When it comes to the journey of weight loss, many people are faced with a hard choice between cardiovascular exercises and weight training. Some people think for effective weight loss, weight training is critical. On the other hand, others have a feeling that you can quickly lose extra pounds through proper cardio. There is no one-fit-it approach to weight and fat loss since both ways work when used appropriately.
Falling for the common misconception that you must do cardio to burn fat is one of the largest mistakes you could make, and it could hinder your progress.
Weight Training Will Increases Short-Term and Long-run Calorie Burn
First, weight training is useful in the war against burning extra calories. Weight training causes calorie burn, but only in the short run. With the right cardio training, you are likely to lose up to 40-80 calories per session. However, this will depend on the amount of intensity and the duration your exercises will take. If you need to generate a significant amount of post-calorie burn from your cardio, you’ll need to engage yourself for a longer time.
Weight Training Increases Long-Term Calorie Burn
The other thing you need to consider when choosing which way to go to achieve your fat loss goal is whether the exercises will cause a long-term increase in metabolic rates. Weight training will help in building more lean muscle mass, which is the right way of burning calories. Your ability to burn more fat depends on your basal metabolic rate, which is a component of more muscles. As you try to add muscle, it is essential to be realistic with the amount of it that you need at the end of the program. Naturally, average men can add 1-2 pounds of pure muscle per month while their female counterparts can gain between 0.5 to 1 pound.
Strength and resistance training helps to build more muscle. By gaining more muscle, you increase your resting metabolic rate than the amount of fat. Weight loss training is essential in helping you maintain your muscles. Losing weight boils down to losing extra fat and increasing your lean muscle mass. Weight training enables you to achieve low fat while retaining your muscle. The most sought-after gain of weight training is the after-burn effect, which is the amount of energy your body requires o utilizes shortly after your workouts. Your body metabolism increases after your exercises.
Cardio Exercises and Fat Burn
Some studies have shown that the count of the calories you can lose is higher (500-800 calories) when you do longer and intense cardio sessions. On average, one needs to burn 3,500 calories to register a loss of 1 pound of body fat; therefore, doing more of these cardio exercises can help you in your weight loss journey. Remember that you will have to keep doing those cardio exercises for longer if you have to win in your weight loss war.
While weight-training sessions may not be as effective in burning as many calories per minute compared to cardio (but this again depends on the intensity and length of weight lifting), overall the benefits of weight training outweigh those of cardio when it comes to burning of calories.
While both cardio and weight training approaches distinct ways of weight loss each with its own merits and demerits, when combined, these two approaches can be a powerful way of losing fat. The question many people looking to lose weight ask is whether to focus more on aerobic workouts or weight training. Let’s address this right away: you need to involve in both for the best results. Numerous studies have shown that when done correctly, cardio outperforms weights when it comes to weight loss. The reasoning behind this finding is that cardio is more intense and is bound to give consistent results compared to intermittent exercises.
Advantages of Cardio for Fat Loss
Perhaps the reason many people prefer aerobic exercises or cardio is that it is done at moderate intensities for longer when compared to weight training, which is intermittent. The fact that cardio is continuous makes it a better way of spending your energy during a workout. Also, cardio involves combining weights and body movements to enable your body to gain more. While weights may be included, movement is the primary focus of cardio. Moving faster so that you increase the heart rate, you will be able to achieve a higher afterburn. Aside from weight loss and muscle building, cardio is considered by many people as the best for heart and lung wellness.
Conclusion
Weight training not only helps you build more muscle mass but also helps with fat loss. If you are just interested in burning extra fat alone, you may want to show up in a cardio exercise session. If you are looking to gain more muscle mass while burning that extra pound, you will need to spend some more time in the gym lifting weights.