How Many Reps for Fat Burning

In the last article, we discussed How many reps someone should do to build muscle. We now shift gears, looking at the best answer for the question “How many reps are best for fat burning?”

First, if your goal is fat loss you need to understand that lifting weights is important. Many people believe you should focus on doing cardiovascular activities if your goal is to lose weight. They believe that activities such as running on the pavement or a treadmill is the best bet when trying to shed pounds.

We base this belief on the myth that lifting weight is only for the purpose of build muscle. While we should lift weights in order to increase muscle mass, strength training is also an excellent way to support fat loss. In fact, weight training is a more effective means of burning fat than any piece of cardiovascular equipment on the market today.

Increasing Lean Muscle

It is first necessary to understand the importance of increasing lean muscle to reduce body fat. The development of muscle mass has a direct effect on what is done with a calorie once it’s consumed.

You burn more calories when you have more muscle mass. This is an important but often exaggerated fact by the media and fitness professionals. A pound of muscle mass will increase your calorie burn by approximately six calories per day. Not great news if you thought it would be easier to be in a calorie deficit once you’ve built some muscle . Six calories won’t have much of an impact on total weight loss.

However, there are more important reasons for increasing muscle tissue throughout your body. Increased muscle size has a direct effect on how your body handles glucose. Researchers have shown that more muscle mass has led to greater levels of insulin sensitivity. This means we have less chance of the consumed calories leading to body fat storage.

Increasing Metabolic Demands

You have probably heard the term “increasing your metabolism” which in this conversation means burning more calories. Many also understand that an increased heart rate is a sign of an increased metabolism. For many, this truth has become the absolute metric in determining if we are in fact, burning fat. The fact is, there are many ways that our bodies increases metabolism and use more energy.

Raising your heart rate doesn’t just happen on a cardio machine. Perform a set of challenging squats for 20-repetitions and you will get the point. You should notice that your heart rate increases to levels higher than we typically experience during a traditional cardio exercise.

This resistance exercise aligns with the statement that an increased heart rate equates to increased metabolism. A set of heavy squats destroys the concept that strength training is only for building muscle as the metabolism has no choice but to work harder. It is the proof in the pudding that weight training with the correct programming can impact your ability to burn fat.

But this isn’t the only way that weight training burns fat. Weight training burns fat through the use of ATP and glycogen. It takes fuel to provide ongoing energy and repair the muscle fiber damage being created by the workout. These demands mean that the body needs to resynthesis the raw materials that we use to lift heavy objects. The manufacturing of ATP & Glycogen requires caloric energy.

By utilizing these nutrients, we have yet another metabolic increase created when we lift a heavy weight. There are other metabolic processes involved, but this article is about repetitions. We will save weight training and how it affects metabolism for a future article.

Hopefully, by now we have set the stage that weight training is essential for effective fat burning.

Intensity > Activity

After one agrees that weight training is necessary but now the question of how many reps to burn fat becomes your next concern. There is an initial belief that if you want to lose unnecessary body weight, then you need to perform a lot of reps with a light weight. While the reps part may be true, it does not directly answer a more important question. The question of “how intense are those reps?”

The most important factor about your reps is that your intensity is high enough. The goal is to make your heart rate elevate to higher levels than experienced during traditional cardiovascular activity. Then resting for a brief period before elevating the heart rate once more.

Weight training with a high enough intensity is a form of H.I.I.T. or High-Intensity Interval Training. Meaning, we exert a lot of energy at our maximum ability and then we recover. We gather ourselves until we can muster up the energy to perform another set. No matter the repetitions in order to create the highest metabolic benefit and to stimulate fat loss we need to reach near failure. In a Crossfit type workout this would be on your final set (or round.) In a bodybuilding type workout this could be for all of the sets performed.

Reducing Rest Periods

With high-intensity comes a desire to rest. If our goal is fat-loss, we have to fight this feeling. While there is a period of low-intensity or rest during a H.I.I.T. workout, we need to watch the clock. We shouldn’t allow for long rest periods, where our heart rate lowers down to our RMR (resting metabolic rate).

Reducing your rest periods starts by calculating your rest periods. Most people do not perform this task. Rather, rest periods will vary depending upon many factors. It may be unexpected conversations or whenever they feel “ready” for the next set. However, in order to assess your progress and increase both strength and fat burning, you should have consistent measurable rest periods.

You can use a manual clock on a wall, the timer on your phone, or an app like Strong, to ensure you are sticking to the correct time.

To start your resistance training H.I.I.T. program, reduce your rest-periods to 1 minute between sets. This is where a beginner should start in order to burn fat with a weight training program. Moving through the workout routine any faster may compromise your form when lifting weights. If you have more experience with strength training, then you can shorten the rest periods to 30-45 seconds. No matter what kind of experience you have with this type of workout program, training at this level of intensity requires does a sense of safety.

