I'm Dr Shannon Ritchie. I'm a doctor physical therapy fitness trainer and

challenge of the fitness. In the Dr Shannon show you'll learn applicable tools

to improve your health based on science. Welcome to the show.

Hi everyone, welcome back. Today we are talking about muscle and leanness and how muscle affects leanness.

You all know that I'm a big advocate for building muscle for all of the incredible benefits. It literally is the anti-aging antidote. It is so good for your body.

But it also can affect leanness and I want to discuss how. So these are the questions we're going to answer today.

Number one, does strength training burn fat? Number two, does having more muscle make you leaner?

Number three, does muscle affect hormones? Number four, how does

strength training play a role when you're in a calorie deficit? So let's just go

right into question number one, does strength training burn fat? Short answer, not really. Let's talk

about this is a little more nuanced. So strength training plays a role in promoting leanness

but not really through the calories burned or the fat burned during the workout itself. In fact,

strength training is often not marketed as a fat loss tool because it doesn't

burn very many calories. But what many don't understand is that strength training has a cellular effect that is important for

fat loss or for maintenance. When performed close to failure, strength training depletes your

glycogen stores in your muscles.

This depletion is key because it primes the muscles to absorb more glucose from subsequent meals,

effectively creating a sponge-like effect.

As a result, more of the carbohydrates consumed post-workout are directed into the muscle tissue

for glycogen replenishment rather than being stored as fat.

So when you eat, more more the sugar from your food is

stored in your muscles rather than as fat. This process enhances insulin

...