If you’re trying to lose fat and doing nothing but running, you may be sabotaging yourself. While cardio training, like running, burns tons of calories, some of which come from fat, some also come from muscle tissue. You can do strength training and also burn tons of calories to lose weight, but you’ll be building muscle at the same time. So does cardio or strength-training burn more fat? Both are good for weight loss, but for fat loss, in some ways, strength-training is better.
You need a variety of workouts for the best results.
Cardio is important for more than just its calorie burning ability. It improves your endurance, so you can workout longer and harder. Strength training, however, builds muscle tissue. The more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn, since muscle requires more calories to maintain than fat does. Strength training gets most of the calories from fat. You also need flexibility and balance training to prevent injury.
Strength training continues burning calories even after it’s finished.
Afterburn is a term used to describe the extra calories burned after a tough strength-training workout. It occurs because the body is trying to get back to its normal state. It’s not a huge amount, but it does raise your metabolism for several days after a workout, burning approximately and extra 10 calories every hour, even with a relatively moderate workout. If you multiply that by just 30 hours, it’s 300 calories. Over the long haul, that can really add up on a monthly basis. Cardio does the same thing, but the amount of calories burned in after burn is lower and doesn’t last as long, unless you’re sprinting at a high rate. With strength training, like weightlifting.
Weight training also helps shape your body and tone it.
Even if you lose a lot of weight, if you aren’t toned, you won’t look nearly as good. When you use strength training to help burn fat, you’ll also build muscles and get the toned, attractive appearance. Cardio may help you lose calories, but it’s just shrinking your body and making it narrower, not sculpting the body for a toned lean appearance. In fact, the more muscle tissue you have, the slimmer you look even if your weight doesn’t change.
- To burn fat, you also need to make sure you have a healthy diet that contains fewer calories and adequate protein to build muscle tissue.
- HIIT workouts—high intensity interval training—isn’t a specific workout, but a way of doing exercises where you vary the intensity. Whether you do HIIT strength-training or cardio, it burns more calories.
- You need to vary your workout to burn more fat. Your body becomes efficient at specific movements and uses fewer calories. It can cause fewer calories to be burned.
- Some types of strength-training, like kettlebells, burn tons of calories, build muscles, provide a full body workout and improves strength, flexibility, balance and cardio.
For more information, contact us today at Rising Fitness Gym