Weight Loss

The 7-Day Weight Loss Fitness Plan

Building muscle is just as important as aerobic exercise when it comes to long-term weight management—perhaps even more

By: Trevor Thieme, Photo Illustrations by: C.J. Burton
Published: July/August 2005   [ Updated: Feb 27, 2009 - 5:57:35 PM ]

Editors' Note: This workout accompanies In No Time, Flat.

The Weight Workout

When most people think of losing weight, they think of hitting the jogging path or slogging it out on a rowing machine. They're right, but only in part. Building muscle is just as important as aerobic exercise when it comes to long-term weight management-perhaps even more so. The reason is simple: A pound of muscle requires your body to burn 50 calories a day to maintain it. Add 3 pounds of new muscle, and your body will burn through an additional 1,050 calories per week just sitting around.

To build the most muscle in the least time, we've focused here on compound exercises-exercises that engage as many muscles at once as possible. (For example, a dumbbell curl exercises just one muscle group-your biceps. A dumbbell squat, on the other hand, exercises every muscle in your legs, including your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and glutes, and that translates into more lean tissue growth, more calories burned, and more admiring glances on the white sand.)

To further accelerate your fat burn, you'll perform the workout as a circuit-a training technique that involves moving from exercise to exercise with little or no rest in between. "That will keep your heart rate elevated, giving you the same fat-burning benefit of a cardio workout without ever having to lace up your running shoes," says Myatt Murphy, C.S.C.S., author of The Body You Want in the Time You Have.

And here's the secret genius of this workout: You'll keep burning fat for more than a day after you hit the showers! It's called the afterburn effect, and it's yet another way that weight training helps you boil the blubber. A recent Ohio University study found that after performing a short but hard weight-training circuit of three exercises for 31 minutes, the subjects continued to burn more calories than normal for up to 38 hours.

Begin by jogging in place or jumping rope for 2 minutes to warm up, and then run through the routine below twice for a 30-minute workout. If you want to see maximum results, you should feel complete muscular exhaustion after every set. "This will force your muscles to grow and adapt in preparation for the next time they encounter that stress," says Murphy.