Lifting weights is a great way to burn fat, lose weight, and improve your body composition. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about it. Too often, fat-loss training programs turn into high-rep, light-weight routines that are really just muscle-endurance workouts.
These can work, but aren’t ideal for weight loss or improving body composition. For that, you need heavy progressive training, and this article will show you what you need to do.
Key Points You Need To Know!
A strength program provides numerous benefits to optimize weight loss.
You’ll burn calories lifting weights, but this is not your primary goal.
The gym is where we lift to preserve or even build muscle mass.
You can optimize your workout program by manipulating several variables.
Is Strength Training Good For Weight Loss?
Key Points You Need To Know!
Strength training is essential in a fat-loss program
Primary benefits are preserving muscle mass, while calories are secondary
Training to burn calories can result in sub-optimal results
Strength training can optimize your weight loss and increase adherence
Absolutely! But not in the way many people think.
Fat loss happens when you’re in a caloric deficit. In other words, you need to burn more calories than you eat.
There are two main levers you can control to make this happen.
First, your diet is your most important tool. It’s almost always easier to skip 500 calories than to try to burn them off.
Second, you can increase your energy expenditure. That just means burning more calories, whether through daily movement or exercise.
Strength training does help you burn calories, so it adds to your total energy output.
But remember, diet is still the biggest factor in losing weight.
If you’re eating more calories than you burn (a surplus), strength training will help you build muscle, but you won’t lose weight. If you’re in a deficit, though, strength training becomes a powerful tool for fat loss.
How Does Strength Training Help Fat Loss?
Nutrition should be your primary way to create a calorie deficit, not your workouts. Any calories you burn from strength training are just a bonus.
If you train just to burn calories, you’ll likely end up with less-than-ideal results.
That’s because the variables that build strength and muscle growth are usually at odds with maximizing caloric burn.
You don’t want this.
However, improving your body composition goes beyond burning calories; that is where strength training comes in.
Following a Strength Training Program While Dieting Will:
Preserve muscle mass to optimize aesthetics (Binmahfoz et al., 2025)
Improve appetite control
Improve and optimize hormones.
Improve metabolism
Increase long-term adherence and success.
As you can see, Strength Training actually offers a lot more benefits than just calories.
Therefore, you don’t need to stress about the total calories you burn during a session.
Does Strength Training Burn A Lot Of Calories?
Just because we don’t believe calories burned during strength training should be your main concern, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen!
Total calories burned during a gym session can vary, but usually add up to 300-500 calories (this doesn’t include things like CrossFit).
This assumes you are intentional with your resistance training; you show up and get the work done.
How To Strength Train To Burn Fat
Key Points You Need To Know!
Compound movements with heavier weights are ideal
Primarily use the 6-12 rep range, but include proper strength training
Include HIRT or EMOMs to maximize work while also creating an extra calorie burn
Circuits are great for isolations
Now that we’ve presented the right context, let’s look at how to maximize fat loss with strength training. But first, a few caveats:
You can actually run the same strength program you would if trying to gain muscle.
Your diet does the hard work.
1. Stick With Compound Movements
Compound movements are exercises that involve two or more joints.
Squats
Row
Bench press
Shoulder press
Deadlifts
Because they use more muscle mass, you’re going to burn more calories.
At the same time, bigger is better. This means using exercises for a muscle group that allows you to move the most weight.
More Load → More Work → More Calories
In addition, larger compound exercises place greater demand on the neuromuscular system, which is likely ideal for preserving muscle mass.
2. Primarily Use Loads of 70-80% 1RM (6-12 reps)
One of the biggest mistakes people make when training is using ultra-high reps with low loads to burn calories, of course.
Remember that your primary goal of strength training during a diet is to preserve muscle mass. This requires heavy enough loads.
In a large review, Helms et al (2015) made two suggestions in terms of what load to use while in a caloric deficit:
Loads of 65-90% 1RM (3-15 reps) are appropriate.
The majority of your training should use 70-80% 1RM (6-12 reps)
3. Always Include Maximal Strength Training
While most of your training should be in the 6-12 rep range, we believe you should go heavier for one exercise per muscle group. This means using a load of 85-90% 1RM (3-5 reps).
While we have no concrete evidence to support this, we do think it’s a justified recommendation.
When you’re in a deficit, your muscle is at greater risk of wasting away. So, while theoretical, the idea is to make your body “think” it needs the muscle while placing a demand on it.
Using maximal loads is ideal for this, as they generate the greatest demand and trigger the greatest responses.
4. Continue To Emphasize Progressive Overload
Due to the hyper-fixation on calories, the emphasis on progressive overload is often lost during weight loss programs.
Big mistake.
To keep your muscle, you need to train for muscle. This means doing the same thing you would when trying to increase muscle mass. And if you’re lucky, you can even increase muscle mass (Demling & DeSanti, 2000).
Still, the worst-case scenario is that you lose fat while keeping your muscle. When lifting weights, your goal and intensity are the same either way!
5. Include High Intensity Strength Training Methods (HIRT, EMOMs)
Our favorite methods of high-intensity resistance training are: EMOMs and HIRT.
