If you read my last blog you will know that I highly recommend weight training for weight loss.
This is because it increases your metabolism, releases hormones to help you burn fat, improves insulin resistance and improves your bo
dy composition amongst many other benefits.
All weight training is great but certain exercises have a bigger effect on weight loss than others. This is because certain exercises increase your metabolism more and release larger amounts of your fat burning and muscle building hormones.
The exercises in question are compound exercises. Compound exercises use multiple muscles across multiple joints and because you use more muscles doing these exercise your metabolism will increase longer after the workout, you will build more muscle meaning your daily metabolic rate will increase and you will release larger amounts of human growth hormone and testosterone which help you to build muscle and burn fat.
(Women please don’t get scared that I mentioned testosterone. Weight training is great for weight loss for women and it will not turn you into a man like a lot of women think as you don’t have the physiology to build muscle like a man. If you get scared off by weight training then you will be missing out on some amazing benefits to your health as well as the benefits for weight loss.)
Here are the top 7 compound exercises for weight loss
- Deadlifts
- Squats
- Lunges
- Bench press
- Rows
- Pull ups
- Overhead press
These 7 exercises should be the staple exercises to all weight training programmes. There are many different variations of each and you can use various pieces of equipment but every single weight training programme should include these exercises.
These 7 exercises will work every muscle in your body, they will release large amounts of muscle building and fat losing hormones, they will increase your metabolism after the workout and they will save you time rather than focussing on isolation exercises such as biceps curls and side raises. Yes you should include isolation exercises into your workout routine as well, but you must make sure you include variations of all the compound exercises for the biggest effect on helping you to lose weight.
If you are new to weight training and don’t have much experience then I would recommend learning the proper exercise techniques through a personal trainer or a fitness instructor at your gym. Once you have learnt the proper safe techniques for the above weight training exercises then you can follow an effective weight training programme for weight loss on your own like the weight training programme in the 8 Week Lose Weight Fast Academy.