For many people, excess weight is like a disease that plagues them, resistant to any treatments. After countless pills swallowed, they finally give up, and decide to just live with it. However, losing weight can be quite simple if put into perspective, and coupled with dietary modification and appropriate exercise routines, it can lead to consistent progress. That being said, there is speculation that weight training should be done preferentially for weight loss, over cardiovascular sessions.
Let us analyze both methods;
Weight Training
- Weight Training is an excellent method of exercise to build lean mass, which over time equates to more weight loss. The more muscle mass an individual has, the more calories must be expended at rest to maintain them (higher basal metabolic rate)
- Weight training is the only method of exercise that can directly bring about body recomposition, since the change in lean muscle mass to fat ratio shifts beneficially to the positive side. Improved self esteem is a great add on benefit of weight training.
- Weight training elevates the metabolism for a long time after working out- one of the most beneficial effects of weight training on weight loss, is the post-workout calorie burn that continues. As muscle cells require nutrients after a hard weight training session, more energy must be expended to transport them speedily, and to initiate the rebuilding process.
Cardiovascular Training
- Cardiovascular training improves capacity of the lungs and heart to pump move oxygenated blood around the body. Enhanced circulation results in healthier metabolism and greater post exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC, a key indicator of muscle damage, and subsequent calories expended)
- Cardio is easier to perform for longer periods- while weight training may burn more calories per unit time, cardio training can be done for longer stretches at a time, resulting in greater calorie expenditure. We like to get our clients walking/jogging on grass/cycling or swimming as part of their cardio training.
Conclusion
Overall, weight training can possibly result in better weight loss than performing cardio of the same duration but a properly designed weight training programme WILL get you into far better shape. Weight training variables such as rest between sets, the weight used, time under tension, rest intervals, pauses amongst others can all result in massive caloric expenditures over a workout. There sometimes is a downside to this which is the risk of overtraining. Cardio or active recovery(walking/jogging on grass/cycling or swimming) should be added in the mix for 1-2 days per week, with weight training kept short, intense and to 3-5 sessions per week.
We hope 2013 has started well for you guys, we are extremely busy with our 6 Week Body Transformation clients and some excellent results await those who have just started their training/nutrition programmes with us this week. We also have an Online Transformation programme for those of you who live too far away from us to train with us and the next online programme will begin at the start of February.
Thanks for reading
Adrian Harper