Cardio vs weights… the best way to blast fat and lose weight fast
IT'S a question that gym goers have been asking themselves since the dawn of time: which is more important, cardio or weights?
With summer on the horizon, loads of us are busy trying to get fit and lean - and fast.
But after a winter of doing nothing, where do you even start if you want to get those abs popping?
Bodybuilders swear that running is the devil and running fans seem to hate stepping into the weights room.
So, which one is right for you and your goals?
Cardio burns more fat than weights
First things first, cardio is easier to start with.
To get a good cardio workout, all you have to have is a pair of trainers. You can go for a run anytime, anywhere and it'll help you to burn a good number of calories.
You can find our 12-step beginner's guide to running here.
Cardio is also a bonafide calorie-killer.
that people who just do aerobic exercise (that's stuff like jogging, swimming, cycling, dancing), up to four times more body fat as people who just did weights, and the same amount of fat as people who did a combination of both.
That led experts to conclude that if you only have time to do one, "aerobic training is the optimal mode of exercise for reducing fat mass and body mass".
But as with any kind of weight loss, it all depends on your body and your specific goals.
It makes you less hungry
Ever gone for a jog and found that - miraculously - you don't feel that hungry anymore?
Well, it's not just you.
by researchers at the University of Western Australia found that people who do high-intensity cardio for just 15 minutes ate 11 per cent less in the following 24 hours.
That's because doing intense exercise causes your body to start moving more blood around - diverting it away from your gut and making you less hungry.
But cardio can also cause you to burn muscle
Cardio is so good for you. It helps with heart health and lung function and as we say, it's a great fat-burner.
But it burns muscle as well as fat, which is why lots of bodybuilders refuse to run.
In fact, a Penn State Uni study found doing either cardio or weights resulted in a 21lb weight loss, but the cardio group also burned through 6lb of muscle - unlike the weights group.
When you're looking to slim down, you want to be burning fat and not muscle.
Because lean muscle mass needs energy itself, the higher your muscle percentage, the more calories you burn at rest.
PT and Laura Hoggins told The Sun: "On its own, cardio may seem to ‘burn’ the most calories due to the intensity of the activity vs. weight lifting, however, if you just did cardio, you may in fact ‘burn’ muscle mass which won’t support a defined shape."
Weights turn fat to muscle
Weight training, on the other hand, only turns fat into muscle.
When you lift heavy weights, you're breaking down the muscle - causing it to repair itself and get stronger.
That process needs energy and your body turns to its own fat supply to keep those muscles fed.
Laura writes in her upcoming book, "If you're wearing a calorie-tracker while you pound the treadmill, it may well tell you that you're burning more calories during that 30 minutes on the treadmill that when you do 30 minutes resistance training.
"However that's not the whole story. Strength training gives you a higher percentage of lean muscle mass.
"If you have more muscle mass, you'll also have a higher metabolism so you'll burn more calories just staying alive - not just in that half an hour when you're training, but every single hour of the day and night."
Weights can help correct posture
"With a well balanced resistance training program you should cover every one of the seven primal movement patterns of the body (squat, hinge/ bend, lunge, push, pull, twist/anti-twist and gait), and in doing so work near enough every single muscle in the body," explains Dan Pearse from.
"That can’t be a bad thing right?
"With the majority of cardio machines/exercises, you're typically stuck in a particular movement pattern for repetition after repetition, which can promote bad posture and muscle imbalances."
You can re-shape your body by targeting certain muscles
You can't choose where fat comes from - fat belongs to your whole body, meaning that you can't control where it sits or drops from.
"Unfortunately, when we expend energy via movement and exercise there is no real way of achieving targeted fat loss," Laura told us.
But you can target certain muscles to grow them, which then makes that area more defined.
That's how you can build a bubble bum, work on ab muscles, or target your underarms.
"You can focus your strength training on working specific muscle groups to create a physical definition over time.
"Combining cardio (anything that elevates the heart rate) and weights/resistance training helps to support a strong, fit and healthy body alongside the correct nutrition for your lifestyle and your goals."
Dorota Maslewska, personal trainer at , told The Sun: "The best things for body re-composition are lifting weights three-to-five times per week to facilitate muscle building, HIIT training two-to-three times per week to help burn extra fat and keep the heart healthy, and small calorie deficit to facilitate fat loss.
"All these things over a long period will get someone in great shape."
However, cardio can make the effects of that specific weight training even more successful.
You could squat till the cows come home, but you've got to do cardio in order for muscle tone to show.
That means that you do have to jump on the treadmill if you want to see those gains.
Both cardio and weights are super important
Laura, a strong woman and two-time marathon champ, is obviously a fan of doing both cardio and weights.
"In my opinion, there is literally no disadvantages to being strong, so if you want a strong, lean, healthy and defined physique that will support your functional needs, do both!
"That means that you can run to catch the bus and be strong enough to pull it too!"
But Foundry PT Dan told us that as a society, we're "obsessed with cardio training".
"While a certain level of cardio training is necessary, we advise that you don’t go overboard with it.
"Of course, cardio training can help you lose weight but there are so many benefits to resistance training which you would be missing out on if you were to solely stick with the cardio training.
"That is why we feel that a combination of full body resistance training and the right cardio training to support it is the best way to get not only the body of your dreams, but a fitter, healthier more efficient body."
Diet is also crucial
While exercise is vital to general good health and fitness, you can't ignore just how important diet is to meeting goals.
"I believe that you can't out-train a bad diet because there are so many detrimental factors to poor nutrition," Darren Sealy, PT and director of Mindset London, previously told The Sun.
"Your body may look good on the outside but the implications that a diet lacking nutritional value will place internally on your health completely outweighs a bad diet."
So...can you lose weight without doing any exercise?
"Technically yes," Darren explained.
Most experts agree that you "can't out-train a bad diet", with food choices accounting for 80 per cent of your results and exercise taking up just 20 per cent.
Dorota told us: "Maintaining a calorie deficit is the only way to reduce body fat".
She said that you can't target specific areas, so you're better off "focusing on reducing total body fat and building muscle".
And the same goes for boosting metabolism.
"The evidence of metabolism-boosting foods or exercises simply don’t exist, or the benefits are small but often overplayed," she explained.
"You can get small benefits from high protein diets, HIIT and weight training but in reality, the evidence shows that these only have small effects on metabolism."
The best way to "boost" your calorie burning ability?
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"Eat a healthy and balanced daily diet. Get enough sleep, stay hydrated and exercise regularly.
"It’s not sexy and on trend but the best things are those plus consistency."
Interested in getting fitter and stronger? Why not pre-order Laura's book, LIFT YOURSELF, .
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