Strength training has been long been recommended to normal and underweight individuals as a
          means of increasing muscular mass, enhancing fitness, and vitality. Indeed, organizations such
          as the American College of Sports Medicine (1995) have advocated strength training consisting
          of single sets of 8 to 12 repetitions on 8 to 10 exercises per workout for healthy persons.
          However, it is not as clear whether strength training should be recommended for overweight
          persons whose goal is weight (more specifically fat) loss rather than weight gain. In this article
          we will describe the potential role strength training can play in weight loss efforts, and outline
          some broad recommendations to enhance its effectiveness.

          In order to lose body fat, you must create an energy deficit (i.e., expend more calories than
          your body needs to function). Unfortunately, when you create such a caloric deficit you do not
          lose just body fat. That is, the body takes energy from body tissue indiscriminately. In fact,
          any diet produces not only fat loss, but muscle loss as well. A recent analysis by Ballor and
          Poehlman (1994) indicated that an average of 28% of the weight lost among dieters who do
          not exercise is actually fat-free mass compared to 13% among dieters who also exercised
          (primarily aerobic exercise). Indeed, if the caloric deficit is severe enough (e.g., very low
          calorie "fasting" diets) even organ tissue is lost. Moreover, since dieting is an unnatural act, the
          body begins to adapt by reducing resting metabolic rate (RMR) (i.e., you have to create
          progressively greater caloric deficits to continue to lose body fat at a given rate). Given this,
          the primary goal for strength training for weight reduction programs is to preserve fat-free
          mass while losing body fat. The preservation of fat-free mass also serves to keep the metabolic
          rate as high as possible so that fat loss can be promoted even with a relatively modest caloric
          deficit. In addition, strength training may be a useful strategy for maintaining the fat loss (i.e.,
          keeping the weight off) once the person has reached their goal. That is, building as little as one
          pound of muscle after dieting will allow the person to consume an additional 50-100 calories
          per day. Remember, muscle is metabolically active (i.e., it needs a modest amount of calories
          to survive) while fat is not.

          When fitness professionals develop exercise programs for overweight persons, they sometimes
          do not advocate strength training. One major reason for this is that many overweight persons
          are reluctant to engage in strenuous anaerobic activity. It is far easier to convince the
          overweight person to engage in lower intensity aerobic activity ("to burn fat") than to workout
          with weights in a high intensity fashion. Indeed, it is quite common for us to be told by an
          overweight person seeking treatment "I want to lose weight, not gain it." Such individuals need
          to be rationally convinced that, in the long run, strength training will be of substantial benefit to
          them. It will not only help them lose fat more efficiently during dieting, but it will also help
          them to maintain the fat loss once they return to a less restricted diet.

          Let us look how we can have overweight adults strength train by using Mike Mentzer's Heavy
          Duty Training Axioms. Note that these will need to be modified for optimum safety and
          effectiveness given this special population:

          Intensity
          Intensity is the name of the game in strength training. You have to work hard enough to set the
          growth machinery into motion. However, with the overweight individual you cannot simply
          launch right into training to positive failure. It is possible, even likely, that the person has never
          weight trained in their life. As such, you need to slowly and gradually increase the intensity of
          the workouts (perhaps over several weeks) until the person is physically and mentally capable
          of working an exercise to failure. Remember, training to positive failure is a skill that takes time
          to learn. You must also consider that, with a caloric deficit, the person is not likely to be able
          to train at the same level of intensity as someone who is not dieting. So you want the person to
          train as hard as they can, but within the context of an deficient caloric status. We would not
          suggest intensity generating techniques (e.g., static contractions, negatives etc.) while the
          person is dieting. These techniques make such a profound inroad on recovery that they could
          be detrimental to someone who is dieting. It should go without saying but any overweight
          individual (irrespective of whether or not they have existing health problems) should consult a
          physician before engaging in this, or any other, type of training.

          Brief
          The workout for an overweight individual should only be as long as the person is interested in
          working out. Most often, individuals that are overweight mention that time constraints make it
          difficult to participate in a regular strength training routine or they lose interest with long
          workouts. Making workouts short and intense should provide necessary stimulation of muscles
          without producing disinterest or boredom. We suggest single work sets of 3 to 5 multi-joint
          exercises which focus on the larger muscle groups (legs, hips, back). Weights can usually be
          lifted using approximately 60 to 80% of their initial 1RM and slowly progressing from there.
          Workouts should be conducted at a rather brisk pace and should be kept to less than 30
          minutes.

          Infrequent
          Overweight persons are usually making major life changes to fit in strength training. Remember
          that time is the most cited excuse for not exercising. Indeed, one reason many people are
          anti-strength training is the belief (propagated in the popular muscle media) that you must train
          very frequently (up to 6 days a week) in order to make progress. The brevity and relative
          infrequency of HD training may be very appealing to the overweight trainee. We would
          suggest training two to three times a week initially in order to develop the skill to adequately
          perform the movements. As the intensity increases, the frequency of training should be
          reduced even further to ensure proper rest and recovery.

          Safety
          As mentioned before, these individuals may have major health risks that will be of concern to
          the fitness trainer. HD training focuses on safety above all else. Make sure these individuals
          acquire the skill to perform each exercise properly before having them train alone. Stressing
          slow controlled movements and good form will lessen the chance of injury. Obviously, the use
          of machines would be preferred because they require less skill to execute the movement. Apart
          from general instruction regarding proper exercise technique, a great deal of emphasis should
          be placed upon educating the overweight person with respect to muscular soreness, correct
          breathing, and any other factor which may be relevant to their training. It has been our
          experience that many overweight persons are particularly sensitive to, and sometimes fearful
          of, the sensations that go along with intense exercise (e.g., heavy breathing, elevated heart rate
          etc.). Any information that can alleviate fear in this regard would be of great benefit to the
          overweight trainee.

          Conclusion
          The benefits of HD Training are not restricted to those who simply want to increase their
          strength and muscular body weight. In conjunction with reduced caloric intake, overweight
          persons can use the HD approach to attempt to maintain their existing muscle mass. By
          preserving this mass, their dieting effort will likely be more time-limited and effective. It needs
          to be made clear to the overweight person that the goal is fat loss, not weight loss per se.
          Indeed, the ability to maintain their fat loss will be enhanced greatly by using HD principles to
          increase their muscular bulk once the period of caloric restriction has ended. In sum, brief,
          intense and infrequent strength training can be a valuable component of a comprehensive fat
          loss regimen.

          References

          American College of Sports Medicine (1995). Guidelines for exercise testing and prescription (5th edition).
          Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins.

          Ballor, D.L., & Poehlman, E.T. (1994). Exercise-training enhances fat-free mass preservation during             diet-induced weight loss: a meta-analytic finding. International Journal of Obesity, 18, 35-40.