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Strength Training VS. Cardio | Which One Is Better For Losing Weight ?

  • Jan 20, 2021
  • 2 min read

This is a question I've been asked during my career as a Personal Trainer many-many times. It seems to be a big debate when people start their fitness journey. Both Cardio & Strength training are very popular and have their own benefits but is any of them better if you want to lose weight? Let's look at both training styles more in detail and then we can decide.


First of all weight-loss occurs when you're in a calorie deficit, which means you're burning more calories than you take in. A huge part of this comes from diet but you can help the process with exercising frequently.


How Cardio Affects Weight-Loss


Cardio exercise raises your heart rate into your target heart rate zone, where you burn calories and fat. The number of calories you can burn will depend on your weight and the exercise intensity. Usually the more you weigh, the more calories your body is able to burn. The exercise intensity plays a big part as well, because for example if you were walking for 30 minutes, you would burn around 100-250 calories (depending on your weight), but with jogging you could burn up to 400 calories during this 30 minutes. This means that cardio can burn relatively a lot of calories in 1 session so it can be an effective method to lose weight.


How Lifting Weights Affects Weight-Loss


If we look at how much calories can be burnt during a 30 minute cardio session, compared to that a 30 minute weight-training session will burn around 110-230 calories, again depending on the intensity & your weight. That means that lifting weights won't burn as many calories during the sessions but it has other benefits that helps weight-loss. For example it is the most effective way to build muscle and muscle burns more calories when you rest. Even after your training is done, your metabolism stays elevated and you'll still burn calories.


Which one should you choose?


To sum it up, both type of training have their own benefits. Cardio burns more calories in 1 session but Weight Training improves your metabolism over time and it increases the number of calories you burn after your workout.


The answer to which one is better, I would say the best is to combine the 2 together. By this you'll get the benefits of both training methods. If your goal is mainly related to weight-loss, then add up the number of cardio sessions, and if you're goal is to lose weight & gain muscle then do both equally.


Hope this helps to understand more about these training tipes & answers the often asked question.



Stay Happy & Healthy,


Sofi






 
 
 

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