Walking to the exercise does not count as the beginning of the set. It is that first initial push, pull, or eccentric lowering that starts the timer. This is important to remember as most people enter the exercise vs. perform the exercise at 1-minute.

Deciding on Reps to Burn Fat

Now that we have determined our rest periods lets discuss the different repetition ranges and their purpose. Then we will decide what range is best for the goal of burning fat.

• Lower repetitions (1-5): Muscle fibers that create power and strength.
• Moderate repetitions (6-12): Muscle fibers that are known to produce hypertrophy (growth).
• High-Repetitions (higher than 12) Muscle fibers that provide endurance.

So which range will be the best for fat-loss? More important than which of these is the best is how the reps are performed. Keeping your mind on the exercise is the most important factor in reaching true muscular failure.

A Problem With High Rep Sets

Performing high-repetition exercises is more challenging in maintaining a strong mental commitment. To correctly perform the exercise to muscular failure is difficult. We can become distracted by the fact that the beginning reps are not challenging as well as the burn we experience before muscle failure. It takes less concentration to perform fewer reps with a heavier weight, which means there is a greater chance you will reach actual muscle failure.

The answer from a physiological standpoint moderate repetitions will be the best for most people. In moderate repetitions, there is enough time to develop a strong metabolic demand and hypertrophy. Muscle hypertrophy is increasing the size of the muscle, which is also a metabolic process. However, there is reason to include a variety of low, moderate, and higher reps if our goal is to both reduce fat mass and increase lean muscle mass.

Heavy Weights and High Reps for Fat Loss

One way to solve the distraction issue associated with high reps is to perform drop sets or super sets. We can reach the higher rep ranges by starting with a heavy weight for moderate reps and then adjusting to a lower weight once we reach failure. This form of training will keep us in a high intensity state for a longer period of time before we take our rest period.

Do not perform this type of training if you are just beginning a strength training program. These exercises can be dangerous when have yet to develop the skillset of keeping proper form through physical exhaustion. Consider this type of workout once you have been strength training for a decent amount of time.

Unfolding Science

The science is still unfolding about reps for fat loss. There are other factors to consider such as genetic fiber type makeup as well as fiber types are most predominant for each specific muscle being trained. For most of us, these points are irrelevant and we would be better served to focus on the fundamentals of fat loss.

By following a weight lifting program, you are in the right direction. If you are performing them to your maximum ability, you are one step ahead of most. You will be well on your way to fat loss if you follow the general principles of strength training, making healthy food choices, and stay in a slight caloric deficit.

Beginners Fat Burning Workout Program 

For each of the workouts below you will alternate between opposing muscle groups. This allows for longer recovery for a muscle group than you would receive with a traditional strength training program. Alternating between opposing muscle groups will allow your body to better regenerate ATP (muscle energy) as your rest periods of 1-minute or less could be too short for this to happen.

Upper Body Workout 

Dumbbell Chest Press / Bent-Over Dumbbell Row: 3 Sets x 9-12 reps for each

Lat-Pulldown / Standing Shoulder Press: 3 sets x 12-15 reps for each

Triangle Push Up / Standing Bicep Curl: 3 sets x 9-12 reps for each

Hanging Leg Raises / Back Extensions: 3 sets x 20 reps for each

Lower Body Workout

Barbell Back Squat / Hip Thrusters: 3 sets 9-12 reps for each

Goblet Squat / Straight Leg Deadlifts: 3 sets x 12-15 reps for each

Banded Pull Through / Sissy Squats: 3 sets x 20 reps for each

Standing Calf Raise / Seated Tibia Raise: 3 sets x 20 reps for each

Intermediate and Advanced Fat Burning Workout Program

For each of the workouts below you will drop set or super set the same muscle groups. This creates more time under tension in a high intensity environment. You will rest 1-minute between sets.

Upper Body Workout 

Dumbbell Chest Press / Dumbbell Chest Press: 3 Sets x 6-9 / 6-9 reps

Bar Dips / Triangle Push up: 3 sets x 6-9 / 10-12 reps

Pull Up / Pull down: 3 sets x 6-9 / 6-9 reps

T-Bar Row / Cable Row: 3 sets x 6-9 / 10-12 reps

Hanging Leg Raises / Back Extensions: 3 sets x 20 / 20 reps

Lower Body Workout

Barbell Back Squat / Barbell Back Squat: 3 sets 6-9 / 6-9 reps

Walking Lunges / Bulgarian Deadlifts: 3 sets x 12-15 / 6-9 reps

Banded Pull Through / Banded Pull Through:  3 sets x 20 / 20 reps

Lying Leg Curl / Straight Leg Deadlift: 3 sets x  9-12 reps / 9-12 reps

Standing Calf Raise / Standing Calf Raise: 3 sets x 20 / 20

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