I have been hearing multiple rumors in fitness circles recently about how being more flexible might help you burn fat. But does flexibility help with weight loss?
I feel like I should laugh this one off, but I have heard it more than once. The answer is no, flexibility does not help with weight loss, but it can aid you in performing certain exercises that do help with weight loss.
In this article, we are going to discuss the importance of flexibility and how you can lose weight, regardless of your flexibility status.
Before we get started, I encourage you to download our app All Workouts: Personal Trainer (iOS | Google Play). Our FREE workout plans will keep you on the right track.
What does flexibility help with?
While flexibility doesn’t directly help with weight loss, it can help be an accessory to other exercises. For example, if you are really into yoga, it greatly helps to be flexible. Therefore it is safe to say that flexibility does help with weight loss if you combine it with yoga.
Another thing that we can be sure of that flexibility helps with is preventing injuries. It’s no secret that sometimes exercise can take a toll on your body, especially if you pull a muscle.
If you are extraordinarily flexible, injuries are obviously going to happen to you less. This is because when you are exercising, you are tightening and loosening your muscles in rapid succession.
And that is when injuries can happen. Don’t worry though, as long as you are careful, injuries should be rare, regardless of flexibility.
Let’s come back to our main question, does flexibility help with weight loss? Well, on its own, flexibility does nothing. Just the fact that you are flexible doesn’t help you with any sort of weight loss.
What does help with weight loss is exercise. And when you find a way to incorporate your flexibility with exercise, then of course it will help with weight loss.
How to truly lose weight
The only way that you can guarantee that you will lose weight is to eat at a caloric deficit. If you are currently overweight, that means that you have probably been eating at a caloric surplus for many years.
The first step in any weight loss journey is realizing that you are going to need to do some calculations to help you along the way.
And the first calculation that you are going to need to learn is how to calculate your maintenance calories. Your maintenance calories are the number of calories your body burns on a daily basis without gaining weight or losing weight.
To build muscle, bodybuilders will eat in a large caloric surplus and lift heavy weights. That caloric surplus feeds the muscles and the muscle in turn grows.
It is the exact opposite when it comes to weight loss. A caloric deficit is the name of the game. And it has to be every single day. Or at least averaged every single day. Meaning that if you know that you are going to have a cheat meal coming up, you need to make up for it the other days of the week.
When weight loss is on your mind, regardless of flexibility status, nutrition is the number one thing that you need to focus on.
You can workout every day of the week, but if you are still eating at a caloric surplus, you will still gain weight.
This is why so many people end up giving up their weight loss goals. They set a new years resolution to start exercising, but they don’t change their diet.
People end up getting frustrated that they aren’t hitting their goals fast enough, and they give up. Don’t be that person. Focus on diet before anything else.
Exercise and consistency
Eating at a caloric surplus is going to ensure that you lose weight. But how can you rapidly change your body and supercharge your results? Exercise of course.
And what type of exercise is going to help you shed the most fat? High intensity interval training, or HIIT for short. This is by far the most well known way to burn fat rapidly. It works by getting your heart rate up to 90% of your maximum heart rate multiple times in one session.
Learn how to calculate your maximum heart rate for exercise here.
HIIT workouts are short. Our app actually has built in HIIT workouts that are set at a default time of 15 minutes, but can be adjusted.
The only requirement is that for each set that you do, you absolutely have to get to 90% of your maximum heart rate. This means that for a 15 minute HIIT workout, you are going to get to 90% of your maximum heart rate 10 times.
And if you don’t hit that number, you should extend your workout to make sure that you hit it on at least 10 separate occasions. Do this 3-4 times per week combined with your caloric deficit, and the fat is going to shed off your body rapidly.
Now, when it comes to exercise and nutrition, consistency is going to be the most important part for you to control. Really, it is simple to understand. If you want to lose weight, eat at a caloric deficit, and exercise 3-4 days per week.
While simple to understand, it is not easy to follow through with. This is where sheer willpower and consistency is going to drive you through.
Main Point: Does flexibility help with weight loss?
If you have come this far, you know the answer to our main question. Does flexibility help with weight loss? The easy answer is that no, flexibility alone does not help with weight loss.
But it can help you with preventing injuries and making sure that you are sticking to your workout plan.
At the end of the day, being flexible alone is really going to do nothing for you. Unless of course you put that flexibility to work with something like yoga.
You also learned a ton about how to actually lose weight. Losing weight essentially comes down to following 3 principles. Eating at a caloric deficit, exercising, and doing it all consistently. It really is that simple.
Yes, it all sounds so simple, but there is a reason that 42.5% of the U.S. adult population is obese. It’s because it is difficult to follow through with these principles.
Our society is built around instant gratification, and when you want to eat something, you can probably find it.
You are really going to have to fall in love with the idea of losing fat. It has to become a lifestyle instead of an idea. You have to commit to this and shun away temptation like the plague.
If you can do this, you are going to go very far in your weightloss journey. You are going to meet new people that encourage you, and you will encourage others. The first thing you need to do is get started.
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