Cardio Vs. Weights For Fat Loss

Ben BA(Hons), PGCert

The normal train of thought is that if you want to shed pounds of unwanted fat, the best solution is to pound the streets running, cycling or (if possible) get rowing and ensuring that your calorie intake at least stays the same, but preferably it is decreased. Provided that the exercise burns more energy than consumed you should see a steady decrease in body weight.

However, this is now not always the answer as weight/resistance training has it’s own benefits to cut fat which can be everything anyone who has experienced the boring monotony of a treadmill would love to hear.

Now, as with most things it isn’t quite a clear cut as we would wish – there’s just too many variables between each person and body type.

However, when you lose fat you also want to build and maintain muscle mass – building muscle obviously adds a bit of weight to the body and this is where it can confuse trainee’s as they become obsessed with the scale rather than body fat percentage. When we add or maintain muscle mass, particularly lean muscle mass is gives us that nice athletic look rather than an unhealthy and uninspiring skinny and bony aesthetic. Increasing muscle mass also keeps the metabolism higher.

Therefore, whilst looking to lose fat, always look to gain good, lean muscle – this includes women also – don’t worry, unless you start taking hormones or hormone altering drugs you are not going to look masculine, quite the opposite.

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So change your mindset, don’t think I need to lose weight, think I need to build lean muscle.

Let’s take a look at the pro’s and con’s of cardio versus resistance training.

Cardio

Pros

Very high calorie burn during session (falls off shortly after)
Low barrier to entry, many different activities can be incorporated
Excellent low intensity options for fat loss i.e walking
Little need for rest in comparison to weight training

Cons

Most people will use running as default cardio, but over running is a common problem, resulting in injuries and strains
Difficult for very unfit people to get into, excepting at very low intensity
Moderate to intense sustained cardio is not ideal for hormone balance, especially for those with high cortisol levels (a sign of tiredness and/or stress)
Extremely difficult to create a balanced physique through cardio alone

Quick Tip: Sprinting is a form of cardiovascular training that not only delivers all of the benefits of traditional cardio training but can also help burn additional calories for days after training and arguably even promote an anabolic response.

Weight Training

Pros

Increases muscle mass quickly
Causes a sustained spike in metabolism, which means you burn calories long after the exercise is over
Low barrier to entry for the very unfit
Offers the ability to grow muscle and loss fat simultaneously

Cons

Higher barrier to recovery (e.g a four hour walk is great whereas a four hour weight session would be counter productive)
Lower caloric burn in comparison to cardio (minute by minute, not over time)
Lots of bad information on the market, leading to poor results
Can increase hunger significantly, so discipline with diet becomes a factor in success

It is pretty clear to see that actually weight training provides many more benefits overall than cardio.

Weight training simply offers most of the health benefits of cardio, while most of the fat loss benefits of cardio can be achieved simply through reducing caloric intake.

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