competing in bodybuilding competitions anytime soon, we’ll focus on the more useful benefits of resistance training…
One of the benefits of resistance training especially at home is that it can be done with minimal equipment and in the comfort of your own home. With the right guidance and a well-designed workout plan, you can effectively target all of your major muscle groups and achieve your weight loss goals. However, it’s important to approach resistance training with proper form and technique to avoid injury and maximise your results.
i. Improved Body Shape – it can help sculpt your body and give you nice toned body shape. A mix of resistance and aerobic training is the most effective way to increase muscular tone.
ii. Increased Muscle Strength – Resistance training can be used to enhance muscle strength for more functional purposes, such as improved posture, digging in the garden, carrying shopping items in a grocery store or at the market, and so on.
iii. Increased Muscle Power – Muscle power will develop with more intensive resistance training programs that involve movements with increasing momentum. For example, whether throwing a netball, kicking a football, or swinging a golf club.
iv. Increased Metabolic Rate – Muscle tissue is metabolically active, and the more of muscle you have, the more calories you will burn – even at rest! Making it much easier to lose and keep a healthy weight.
v. Improved Bone Health – Frequent resistance-based exercise helps to maintain peak bone mass and prevent the onset of osteoporosis. Resistance training can help to preserve bone density and delay the degenerative process after the age of 30, when bone mass begins to diminish.
To conclude
Resistance training aids in weight loss and excess fat reduction by boosting both after-burn and muscle size, therefore increasing the quantity of calories we burn at rest. Mixing it with a nutritious diet will only accelerate the loss of extra body fat and may bring other health benefits.
You can pick any of the above mentioned types to incorporate into your workout as they all come with other health benefits besides weight loss.
And as always, before you start a weight loss programme make sure to see a doctor.
Stay fit, Stay Healthy!! 👌🏾
