Is strength/resistance training pointless?

TrishDLish81

I recently added some strength training to my life to compliment my improved eating habits and cardio. Nothing too extreme - my gym has a "circuit" of 12 or so resistance machines, so 3-4 days per week (every other day with a rest day in between) I do 3 or so sets of 10-12 reps on each machine, trying to max out what I'm capable of. I have a significant amount of fat to lose (I'm about 46% BF right now at ~225lbs, trying to get down to somewhere between 25% and 30%), and I was hoping to build lean body mass to help increase my BMR and improve my fat loss.

However, now I keep seeing that you can't build muscle on a calorie deficit. Currently, I'm eating at a 750-1000 deficit every day (I eat back most but often not all of my exercise calories) which usually has me at a net somewhere between 1200 and 1450. Fat loss is my primary goal so I obviously need to continue eating at a deficit. In my circumstances, what are the benefits of strength/resistance training? If I can't build muscle anyway, what's the point? Is the best I can hope for just holding onto a small portion of the muscle mass I'd otherwise lose by losing weight overall? (Looking for legit answers from someone more knowledgeable than me - I'm a total noob when it comes to this stuff, haha.)

Jynus

1) retain muscle mass. if you don't resistance train, more will atrophy than if you do resistance train.

2) in relation with the above, more lean mass retained = more fat lost by comparison.

3) you can build lean mass as an utter noob... for a lil while.

4) improve CNS function. In otherwords, teaching the muscles to actually work. Muscle size is one function of strength. but if those muscles don't know how to work together properly, then they are weak and inefficient. Strength training teaches this, so you can get stronger even without building more lean mass.

5) And you're not doing strength training with your circuits.. strength training is short and very intense movements at 6rep or less to just before failure.