Do You Lose More Weight With Cardio Exercise, or Weight Training?

Here’s something that most of us have known for some time now, but actually putting things into action, well, there’s another story. 

Here I am, it’s only the second day of the week, and already I’m doing a second blog on diet and nutrition. (see yesterday’s post super bowl blog).

The big question is this…what causes us to lose more weight;  Cardio exercise, or weight training?  Ultimately, what we really want to know is what is going to give us the best results in the shortest amount of time?  Because we, as Americans, are in too much of a hurry, and losing weight should be no different, right?  “I need to hurry up and lose 50 pounds, swim suit weather is coming up”.

Well, newest research indicates that men who participated in just 20 minutes of weight training each day, saw a smaller increase in belly fat than those who spent the same amount of time doing cardio exercise.  However, when both exercises were being done, even more weight was lost.  So, spending all of your time on the treadmill is not going to cause you to lose weight any faster than if you did 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weight training.

In a nutshell, if you add circuit training to your daily cardio routine, you are likely to lose more weight than you would if you just bounced away on the elliptical machine.  What you are doing when you do weight training, is essentially “wrecking” your muscles.  Believe it or not, your body is burning calories as it repairs those wrecked muscles.  How about that?  You are burning calories while you do nothing.  That’s a bonus in my book.

Maybe add to the routine, it doesn’t take much.  Not to be an advocate of Planet Fitness, but they actually have circuit training stations setup for you to do a 30 minute circuit weight training routine.  It’s nice, I just need to get in there a few more times during the week.