EMOMs stand for Every Minute On the Minute. It prescribes a specific number of reps to be completed within a minute. Whatever time is left in that minute can be used as rest.
Set 1: Finish in 20s / Rest 40s
Set 2: Finished in 25s/ Rest 35s
Set 3: Finished in 30s/ Rest 30s
And so on until the prescribed number of sets is finished.
HIRT stands for High Intensity Resistance Training and is performed by using heavy compound movements with short rest. It’s generally more structured than EMOMs, opting for intervals or short rest periods.
For example, an Upper Body HIRT circuit might look like this;
Choose a load for 6-8 reps.
Rest 20-30 seconds between each exercise.
Dips
DB Bentover Row
DB Shoulder Press
Chin-Ups
Push-Ups
We actually just released a high-intensity fat loss program that combines resistance training with HIRT and HIIT; you basically get all the benefits!
Check out the SFS High Intensity Fat Loss Program Here!
6. Use Circuits for Isolation if Wanted
If you want to add isolation exercises, circuits are a great way to get more work done in less time. That means more muscle stimulus and more calories burned.
We recommend focusing most of your effort on the big lifts, since they give you the most bang for your buck.
So, save your isolation moves for the end and keep your rest between exercises to 30-45 seconds.
If you’re short on time, you might get even more out of finishing your session with a quick Tabata workout.
FAQ About Strength Training for Fat Loss
1. Is strength training good for weight loss?
Yes. Strength training can be highly effective for weight loss, especially when combined with a caloric deficit. While lifting weights does burn calories, its biggest benefit is helping preserve muscle mass while dieting. This improves body composition, supports metabolism, and helps maintain strength during fat loss.
2. Does lifting weights burn belly fat?
Lifting weights can help reduce overall body fat, including belly fat, but spot reduction is not possible. Fat loss occurs across the body when you consistently maintain a caloric deficit. Strength training helps by increasing energy expenditure and preserving lean muscle mass during weight loss.
3. Should I lift heavy or light weights to lose fat?
For most people, moderate to heavy weights are best for fat loss and muscle preservation. Research suggests using loads around 70-80% of your 1RM, which is typically about 6-12 reps per set. Very light weights with extremely high reps are usually less effective for maintaining muscle during a calorie deficit.
4. What are the best strength training exercises for fat loss?
Compound exercises are generally the best option because they use more muscle mass and burn more calories. Effective movements include:
Squats
Deadlifts
Bench press
Rows
Shoulder press
Chin-ups
These exercises also create a strong neuromuscular demand, which helps preserve muscle while dieting.
5. How many calories does strength training burn?
A typical strength training session can burn roughly 300-500 calories depending on workout intensity, body size, exercise selection, and training style. However, calorie burn should not be the primary focus. The biggest benefits come from muscle retention, improved metabolism, and long-term adherence.
6. Can you build muscle while losing fat?
Yes, body recomposition is possible. If your nutrition, recovery, and training are properly managed, some people can gain muscle while losing fat at the same time. This is more common in beginners, people returning after a break, or individuals with higher body fat levels.
7. Is cardio better than strength training for fat loss?
Cardio can help increase calorie expenditure, but strength training is often superior for preserving muscle mass and improving body composition during weight loss. The best fat loss programs usually combine proper nutrition, resistance training, daily movement, and optional conditioning work like HIIT, HIRT, or EMOM training.
Strength Training For Weight Loss: Final Say
Strength training is a great tool to use in your weight loss journey. In fact, we would say it’s essential if your goal is to optimize your body composition. However, it just needs to be done the right way.
When done right, it will make your journey so much easier with greater results. But if you do it wrong, well, it will still work, but the results won’t be the same. And in our opinion, if you’re going to do something, do it right!
This is why all of our fat loss programs use these techniques and include: strength training, high intensity resistance training, and HIIT. Check them out here!
Or…
Set up a call so we can help figure out if a personalized program is right for you!
References
Ballor, D. L., Katch, V. L., Becque, M. D., & Marks, C. R. (1988). Resistance weight training during caloric restriction enhances lean body weight maintenance. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 47(1), 19–25. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/47.1.19
Binmahfoz, A., Dighriri, A., Gray, C., & Gray, S. R. (2025). Effect of resistance exercise on body composition, muscle strength and cardiometabolic health during dietary weight loss in people living with overweight or obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ open sport & exercise medicine, 11(3), e002363. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2024-002363
Demling, R. H., & DeSanti, L. (2000). Effect of a hypocaloric diet, increased protein intake and resistance training on lean mass gains and fat mass loss in overweight police officers. Annals of nutrition & metabolism, 44(1), 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1159/000012817
Helms, E. R., Fitschen, P. J., Aragon, A. A., Cronin, J., & Schoenfeld, B. J. (2015). Recommendations for natural bodybuilding contest preparation: resistance and cardiovascular training. The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness, 55(3), 164–178. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24998610/
Roth, C., Schoenfeld, B. J., & Behringer, M. (2022). Lean mass sparing in resistance-trained athletes during caloric restriction: the role of resistance training volume. European journal of applied physiology, 122(5), 1129–1151. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-04896-5
