Increased Muscle = Increased Resting Metabolic Rates = Weight Loss

The early research was conflicting but latest research confirms that even moderate strength training can raise metabolism enough to burn more calories and lose fat.

By Wayne Westcott

" Strength training does have a significant elevating effect on resting metabolic rate and is, therefore, a highly beneficial exercise for increasing daily calorie usage and enhancing fat loss. …"

In his book LifeFit, America's leading epidemiologist, Ralph Paffenbarger, M.D., makes the following statement regarding the effects of muscle gain and metabolic change: "Indeed, when you replace 10 pounds of fat with 10 pounds of muscle, your weight remains the same, but you can expect to expend 500 or more additional kilocalories each day at rest."3 In other words, Paffenbarger ascribes the resting metabolic requirement for 1 pound of muscle at 50 calories per day.

In her book Ultimate Fitness, author Gina Kolata quotes world-renown exercise physiologist Claude Bouchard as saying, "Skeletal muscle burns about 13 calories per kilogram of body weight over 24 hours when a person is at rest.²" In other words, Bouchard ascribes the resting metabolic requirement for 1 pound of muscle at less than 6 calories per day.

He supports his opinion by saying that a man who weighs about 155 pounds has about 62 pounds of skeletal muscle, which accounts for approximately 22% of his resting metabolism (1,600 calories resting metabolism x 22% used by muscles = 352 calories used by muscles ÷ 62 pounds of muscle = 5.7 calories per pound by muscle per day at rest).

By simply adding as little as 3 lbs. of "trained muscle", one can burn an additional 115 calories a day while at rest.

Bouchard therefore states that, "Weight lifting has virtually no effect on resting metabolism."

Revisiting The Classic Research

Although Bouchard's mathematical calculations seem to make sense, they definitely do not line up with the classic research studies on this topic. In 1994, two well-conceived and well-conducted research studies examined the effects of strength training on muscle development and resting metabolic rate.

One study was conducted by Campbell and his research associates at Tufts University¹,and the other study was conducted by Pratley and his research associates at the University of Maryland⁵.

At Tufts University, the subjects performed progressive resistance exercise three days a week for 12 weeks. Each training session consisted of four standard strength exercises, each of which was performed for three sets of eight to 12 repetitions.

After three months of training, the subjects, on average, added 3.1 pounds of lean (muscle) weight and lost 4.0 pounds of fat weight. As a result, their resting metabolic rate increased by 6.8 %, or approximately 105 calories per day. At face value, this finding would indicate that 1 pound of muscle uses about 35 calories per day at rest (105 calories per day ÷ 3 pounds of muscle = 35 calories per day per pound of muscle).

At the University of Maryland, the subjects performed progressive resistance exercise three days a week for 16 weeks. Each training session consisted of 14 standard strength exercises, most of which were performed for one set of 10 to 15 repetitions.

After four months of training, the subjects, on average, added 3.5 pounds of lean (muscle) weight and lost 4.2 pounds of fat weight. As a result, their resting metabolic rate increased by 7.7%, or approximately 120 calories per day. At face value, this finding would indicate that 1 pound of muscle uses about 34 calories per day at rest (120 calories per day ÷ 3.5 pounds of muscle = 34 calories per day per pound of muscle).

It is interesting to note that, in both of these studies, the same strength-training program that increased lean (muscle) weight by about 3 pounds, likewise increased resting metabolic rate by about 7%.

It is also interesting to note that, in both of these studies, the strength-training programs responsible for these impressive results were relatively basic and brief. The Tufts University subjects performed just 12 sets of exercise per session (three sets of four exercises), and the University of Maryland subjects completed 17 sets of exercise per session (one set of 11 exercises and two sets of three exercises).

These represent essentially 30-minute workouts that are manageable both time-wise and energy-wise for most adults. It is nothing short of remarkable that such modest investments in strength exercise can produce such profound physical outcomes.

Although a few studies on this topic have not noted increases in muscle mass and resting metabolic rate as a result of strength training, these have involved relatively large reductions in caloric intake.

When calories are significantly restricted, the body assumes a starvation/survival mode, and does not respond in the same manner as when the appropriate amount of calories are consumed. Essentially, all studies that do not involve low-calorie diets show significant increases in muscle mass and resting metabolic rate after 10 weeks or more of sensible strength training.
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by Fred Hahn
RMR
Peter - Did you consider that Dr. Westcott may have inputted the correct data and in error referenced the wrong paper? Still, if it was only water that increased within the subjects current level of lean mass, how do you explain the increase in RMR and the decrease in fat mass?

by Peter Frei
Misinterpreation of Campbell, et al. study
Waynes article contains a major misinterpretation of the results of the Campell study (tuft university). Wayne writes about the results of the study: "... the subjects, on average, added 3.1 pounds of lean (muscle) weight and lost 4.0 pounds of fat weight". But in the abstracts of the original study we read: "Fat mass decreased 1.8 +/- 0.4 kg (P < 0.001) and fat-free mass (FFM) increased 1.4 +/- 0.4 kg (P < 0.01) in these weight-stable subjects. The increase in FFM was associated with a 1.6 +/- 0.4 kg increase in total body water (P < 0.01) but no significant change in either protein plus mineral mass or body cell mass." In other words: There was no increase in muscule or body cell mass (!) found in this study. The increase of the Fett free mass (FFM) was caused by an increase of bodywater! This cuts away 50% of Waynes argumentation line. He argues about muscle increase and by increase of energy consumption by trained muscles - which were not found in one study her tells us about. In my opinion this error is fundamental and should be corrected in a revised article.

by Brian
At Last a Balanced Perspective
This article provides a balanced, and I believe realistic perspective on the role of Weight Training in affecting RMR. The truth lies somewhere between the claims that every additional lb of muscle burns an additional 50 - 100 kcals per day and the opposite extremes that suggest that each lb of muscle burns about 6 kcal or maybe even less per day. The distinction between trained muscle tissue and untrained makes perfect sense. The author hypothesizes that trained muscle requires slightly higher amounts of energy per day in order to build and repair. It also makes sense that this "trained muscle" effect is applied to the TOTAL skeletal muscle mass rather than to just the small amount of additional muscle. After all, it is not as if we end up with distinctly different old muscle and new muscle. By citing the original research which has been misinterpreted by some and showing how the incorrect interpretations have evolved along with a proposal of how the results might realistically be interpreted, he has helps us understand how the two widely different estimates of calories per pound of muscle per day have arisen. Just to extrapolate, it would seem that keeping muscle in a trained state (building/rebuilding and repairing) makes sense even if one never adds even a lb of lean mass. bottom line: actively trained muscle burns slightly more per day than untrained muscle, but the difference is enough to boost RMR by about 7%.