There’s a lesson I wish I had learned a long time ago. It is that there are other ways to burn calories and lose weight besides aerobics. Because it seems that resistance training may be as important for burning off the fat.
Hmmmm. No wonder I was struggling with weight loss even though I spent hours on the stationary bike and treadmill. Yet for some reason my fat loss was more or less minimal to say the least. More of less limited to what you could say was “not so much”.
So if you too are laboring (literally) under the misconception that aerobics is the best too, the isn’t it time to clear the air? I mean just why is aerobic training said to be best for burning fat? Or so it seems? And where does resistance training fit into this picture?
But doesn’t it seem aerobic exercises have always been promoted for fat loss? For obvious reasons too. Aerobics are relatively easy to do and don’t have a lot of real discomfort associated with them. Plus the theory behind all this is straightforward. Achieve your fat burning heart rate. Keep it there for 30-40 minutes duration. Then you’re done.
And don’t forget you can often distract yourself with TV, music or other types of entertainment when doing aerobics.
Alternatively, we’d rather not think of the stress and strain resistance training involves. I mean it involves lifting weights repeatedly for a specific number of times. Ugh! All the math involved gives me a headache. No wonder we prefer to stay in our aerobics comfort zone.
But let’s do a reality check here and take a hard look at the list of relative benefits of cardio exercise versus strength training as defined. With an easily overlooked drawback thrown in too.
When it comes to burning off fat here’s how I see what cardio offers.
With any cardiovascular routine you will likely burn a few more calories than resistance training does.
Your body burns fewer calories after the fact though – that is after your workout is over.
Plus you can’t ignore the serious stress you’re putting on your joints and the strain on your muscles unless of course you’re doing water aerobics.
Okay but what fat burning results does resistance training produce?
Believe it or not, depending on the amount of weight used and number of repetitions done you can burn more or less the same amount of calories as with an aerobic workout.
And get this. Post workout, your metabolic rate remains elevated by as much as 30% and will stay that way for as long as 36 hours. Meaning that as your muscles rebuild and repair you are still burning calories. Even while you sleep.
Any core workout that strengthen your ab muscles means there’s less chance of injury because you’re improving your overall balance and coordination.
Voila! Looks like resistance training builds fat burning muscles and helps you lose fat too. No complaints there. So now what? What should you do about it?
For sure, don’t go crazy and stop your cardio workout routine upon reading this since aerobic activities bring with them their own health benefits. Rather, the sensible things to do is, meld low intensity aerobics with measured resistance training to get the best of both worlds. Or additional benefits from cardio like:
They strengthen your heart and lungs making them more efficient.
They improve blood circulation.
They assist in the development of improved stamina, endurance, and level of fitness.
They can help speed repair of muscle tissue damage resulting from your strength training workout.
That makes the success formula obvious. Simply embrace a complete system of cardio, resistance training and better diet to become a fitter, leaner you. Easy, right?
Freelancer Jalinn M Hardy writes for MeltOffTheInches.com. It’s loaded with helpful ideas including why a regular jump rope fitness workout is a great exercise for anyone looking to lose inches. So if you don’t know the benefits of jumping rope why not check that website out now?
