Cardio and strength training are two broad pillars of a fitness regimen. However, the house is divided when it comes to preference. Some enjoy cardio, while there are others who keep it to a minimum — lifting weights being their fitness mantra. The dilemma of choice comes to the fore while planning a weight loss regimen, with both camps believing that their preferred form of workout is more effective at burning fat.
Accompanied by a meticulously planned diet, both cardio and strength training have the potential to boost weight loss. However, is one better than the other?
Role of strength training in weight loss
Strength training focuses on building muscle mass and quality. You can plan a weight training regimen to achieve both. “Improving muscle quality involves training that makes use of more neurons to generate elasticity, which activates more muscle fibers within the targeted muscle group,” says Aamir Bharmal, a fitness coach at HealthifyMe, Bangalore. “Building muscle involves recruiting or engaging more muscles and neural pathways. It also helps develop better nervous system adaptations, leading to muscle growth. This leads to an improved metabolic rate, which enhances fat loss.”
If you build more muscle, you become more metabolically active and efficient. This, in turn, improves the functioning of the endocrine system. For instance, if you have diabetes and start a weight-training program, your insulin sensitivity starts to improve.
Strength training is not just about burning calories. It improves your metabolic health and makes you more active, which in turn helps you burn more calories even after workouts. “Studies have indicated that your metabolic rate increases for up to 72 hours following strength training exercises, which may make you burn more calories even days after the workout,” says Deekshith Gowda, a fitness coach at LIFTR strength and conditioning gym in Bangalore. “Doing strength training three times a week for one hour is sufficient. The flexibility it offers doesn’t require you to train every day.”
Strength training improves your quality of life as well, helping you perform everyday tasks more efficiently. It improves the range of motion and mobility of the muscles, ligaments and tendons, which protects the joints from injuries. It also helps correct muscle imbalances. Increased muscle mass leads to more calorie burning.
How cardio aids weight loss
Cardio burns fat in a different manner. “When you are performing low-intensity steady-state [LISS] cardio [which is done for longer durations], the body switches to using fat as fuel. The energy source, referred to as adenosine triphosphate [ATP], to sustain such activity comes from the fat cells in the body,” explains Bharmal.
Cardio helps metabolize more fat and improves the VO2 max, which refers to the amount of oxygen your body can utilize during intense exercise. This leads to improved heart and lung health.
It is also known to enhance mood and help sustain motivation and consistency. The happy hormones produced while doing these exercises make an individual excited to keep at it and return to working out the next day.
Cardio vs strength training: How to choose
The choice of activity should be made depending on the fitness and age of the individual. Other factors like lifestyle, past exercise experience, medical conditions, physical limitations, etc., should also be considered.
Both forms of exercise can fuel your weight loss journey. So, experts say it is ideal to have a mix of both in the schedule, provided there aren’t any factors that prevent you from attempting a particular type of exercise.
If one only prefers cardio, they will eventually reach a plateau. The same applies to strength training. “Negating one aspect will lead you to plateauing. A mix of both forms of exercise will initially help you lose fat in different ways, making the process more efficient. You will build muscle until the body gets used to it and switches over to fat metabolism, which utilizes fat as a source of fuel,” explains Bharmal.
Experts, however, emphasize the importance of diet as a crucial ingredient in the mix. “Both cardio and strength training are important and have their own unique benefits,” says Gowda. “However, if your goal is weight or fat loss, make sure your nutrition is on point too,” he notes.
An exercise regimen including the right mix of cardio and strength training, accompanied by a balanced diet, will make the weight loss journey successful. The diet must be planned in such a way that the body receives the energy to burn while working out. If your diet doesn’t provide that, the body will start utilizing other components (like the muscle cells) for fuel, which would prove counterproductive.
Takeaways
- Both cardio and strength training help burn fat in their own unique way.
- Strength training helps burn calories by improving the metabolic rate, even hours after working out. Cardio, on the other hand, aids weight loss by breaking down fat cells for energy.
- A combination of both forms of exercise along with a healthy diet will improve fat burning, making your weight loss journey successful.
