Is Cardiovascular Exercise Or Strength Training Better For Fat Loss?

As long as there are people who want to get into shape, there will always be people arguing about whether cardiovascular exercises or strength training is best for weight loss.

First of all, let us understand a very important concept, and that is weight loss is not the same as fat loss. Many people feel discouraged when they see their bodies improving but their weight on the weighing scales remains the same. In such cases, it is best to ignore the numbers on the weighing scale. After all, there is a chance you may have lost fats but gained new muscle mass! Also, the same volume of muscle weighs heavier than that of fats. After I understood this, the weighing scale only served as an additional point of reference, and I used the mirror as my best judgement of how much my body has improved, and whether I have achieved my fitness goals.

Next, depending on your body weight, you will need to consume a particular amount of calories each day to maintain it. Consuming less than that amount will inevitably result in weight loss while eating more will actually make you gain weight; although the types of calories you consume will determine whether you are losing fats or losing muscle mass.

Actually, a session of intense strength training by itself burns less calories than a session of intense cardiovascular exercise. If you are performing strength training the right way, you will be doing intense exercises for a much shorter period of time; however you will be gaining more lean muscle mass. Lean muscle mass takes considerably more energy to maintain than fats, therefore when you have more lean muscle mass, you will burn more calories passively. In other words, even during sedentary periods, a person with more lean muscle mass will burn more calories than a person who has less muscle mass.

However, it is actually best for you to perform both cardiovascular exercises as well as strength training. The best way to do so will be to engage in a short but intense session of strength training, followed by a rather short but also intense session of cardiovascular training. This will ensure that you put on lean muscle mass and burn fats at the same time.

It is always best to perform both types of exercises for the maximum results, as both have their benefits and disadvantages. By combining them both, their benefits will be compiled while their disadvantages will be cancelled out!