This is one of the interesting topics in weight loss exercise, especially for the women because they scare of bulking up after performing strength and resistance training in their program for weight loss. Some of my friends are told that they have to lift heavy weight for fewer repetitions to build muscle. In the case they only want to tone muscle or build endurance, they should do less weight and more repetitions in the weight loss exercise.
Is that true? The answer is no. In fact, you must overload the muscle in order to stimulate it through strength and resistance training. There are basically 3 stages to make the muscle overloaded in this weight loss exercise: Working repetition, fatigue and muscular failure. Please refer how to build lean muscle article if you would like to have more detailed information about these 3 stages, especially you are in a program for weight loss.
During the whole process, the muscle know it is going through 3 stages (working repetition, fatigue and muscular failure), but it does not know if you achieve muscular failure either with heavy weight and few repetitions, or less weight and more repetitions. This weight loss exercise is over once the muscle hits failure, but the process of building muscle is just beginning. You are right. The muscle building process occurs AFTER the exercise. You will have tiny tears in the muscle when you fail to perform the final repetition. A signal is sent to brain asking help for better performance in next weight lifting. So, the muscle will be repaired in the next 24 to 48 hours when you rest, and additional muscle tissues are built in order to be stronger.
When you have more muscle, you have more strength, and with more strength, you have more muscle with the correct weight loss exercise. As muscle and strength always go hand in hand, it is very important to perform strength and resistance training in your weight loss exercise. Get some common questions and correct information of strength training before you perform them.
Now you understand how muscle is stimulated and built through 3 stages. It does not matter whether the muscle was stressed with high repetition and light weight or low repetition and heavy weight. The muscle simply does not care about it. The most important thing here is you correctly and safely perform it in 30 to 90 seconds, under 3 stages, and you can have your muscle toning and building up. Of course, please eat before and after exercise for optimal weight loss results.
Always remember your weight loss goal in any program for weight loss is losing body fat rather than losing weight only. That is why you should perform right weight loss exercise to build muscle. And as long as muscle is stimulated, it will grow and you will look fitter than ever before.
