Does muscle burn fat? A landmark experiment from the 1970s shows you how to burn fat weight training.

Best Exercise to Burn Fat?

If you made any New Year resolutions for 2011, chances are losing fat featured high on your list.

Following the yuletide celebrations, it is not uncommon to gain between 6-10 pounds of unwanted body fat - most of which goes around your middle as evidenced by the snugness of your waistband!

But before you begin a diet and start increasing your cardio at the gym, perhaps you might want to consider the groundbreaking findings of a 1970s muscle building experiment.

Burn Fat Weight Training

Conducted at a research laboratory in Colorado, Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones set out to prove the efficacy of abbreviated training with the aim of building muscle.

His results were startling.

How does this sound?

1. Average muscle gains of over 20 pounds...

5. Body fat percentages halved.

And the exciting part?

These results were attained without any marathon workouts or fancy diets!

How Does Muscle Burn Fat?

So just how did Arthur Jones achieve such results?

Jones proposed increases in strength and muscle mass were directly related to training frequency and intensity, and that too much exercise would actually reduce the production of strength and muscle gain.

Using methods that were considered revolutionary at the time, Jones had his test subjects train intensely and briefly. Unlike the typical all-day workouts of the 70s, Jones's protocol consisted of no more than 3-5 exercises trained 3 times a week - and most alarmingly, each of these exercises would be trained with 1 single work set.

The Results?

After the first 14 days, test subject Casey Viator gained 29 pounds of muscle, and Arthur Jones gained 9 pounds. By week 4, both subjects would continue to gain at a daily average of 1 pounds and .5 pounds respectively.

The strength gains were equally impressive.

During his first test, Viator performed 32 repetitions in the leg press. By day 28, Viator completed 45 repetitions with 840 pounds - more than double his earlier efforts. Other exercises showed similar remarkable rates of increase.

But perhaps the most exciting findings of all were their rates of fat loss.

Without restricting calories, both Jones and Viator were able to build muscle as they shaved their body fat percentage in half!

To discover their fat burning secret, see Does Muscle Burn Fat

Lee is a full-time professional artist and writer. This passion for the written word has seen him publish numerous short stories and articles, while incorporating his love for storytelling into his art.

When Lee is not drawing or writing, he can be found indulging his interest in fitness.

Home is a tiny coastal town in North Wales.