Resistance exercise has much more to offer than just size and strength increase. There is a tremendous weight management benefit to be achieved by performing high rep, light weight, resistance training - an aspect that has been widely understated.

With the perpetual popularity of quick weight loss diets and exercise regimens, it's apparent that many people believe they could stand to lose a few pounds. But a few pounds of what?

Convincing the body to use energy rather than store it as fat is the basic premise behind using exercise to not only lose weight, but to maintain a healthy lean mass-fat ratio. When the muscle tissue's energy stores have been depleted, replenishing these stores becomes a priority to the body.

Weight Loss vs. Weight Management

Aerobic exercise is often promoted as the quicker way to lose fat when compared to resistance exercise. If the goal is simply weight loss, then it's easy to see the attraction: Muscle mass simply weighs more, gram for gram, than fat. So an increase in lean mass could very well offset any weight loss from fat reduction, and therefore seem counterproductive.

That's why it's important from the outset that a client understands the difference between weight loss for the sake of losing weight and the long term benefits of an increased lean mass and reduced fat ratio. This can be presented to a client as question of importance: Does he or she wish to experience a short term gain (overall weight loss) and continue to be prone to weight-loss/weight-gain seesaw effect? Or would he or she prefer to enjoy the long term benefits of a more energy efficient body?

Often, popular diet and exercise plans leave out an important component that can lead to long term success: resistance exercise. This, in conjunction with a proper diet and aerobic exercise, is ultimately the key that opens the door to improved - and sustainable - energy efficiency.

Look Before You Leap

However, one final hurdle that must be cleared is purely psychological: It may be necessary to assure the client that although he or she might not be seeing the pounds disappear on the scale, the goal is in sight. The old adage that sometimes to take a leap forward, it is necessary to take two steps seems back seems especially appropriate when it comes to using resistance exercise as a means of long-term weight management.

During a recovery period in resistance exercise - and assuming the client is on a proper diet - extra muscular fat (triglycerides) will be broken down for energy, and part of that fat (glycerol) will be used by the muscle tissue to help replenish these stores. The key to resistance exercise, and this fat conversion, is to perform high rep, low intensity, long duration, and frequent exercise using basic compound movements involving as much tissue as possible to maximize the depletion of energy, promoting a greater recovery fat release.

It should be mentioned that it is possible also to stimulate an aerobic affect through the proper resistance training routine. If someone is always performing resistance exercises, the body is convinced not to cannibalize muscle tissue for energy because it is being forced to maintain muscle tissue to comply with the demand to maintain strength levels.

It is extremely important to note that in the beginner and intermediate trainee, lean and total body weight may increase for as long as two weeks after starting this type of training, even while on a restricted calorie intake. The trainer's role here is to assure the client that noticeable progress is being made, even if it might seem like he or she has taken two steps back when it comes to weight loss. This is when the client should be reminded that a rebounding effect occurs due to an increase of fluids and energy stored as glycogen in the muscle tissue that is denser, and a decrease of energy stored as triglycerides in fat tissue, which is less dense. The good news? While this results in an increase in lean and total body weight, it also results as a decrease in overall fat - quite a leap, indeed!

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