When people think about fat loss training, they often picture long runs, cycling sessions or hours on cardio machines. While traditional cardio can certainly help, it isn’t the only way to burn calories and improve fitness.
Resistance training can also be an extremely effective fat loss tool — particularly when it is structured in a way that increases heart rate and overall energy expenditure. This approach, often referred to as weights-based cardio, combines the benefits of strength training with the calorie-burning impact of cardiovascular exercise.
Here’s how and why weight-based cardio works…
Fat Loss Comes Down to Energy Balance
At its core, fat loss is driven by a simple principle: calories in versus calories out. To lose body fat, you must burn more calories than you consume over time.
While nutrition plays a crucial role in creating this calorie deficit, training can significantly increase the number of calories you burn each day. Workouts designed specifically for fat loss should therefore focus on maximising energy output while still building strength and maintaining muscle mass.
This is where weight-based cardio becomes extremely valuable.
How We Increase Calorie Burn with Weights
Traditional strength training often involves lifting heavier weights with longer rest periods between sets. This is excellent for building maximum strength and muscle size, but it doesn’t always create the highest calorie burn during the session itself.
When designing weight-based cardio workouts, we can adjust two key variables:
Shorter Rest Periods
Reducing rest time between exercises keeps the heart rate elevated throughout the session. This increases cardiovascular demand and overall calorie expenditure, turning strength training into a far more metabolically demanding workout.
Higher Training Volume
Longer sets, higher repetitions or combining multiple exercises together increase total workload. The more work your muscles perform, the greater the energy demand placed on the body.
However, to successfully use these strategies, we often need to approach weight training slightly differently.
The Goal Shifts: Raise the Heart Rate, Not Just Build Muscle
Traditional resistance training often focuses on isolated muscle groups and controlled, heavy lifts. While these methods are valuable, weight-based cardio prioritises full-body movements that challenge strength, coordination and cardiovascular fitness simultaneously.
By selecting exercises that involve multiple muscle groups and require dynamic movement, we can significantly increase workout intensity and calorie burn.
Choosing the Right Exercises
Weight-based cardio typically uses compound, athletic-style movements that allow the body to work harder in less time. These exercises require strength, power and endurance, making them extremely efficient for fat loss.
Effective examples include…
Thrusters
A combination of a squat and overhead press is performed in one fluid movement. Thrusters challenge the lower body, upper body and cardiovascular system all at once, making them one of the most effective calorie-burning resistance exercises available.
Dumbbell Jump Squats
By adding load to an explosive lower-body movement, dumbbell jump squats increase power output while dramatically raising heart rate. They place significant demand on the legs and glutes while improving athletic performance and conditioning.
Weighted Burpees
Burpees are already a demanding full-body exercise. Adding external resistance increases intensity even further, creating a powerful blend of strength training and cardiovascular conditioning.
Jumping Pull Ups
A jumping pull-up is a way of using both power (the jump) and a strength movement (the pull-up). It’s also a way to train the full body and increase the number of reps you can do compared to normal pull-ups.
How CrossFit Changed Resistance Training
Over the past two decades, CrossFit has played a major role in reshaping how people view weight training. Traditionally, resistance workouts were often focused on isolated muscle training with predictable movement patterns.
CrossFit introduced the idea that resistance training could be varied, fast-paced and highly cardiovascular while still building strength. By combining compound movements, functional exercises and reduced rest periods, it demonstrated that weight training could be used not only to build muscle but also to significantly improve conditioning and calorie expenditure.
While not everyone needs to follow a CrossFit-style programme, its influence has helped highlight the effectiveness of high-intensity, full-body resistance workouts for fat loss and overall fitness.
The Benefits of WEIGHT-BASED Cardio
When programmed correctly, weight-based cardio offers several key advantages:
High calorie burn during training
Muscle preservation while losing fat
Improved strength and cardiovascular fitness simultaneously
Greater workout variety and engagement
Efficient sessions for people with limited time
This makes it particularly useful for individuals who want maximum results without spending hours exercising.
How AdMac Fitness Uses WEIGHT-BASED Cardio
At AdMac Fitness, we incorporate weight-based cardio into both personal training and small group coaching sessions when fat loss and fitness improvement are key goals.
Our coaches carefully structure sessions to balance intensity, technique and progression. This ensures workouts remain safe, effective and tailored to individual fitness levels.
We focus on creating training sessions that not only burn calories but also improve movement quality, strength and long-term health.
A Smarter Way to Train for Fat Loss
Cardio doesn’t have to mean long, repetitive sessions on machines. Resistance training, when structured correctly, can deliver powerful fat loss results while building strength and improving fitness.
Weight-based cardio provides a dynamic, efficient and engaging alternative that helps many people stay consistent with their training and achieve lasting results.
If you’re looking for expert coaching and structured training designed to maximise fat loss and fitness, the team at AdMac Fitness is ready to help you get started.
Want to improve your health and fitness? Let the AdMac Fitness Personal Trainers help…
AdMac Fitness has been helping the people of East London transform their health and fitness for nearly a decade.
We help people using tried and tested fitness approaches. Our expert team of personal trainers, based in both Bow and South Woodford can help you get a grip of your health forever. With our guidance and experience, you can relax knowing that your fitness journey is going to be guided by some of the best personal trainers in East London.
For more information on who we are, what we do and how we can help you achieve your health and fitness goals, contact us on… 07921465108 or email us at admacfitness@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Our locations are…
AdMac Fitness: Arch 457 Robeson St, London E3 4JA
AdMac Fitness South Woodford: Unit 4 Marlborough Business Centre, 96 George Lane, South Woodford, London, E18 1AD