Is there a best exercise to lose weight?
What is the best exercise to lose weight? Walking or Running? Deadlifts or Squats?
Each one has its own advantages and disadvantages.
My experience has been that walking is always something that everyone should be doing, at least thirty minutes to an hour a day.
You have to keep moving.
Sitting for too long has been linked to too many illnesses.
Walking
Walking a half hour a day or even an hour a day will definitely help you take off some pounds, many pounds if you are making good food choices as well.
Walking is the best exercise to keep moving and stay healthy, because it is so sustainable, easy for most people and can be a great way to socialize and get into shape.
However, I am thinking about which is the best exercise to lose weight in a way that you will really see transformative results, not that you are just a smaller version of your former self, but your body has changed.
Strength Training
In that case, the best exercise to lose weight has to come from a variety of strength training options that will burn fat off.
The new muscle mass that you build is going to be the primary factor in your body taking on a different shape.
Lean muscle mass takes less space than fat and will give you a more youthful look because you had higher muscle mass when you were younger and as we age, we slowly lose our muscle mass.
The best exercise to lose weight then is an exercise that is going to build the most muscle mass.
The best exercise to lose weight will not necessarily be the easiest, but it will be an exercise that challenges large parts of your body that have the most muscle mass.
Which part of your body do you think has the most muscle mass, your biceps or your thighs?
Think about it.
You will know right off the bat that the best exercise to lose weight is going to be the one that builds the largest muscles in your body.
Compound Movements vs Single Joint Exercises
Clearly, the largest muscles are not your biceps.
The largest muscles are your legs, your thighs, hamstrings, quadriceps, back, latissimus dorsi.
Even your shoulders are not going to win in size when compared to your back and legs.
Which then is the best exercise to lose weight and change the shape of your body?
That exercise or those exercises that build the largest muscles of your body.
These exercises are known as compound movements because they target multiple joints of your body simultaneously.
Squats and Deadlifts
The best exercise to lose weight under this definition is a toss-up between the squat and the deadlift.
Why?
The squat is going to build your legs, quadriceps, and hamstrings.
As a result, the new muscle growth is going to spur on additional growth hormones as well as burning more calories.
Every pound of muscle that you build is like adding wood to a fireplace.
The fire will burn longer.
Every pound of muscle consumes about 75 to 100 calories, so if you build 10 pounds of muscle in the course of a year, you will be burning an additional 750 to 1000 calories every day, just to keep that muscle alive.
On the other hand, the best exercise to lose weight and change your shape when it comes to your next largest muscle, your back, will be between deadlifts and bent over rows.
I think deadlifts win because they also tax your legs to some degree, as well as your arms, essentially your entire body.
And deadlifts are accessible for people with exercisers who have limited ankle mobility or knee injuries.
How to Deadlift at Home
So now that we know that deadlifts are the best exercise to lose weight, at least to start, because we also know that squats are the top, but might be a bit too challenging at this point, now what?
If you can, join a gym where you can start doing deadlifts or take out those old rusty weights in your garage and start deadlifting.
What if you don’t have the equipment or do not want to join a gym?
Not everyone wants to join a gym, first because of price which can be up to $100 a month, second because of having to wait for equipment and third, sometimes we just want to play our own music.
Not to mention the time it takes to get to the gym and back.
The Simplest Home Deadlift Studio
For deadlifts, there is an easy solution, all you need are a few pieces of equipment to set up a home gym for deadlifts.
- An Olympic Bar to reap all of the benefits of deadlifts. This bar can also be used for squats, bench press, shoulder press, and barbell rows.
- Olympic Plates from 5lbs to 45lbs should be enough for you to start doing deadlifts. Two fives, two tens, two twenty fives, and two forty-fives, a total of 170 pounds should be enough to get you started on deadlifts and more.
- An Olympic lock jaw barbell collar to keep your weights secure and prevent injury.
- Olympic Fractional Plates set with 1/4 pound plates up to 1 pound plates, exactly what you need for gradual improvement to increase your weight safely by using fractional plates.
You might have some of these weights and bars available in your garage or basement.
Otherwise, see the Best Deadlift Equipment: Home Gym Guide; Start Lifting Today!
Best Exercise to Lose Weight – Final Thoughts
The answer to the question of what is the best exercise to lose weight is twofold.
The squat and the deadlift are the best exercises to lose weight because you have to use your entire body during the exercise.
In addition, both of these exercises will have a profound effect on the largest muscle groups of your body.
When you want to find the best exercise to lose weight, forget about your handgrips, curls, triceps pushdowns, even shoulder presses.
Concentrate on doing the fullest body exercises that you can, and if you can do squats and deadlifts, you have found the best exercises to lose weight.
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Rich is a NASM-CPT (Certified Personal Trainer),