Should You Do Cardio Exercise, Strength Training or Both?
If you want to lose weight and improve your health, you probably know that you should exercise regularly. Cardio and strength training are two of the most popular forms of physical activity and can both improve your health in their own ways.
Benefits of Cardio Exercise
Cardio training, such as jogging and biking, is an aerobic activity that raises your heart rate and makes you breathe faster. Cardio exercise can increase the amount of oxygen your blood receives and can help your heart and lungs efficiently transfer oxygen to other parts of your body, improving your endurance and keeping your heart healthy.
Cardio exercise generally burns more calories during a workout than the same amount of time spent on strength training. Your weight can affect the number of calories you’ll burn during a cardio workout. A heavier person will burn more calories than a lighter person who does the same form of exercise for the same amount of time.
Cardio training burns fat faster and leads to more weight loss than strength training alone or a combination of cardio and strength training. If you want to lose weight, you should participate in moderate to vigorous cardio exercise for at least 150 minutes per week.
Reasons to Do Strength Training
Strength training is an anaerobic activity that breaks down glucose to provide energy. Weight training burns fewer calories than a cardio workout while you’re exercising, but strength training builds muscle. When you’re at rest, muscle burns more calories than fat. Weight training can therefore increase your resting metabolic rate, although the effect may not be large.
Strength training may not cause you to lose a lot of weight, but it may lead to significant changes in your body composition. You may lose a lot of fat and gain muscle, and may therefore be healthier overall, even if you see little change in the number on the scale.
Weight training offers other important benefits. It can increase bone density, which can reduce your risk of osteoporosis. Strengthening your muscles can help them support your joints, which can lower your risk of getting injured or developing arthritis.
Advantages of Combining Cardio and Strength Training
If you want to get in shape, a combination of cardio exercise and strength training may be your best bet. That mix may help you lose weight, get rid of fat and gain muscle, as well as improve your overall health.
Seek Medical Advice
Before you start an exercise regimen, discuss it with your doctor. Ask what forms of physical activity you can do safely, how much you should work out to start and whether you should take any precautions due to your current health.
