If you’re a regular reader of our articles and newsletters, you’ll be well aware of how futile it is to rely on cardiovascular/endurance exercise for fat-loss.You’ll also understand the dire importance of using weights (resistance training) for boosting your metabolic rate and therefore improving your fat-loss results.

However, a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that in order to lose fat and ‘tone up’, they should focus on doing a higher number of repetitions (i.e. 15 and above) with lighter weights. Whilst this may seem logical, those wonderful people in white lab coats have proven otherwise…

Resistance training creates a wonderful physical state referred to as EPOC: Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption.

In lay terms, it refers to the rise in metabolism (and therefore fat-burning capacity) for the hours immediately after a vigorous resistance training session.

The clever folk at Georgia Southern University put two groups of people through a standard resistance training protocol, with the only difference being that one group used heavier weights for 8 repetitions per exercise whilst the second group used lighter weights for 15 repetitions per exercise.

Whilst the two groups burnt exactly the same number of calories DURING the session, the group using the heavier weights with less reps experienced a significantly higher EPOC than the light-weights group. 3 times higher in fact, for 2 hours after the session!

This meant that the heavier-weights group burnt far more calories (and therefore fat) in the hours following their workout.

The evidence is clear folks, if fat-loss is your primary goal you should put a focus on using heavier weights with fewer repetitions.