Cardio Versus Weight Lifting – Which Is Optimal For Weight Loss?
One question that many of those looking for weight loss have and often get confused over is whether cardio or weight training is more effective for weight loss. It's important that you do spend some good time considering this because both activities will have a very different impact on your progress over the long term.
While there's not one absolute best answer, the scale does tend to favour one over the other. Let's have a look.
Benefits Of Cardio For Weight Loss The first benefit of cardio for weight loss is that virtually anyone can do it. You don't need any special equipment other than a good pair of running shoes and the great outdoors. While there are definitely many different forms of cardio you can perform, if you want something that's cheap and easy to do, walking or running really can't be beat.
It doesn't require any special skills so regardless of who you are, this is one type of exercise you can do.
A second benefit of cardio is that it does tend to burn a number of calories while you are performing the workout. Since burning off calories is a critical element in the game of fat loss, obviously this is going to provide benefits.
Drawbacks Of Cardio For Weight Loss Now, when it comes to the drawbacks of cardio for fat loss, one of the biggest things is that it will only cause you to burn calories while you're doing it. So while it is a good calorie burner, it's only good if you keep doing it.
Therefore, if you're serious about seeing weight loss with cardio, you must be constantly putting in the time.
Another drawback to cardio is that it won't really reshape the body all that much. You may find you lose weight, but you may end up looking like a smaller version of your current self.
Benefits Of Weight Lifting For Weight Loss Now moving over to weight lifting, one of the biggest benefits to this is that over time you will build lean muscle mass, which then increases the metabolic rate. What this means is that all day long you will burn more calories minute per minute, making fat loss that much easier.
Also, since weight lifting causes the muscle tone to develop to a much larger extent, you'll find you look a lot fitter and stronger when weight training is performed.
Drawbacks Of Weight Lifting For Weight Loss The drawback to weight training now is the fact that results can take a bit longer to show. While you will certainly look firmer right from the start, those metabolism boosting benefits may not occur for a few months while the lean muscle mass is build up, therefore you must be sure you're eating well also.
When you can get a good diet in line though and then a solid weight training program, that's when you can be sure that you are going to see the best long term success.
So keep these points in mind. In most cases weight lifting is the superior form of exercise for fat loss, but it really does also come down to your personal preference and which one you complete most often.
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Shannon Clark, BPE, AFLCA Certified, is a personal trainer and writer out of Edmonton, Alberta. She's been in the health and fitness business for over 8 years and is passionate in helping others achieve their goals
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