Weightlifting: Burn fat while you chill out

"Mechanical overload-induced muscle-derived extracellular vesicles promote adipose tissue lipolysis." What? Weightlifting helps you burn fat. But that's not all. A new study has found that weightlifting not only burns fat for 24 hours after you stop but changes the metabolism.

Muscle is metabolically active, even at rest it goes through ATP (aerobic respiration). Activity burns energy aka calories. So adding mass increases energy expenditure and resting metabolic rates. The bigger the muscles, the more calories they burn. A new study adds a twist.

After training, your muscles release small bubbles--extracellular vesicles--containing genetic material. This material flows through to fat cells and jumpstarts a prolonged burn. Cells and tissue are chatty. Movement in muscles produces a cacophony of hormones and proteins.

These genetic speech bubbles riddled with miR-1 make their way to the bloodstream, triggering biochemical reactions in the body that tell it to lose weight. In fact the miR-1 seems to target fat and literally break it apart.

How do you get started? First make an achievable timeline and goal. Just commit to 3 months, 3x a week. Cap the workouts at 45 minutes each. Start slow and focus on good form. Do each exercise 10x/set. Take a breather. Then repeat for 3 total sets.

Legs:

1. Stand, feet slightly wider than your hips
2. Hold dumbbells in line with shoulders
3. Pull your navel toward your spine to engage your core
4. Keeping your spine long, begin to sit back like sitting in a chair
5. Sink to knee level and then stand back up  

Core:

1. Lying on your back, lift your legs two to three inches off of the ground
2. Place your hands on the floor beside you or underneath your lower back for extra support
3. Cross your right ankle over your left ankle, then cross your left ankle over your right ankle for one rep 

Arms:

1. Lie with one dumbbell in each hand
2. Feet under your knees hips-width distance apart
3. Cactus arms by placing your elbows in line with your shoulders and dumbbells upward toward the ceiling
4. Press lower back flat
5. Press dumbbells towards ceiling, lightly tapping them
6. Lower 

Back:

1. Stand with feet hip-width apart with bent knees
2. Lean forward so your chest is over your tights
3. Tuck elbows to your side
4. Extend your arms down and forward towards your knees
5. Engage your back muscles and slowly pull the dumbels to 90 degrees
6. Lower  

With these simple at-home, minimal-equipment exercises-- you'll be on track to forming a beneficial habit.