Do muscles burn fat?
The human body will burn more calories to maintain a pound of muscle than it will to maintain a pound of fat. Therefore, the more muscle you build, the more calories your body will naturally burn each day at rest, and this will improve your overall fat loss progress.
How Many Calories Does Muscle Mass REALLY Burn?
Muscle is an active tissue that is constantly renewing itself, therefore requiring energy (calories).One pound of muscle burns approximately 5-6 calories per day at rest. This would mean if you build 10lbs of muscle it would lead to energy consumption of 50-60 extra calories per day.
There are 2 larger main muscle groups of the body. If you work on these muscles, you can keep your metabolism high.
1. Legs
Leg muscles are the biggest and strongest muscles of our body. They are the largest muscle group. For most people it is quite hard to gain immediate muscle mass on the legs. And unlike biceps or chest, you never see immediate ‘pump’ in your legs post workout, so it can be quite frustrating at times. But working on your leg muscles will make it easier to keep the fat off and metabolic rate high. In fact, strong legs even contribute to muscle gain for the rest of the body. Most of cardio or aerobic exercises are concentrated on the legs. These exercises will help in toning the muscles of the legs. Aerobic exercise is very important for overall health, stress relief, and conditioning of the muscles. You should even focus on heavy weight exercises for the legs such as leg presses and weighted squats for substantial benefit.
2. The Back:
The back muscles are the other large muscle group in our body. These muscles are very important to our health since they increase overall upper body strength, other than keeping away back pains and age related injuries. Strong, active back muscles burn fat effectively since they are a large muscle group. They even give good overall shape to the body. Focus on basic movements like deadlifts, pull-ups, chin-ups and rows for maximum gain and benefit.
Which of the two muscle burns more fat?
There is simply more muscle fiber packed into the body from the hips down, and this includes the muscle group that enables the legs to perform vital movements. Leg muscles have the potential to burn more fat because of their size. So focus on your leg muscles to increase your fat burn. But back muscles are also important, so do not skip those either.