June 15, 2026, 11:30 am | Read time: 6 minutes
Lose weight without the yo-yo effect and without counting calories for life? Training certain four muscles can help. A personal trainer revealed what’s behind it.
To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume. (Income, expenses–it’s no different with the calorie balance than with your bank account). Many people think of cardio when it comes to training, but strength training is also important. You should focus on specific muscles–if done correctly, you can lose weight effectively. We explain how and provide exercise tips.
Want to lose weight? Then train these four muscle groups
Strength training is not just strength training. Of course, there’s a difference between doing bicep curls with a dumbbell in hand or going into a deep squat with a barbell on your shoulders. The larger the muscle group being trained, the more effective the workout. This applies not only to the energy expenditure during training but also to the calories you burn in the future through additional muscle mass.
By the way, in so-called “compound exercises” like squats and deadlifts, most muscles work as auxiliary muscles anyway. Those who regularly do squats can usually skip extra abdominal muscle training.
The following exercises help build muscle and thus increase the basal metabolic rate. For the best results, you should train the different muscle groups at least twice a week.
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A strong glutes
The glutes are the largest muscle in the body and burn a lot of calories. A reason to like the “Big Booty” trend! A trained glutes also protects against back pain and provides a strong foundation for good posture. Unfortunately, many of us sit a lot in our daily lives. An intense glute workout helps counteract this.
Exercises for trained glutes
- Hip Thrusts
- Stiff Deadlifts
- Romanian Deadlifts
- Glute Bridges
Never skip “Leg Day”
The legs are another large muscle group that significantly increases calorie consumption. They are usually trained along with the glutes, but there are also some isolated glute exercises that don’t involve the legs (such as hip thrusts). Those still clinging to the cardio belief “the more calories burned, the better” can rejoice: leg training raises the heart rate and, with exercises like squats, lunges, jumping squats, and more, ensures high calorie consumption.
Exercises for trained legs
- Squats
- Deadlifts
- Abductor and adductor machine
- Weighted lunges
Strengthen the back
And again the backside: The back muscles are also large in area and thus increase calorie consumption. A strong back also protects you from poor posture and shortening.
Exercises for a trained back
- Swimmers
- Rowing
- Pull-ups (with band)
Core training instead of sit-ups
The core refers to your entire upper body and includes the abdominal muscles, torso, back, and lumbar area. A strong core protects your organs and provides stability in other sports, such as swimming or running.
Exercises for a trained core
- Russian Twist
- Plank
- Hanging leg raises
Positive “side effect”: The afterburn effect
If you want to lose weight, strength training is not only a good idea because it builds muscles that increase the basal metabolic rate. Strength training also benefits from a high afterburn effect because the body has to repair the stressed muscles.
Calorie consumption without exercise
You burn calories through basic activities like breathing, producing hormones, talking, watching Netflix… The entire human existence costs the body energy. In addition to this so-called “basal metabolic rate,” there are also training and non-exercise daily movements like walking, tapping your foot, climbing stairs, which are summarized as NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis). Both factors increase calorie expenditure–the reason why the elliptical machines in the gym are still so often occupied.
The effect of endurance training
It’s true, cardio training burns a lot of calories and is clearly ahead of strength training. But what many forget is that cardio sessions only burn calories during the time we are actually active. Once we step off the elliptical or take off our running shoes, the increased calorie consumption is over. However, those who also build muscles through strength training can significantly increase their calorie consumption.
Personal experience: Effect of strength training
Speaking from personal experience: Until 2017, I was an absolute runner. I covered at least 40, often 50 or more kilometers per week in my running shoes and only reluctantly (and rather sporadically) did stability training. At the end of 2017, I reduced my running volume to 20 kilometers per week and started with Freeletics–a type of functional training. With less but obviously more effective training, I lost five kilos of fat and gained one kilo of muscle in three months, if the body analysis at the gym is to be believed. Strength training may burn fewer calories per hour (for me, it’s about 200 calories per hour) than running (500 calories per hour). However, it changes body composition.
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More muscles for higher calorie consumption
The good thing about increasing muscle mass is that muscles burn more calories even at rest. One kilo of muscle mass burns 13 kilocalories per day at rest, while one kilo of fat tissue burns only 4.5 kilocalories. Fat is convenient for the body because it protects it in tough times and is economical. Those who want to lose weight permanently should therefore focus on strength training to increase the basal metabolic rate. But what should such strength training look like, and which muscles are particularly important if you want to lose weight?
Conclusion: Four muscles support weight loss
Weight loss only works if you burn more calories than you consume. To avoid constantly depriving yourself and curbing your appetite, strength training should be part of your exercise routine to build muscles. With additional muscles, you burn more calories and can eat more without gaining weight. The best muscle growth is promised by large muscle groups like the legs or glutes, followed by the back and core. If you train these muscles or muscle groups three to four times a week, you can soon enjoy a strong body and an increased basal metabolic rate.