Cardio vs Resistance Training – What’s Best for You?

There are 2 forms of fitness training most us of think about of when it comes to weight loss: 1) cardiovascular training 2) resistance (strength) training.

Many people ask me which is the best form of training to lose weight. At first glance, it seems like lots of cardio would be the best form of training to lose weight because it burns a lot of calories. The more you do, the more calories you burn, after all, we can see the calories burn off on the treadmill counter as we run can’t we?

While this may sound right, focusing on cardio is not the most effective approach, for a few reasons.

1. Cardio makes you hungry. I’ve left the gym many times and seen a person who just finished running hard for 30 minutes down in the Tim Horton’s line-up grabbing a double, double and bagel with cream cheese. The calories from this ‘snack’ are approximately 600 calories, very likely more than what the person just burned on the treadmill! This calories surplus can lead to weight gain vs weight loss.
2. Cardio training does very little for your muscles. It’s our muscle mass that helps reduce body fat by stimulating the metabolism. A toned body burns more calories all day long, even at rest. Yes, you use your muscles when you run, but you don’t overload, or max them out. If you don’t overload the muscles regularly, there’s little chance they’ll increase in size or strength. In fact, excessive cardio exercise can actually make you lose muscle mass over time.
3. Cardio training does less for your joints and bones. Having more muscle can protect your joints and bones; it can also improve your posture and help you move better and more efficiently.

Cardio exercise alone, isn’t the best approach to lose weight, but it is useful when it’s done in conjunction with strength training. It should be secondary to your weight training workout plan.

Lose Weight with Resistance Training

For those of you who want to lose weight, the best exercise program is regular weight training. I perform resistance training with most of my clients, 3 days a week. We often focus on the upper body one day, lower body another day and follow things up with a complete body routine.

Not all resistance exercises are created equally.

Compound exercises, the ones that involve more than one muscle group & multiple joints, are often a better choice over isolation (single joint) movements. They’re more efficient and effective because they require more than one muscle to complete, leading you to burn more calories in less time – we all want that don’t we?

Here are my favourite compound exercises:

1. Squats: target quads, glutes, thighs, calves, stomach & back
2. Deadlifts: target glutes, hamstrings, quads, stomach & back
3. Lunges: target quads, glutes, hamstrings, abs & back
4. Lat pulldowns: target back, arms & shoulders
5. Chest Presses: target chest, shoulders & arms
6. Ab bicycles: target the upper & lower abs, obliques

If your goal is fat loss, I recommend that you make weight training the first priority in your weight loss plan. The benefits of regular resistance training outweigh the results you’ll get from a program built solely on cardio. It’s important to remember, that to lose fat you need to focus on a combination of diet (eat whole foods, limit processed foods), weight training and some cardio.

Sources:
1. Diana Rini, Dec 09, 2014, http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/powerful_workout_exercises.htm
2. JC Deen, http://jcdfitness.com/2016/01/best-exercise-to-lose-weight/