RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—A little bit of weight training can boost your daily calorie burn, perhaps keeping you from gaining weight, according to research published the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise in 2009. College students who lifted weights three times a week for 15 minutes or so per session saw serious boosts in energy expenditure, which helps burn fat and manage weight, says lead author Erik Kirk, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. And the benefit lasted long past their workouts. “The fact that increases in daily energy expenditure were still present three days after the last resistance training session is important,” he says. “The minimal resistance-training protocol described in this study may provide an attractive alternative in busy young adults, due to the minimal time commitment.”
THE DETAILS: The study researchers took 39 overweight young adults (average age of 21) and divided them into a resistance-training group and a nonexercising control group. The resistance group worked out three times a week for six months, taking just over 11 minutes to complete all nine exercises. Both groups were told to continue eating their normal diets. At the end of the experiment, the resistance-training group had increased their 24-hour energy expenditure by 4 percent, twice that of the control group, and the researchers found that the effect lingered for up to three days after an exercise session—good news if you can only fit in a workout once every few days. And even though neither group changed their diets, the resistance-training group warded off gains in fat mass during the study, while the control group saw a slight (2.3 percent) increase in theirs (though neither group lost significant amounts of weight).
WHAT IT MEANS: Adding a mere 45 minutes of weight training to your week could boost your body’s fat-burning power and prevent you from gaining weight. Researchers estimate that an “energy gap”—the difference between calories eaten and calories burned—of only 420 kilojoules per day may be responsible for packing on pounds in 90 percent of the population, the authors write. In this study, the short-workout resistance trainers burned an extra 520 kilojoules per day, which would cover that energy gap and then some.
Interested in trying it out? Here are some exercises used in the study that will help build muscle and perhaps close your energy gap.
Note: If you’re not in good shape, use common sense when trying these exercises. Start with a few repetitions and add more as you gain strength. Work up to repeating each exercise 8 times.
• Chest Press: Lie down in a standard push-up position with arms slightly greater than shoulder width apart. (Optionally, have a workout partner place one or several books in a comfortable spot on your back, being careful to balance the weight.) Lower yourself down until your arms are parallel, with your back and chest within 1 inch of the floor. Then raise yourself back up to the starting position and repeat.
• Back Extensions: Lie on your bed or table on your stomach, with your waist at the edge and your upper body hanging down so you form an L shape. Have a workout partner hold your legs down; cross your hands behind your head and then slowly raise your upper body until you’re level. Then slowly lower back down into the starting position and repeat.
• Lat Pulldown: Lie on your back with your knees bent and your head, back, and shoulders resting on some towels. Pull your abs in gently so your lower back doesn’t arch up. With a heavy soup can or gallon milk jug in both hands, hold your arms straight up, over your chest, palms facing each other. Keeping your arms slightly bent, lower the cans to the ground behind your head. Raise them back up over your chest and repeat.
• Triceps Extensions: Sit on the edge of a chair, legs together and straight in front of you, heels on the ground and toes pointing up. Place your hands palms-down and grip the edges of the chair on both sides of your hips. Slide your bottom forward, holding yourself just off the front of the chair. Bend your elbows and lower your body until your upper arms are parallel to the floor, then push yourself back up and repeat. To add more resistance to this exercise place heavy books on your lap as you begin.
• Shoulder Press: Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Keep your abdominals tight and your knees slightly bent. Hold a heavy soup can or gallon milk jug in each hand on either side of your head, about level with your shoulders, elbows bent, and palms facing forward. Lift your arms straight up until the cans are over your head at arm extension. Slowly lower the weights back down and repeat.
• Leg Press: Standing with your feet hip-width apart and your weight on your heels, hold heavy soup cans, or gallon milk jugs, in your hands with arms to your sides. Pull your abdominals in and stand with your shoulders squared and your chest lifted. Bending at the knees, lower yourself down, as if to sit in a chair. Go as far down as you can without leaning your upper body forward more than a few inches, with the goal of getting your thighs parallel to the floor. Then, straighten your legs and stand back up. Remember not to lock your knees as you rise back up. Repeat.
• Calf Raise: Stand on a stair step or the floor, and hold onto a handrail or chair for balance, if needed. In your free hand, hold a heavy soup can or filled gallon milk jug close to your body, arm at your side. Slowly raise yourself onto the balls of your feet while concentrating on contracting the calf muscles. Lower your heels back into starting position and repeat. (As it becomes easier, do one leg at a time for added resistance).
• Leg Curls: Sit in a rolling chair and place one heel on the ground, leg extended (rest the other foot on the bottom of the chair). With your heel pressed against the floor, slowly pull body and chair towards your foot. Straighten your leg to push yourself back into starting position and repeat; then switch legs and do a second set. To add resistance place heavy books or other forms of weight in your lap.
• Abdominal crunches: Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor, legs bent at a 45-degree angle, hands resting underneath your neck. (Make sure NOT to pull on your neck as you do the exercise). Focus your eyes at a spot on the ceiling. Press the small of your back into the floor throughout the duration of the exercise to help prevent the possibility of back injury. Lift your back and head off the floor and towards your knees. Keep your feet, bottom, and small of the back remaining on the floor. Keep your abdominals tight throughout the entire motion of the exercise. Lower your upper torso back to the ground into the starting position and repeat.
Exercises reprinted courtesy of Erik Kirk, PhD, and Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.