Cardio vs Weights: Which one is more efficient when it comes to losing weight or fat loss? If you have such a question in your mind then I will clear all your doubts and improve your fitness IQ.
This article will tell all you need to know about cardio vs weights for weight loss. Just keep reading.
The common misconception
Many people believe that to lose weight, do more cardio, and when it comes to building muscle, lift weights. Well, it is not that simple. Our bodies don’t work like that.
There’s no need to do hours and hours of cardio to lose weight. You can also do weight training. In fact, weight training works better than cardio to lose weight.
Hence relying only on cardio or doing too much cardio to lose weight can be your biggest mistake. Along with the fat, you may end up losing some muscles too.
Let’s science the shit out of it…
How do you Lose Weight?
I’ll try to explain it to you in the simplest way possible.
The extra fat or weight you contain in your body is nothing but the extra calories you are consuming. Now to lose weight, you just have to reduce your calorie intake or increase your energy expenditure by adding exercise in your routine.
So it’s all about taking a caloric deficit diet or maintaining a negative energy balance – burning more calories than you consume.
Isn’t it simple? Yeah. All you need is strong determination and discipline.
Now let’s compare between the two most common types of workouts – cardio vs weight training – which burns more calories to lose weight.
Cardio and Calorie Burn
Cardio is an effective way of burning calories. However, the number of calories you can burn in a cardio session depends on your intensity, type of exercise you do, and your body weight.
The more you weigh, the more calories you burn in the same time.
For example, someone who weighs 73 kg (160 lb), will burn around 250 calories by doing half an hour of jogging at a moderate pace. On the other hand, by running faster (10 km/h), he can burn around 360 calories in the same time span (1).
Whereas, by doing weight training for the same amount of time you will burn fewer calories than cardio.
SUMMARY: The number of calories you burn during cardio depends on your weight and exercise intensity. The more you weigh and the more intensely you exercise, the more calories you burn.
Does that mean Cardio burns more calories?
Well, it’s true that cardio burns more calories than weight training for the same time span by doing the same amount of effort.
However, the overall calorie-burning benefits you get from weight training are more than that of the cardio.
Calorie Burning effects of Weight Training
Along with muscle building, weight training gives you a lot of fat loss benefits too.
Weight training increases EPOC
EPOC – Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption. Weight training increases the long-term calorie burn. During cardio, you burn calories only during the session but weight training gives you the post-workout calorie-burning benefits.
This occurs because your body needs the energy to repair the damaged muscle fibers after weight training. It happens at a much higher rate after an intense weight training session as compared to a cardio session.
A study was done by the sports scientist of James Cook University found that “physiological stress caused by a 40-60 minutes resistance training session can continue for two days or more post-exercise, as opposed to a recovery period of 24 hours after a typical endurance training bout.“
Increases your resting metabolism
Resting metabolism means how many calories you burn at rest. Weight training builds muscle which is the major factor in increasing resting metabolism. The more lean muscle mass you have in your body, the more calories you would burn at rest.
According to a report published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, resting metabolism can stay elevated for up to 38 hours after weight training, whereas there is no such increase has been reported after cardio.
So this means that instead of burning, say, 70 calories while working on the computer, you would burn 80 calories. Burning these 10 extra calories is not a big deal. But when you multiply this by 38 then it will create a big difference in your daily calorie expenditure.
By doing Weight training you’ll keep burning calories throughout the day. It builds muscle hence, increases metabolism which further helps in more calories burn.
In short, weight training can make your body a calorie-burning machine.
Cardio vs Weights: The best approach for Weight Loss
Cardio and weight training, both have their own benefits and both are important for improving your body composition and health.
Doing only cardio may lead to muscle loss and can be very boring too. Adding weight training will give you variety in your workout and build muscles too.
Hence, the best approach for healthy weight loss would be to combine both of them wisely.
Combining weight training and cardio
Combine them in any way you feel comfortable. You can do cardio and weight training on alternate days of the week – like one day cardio and other day weight training and so on.
Or you can do them in different sessions like Dwayne Johnson – early morning empty stomach cardio and weight training later in the day.
You can also do them in a single session – start your workout with weight training and then do some cardio at the end for about 30 minutes. I recommend doing cardio after weight training as it is more beneficial for several reasons.
Read more: Best Time To Do Cardio Exercises (Science-Based)
Conclusion
So this was the detailed research-based article comparing cardio vs weights for fat loss. Breaking the myth that cardio is for weight loss and weight training for muscle gain. It is not that simple.
Cardio can help you in weight loss by burning some extra calories but weight training is also very effective. In addition to burning calories, weight training helps you in building muscle and gives you a toned body.
Hence, a perfect workout plan for improving body composition includes weight training and cardio both. Even if your only goal is fat loss and doesn’t want to put on muscles, weight training will only help you. So make it a priority to lift weights.
Thank you for reading this so far. I hope you liked this article and learned something valuable from this. If you have any queries, feel free to ask in the comments.
