Conditions / Cardio-metabolic
Overweight or obesity, weight loss goal
The evidence here mostly corrects an expectation. The volume needed for clinically meaningful weight loss is much higher than what most clients expect, and resistance training alone will not do it.
Prescribe
- More than 250 minutes per week of moderate activity for clinically significant loss
- 200-300 minutes per week to keep weight off after losing it
- Resistance training twice weekly to protect lean mass during a deficit
- Build volume through frequency and duration before intensity
- Set the diet conversation with a dietitian, not with the trainer
Avoid, and why
- Promising meaningful weight loss from 150 minutes per week - that range mostly prevents gain
- Selling resistance training as a weight loss tool on its own
- Loading high-impact work onto deconditioned joints early
- Giving individualised diet prescriptions, which in Ontario is outside a trainer's scope
How the generator handles this
| Max exercise complexity | 3 |
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| Patterns excluded | None |
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| Balance work added | No |
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| Clearance required first | No |
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Sources
- American College of Sports Medicine (Garber et al.) (2011). American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: guidance for prescribing exercise.
Source
The FITT-VP framework. Aerobic: at least 150 minutes per week of moderate activity, 30-60 minutes per day. Resistance: 40-50% 1RM for beginning older and sedentary persons, 60-70% for novice to intermediate, 10-15 reps for beginners.
- American College of Sports Medicine (Donnelly et al.) (2009). American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand. Appropriate physical activity intervention strategies for weight loss and prevention of weight regain for adults.
Source
The uncomfortable number a trainer should say out loud: 150-250 minutes per week prevents weight gain but produces only modest loss. More than 250 minutes per week is what produces clinically significant loss, and 200-300 minutes per week is associated with keeping it off. Resistance training does not by itself produce clinically significant weight loss.