Weights v Cardio

There is a bit of debate as to which is more effective for fat burning – lifting weights or intense cardio exercises. The theory is that building muscle by lifting weights leads to a faster metabolism but cardio obviously gets your metabolism up too, so which is best?

I read this recent article where there tested the weights versus cardio theory. Twin sisters went on separate training programs, one did pump classes 3 times a week while the other ran on the treadmill.

Karen pushed herself in pump classes. Body pump is a weight-training class done to upbeat music. It’s great for people who want to lift weights but can’t afford a personal trainer.

And Kathy mixed it up with intense cardio. She ran on the treadmill until she was out of breath, then continued walking — repeating this sequence for a total of 30 minutes. Cardiovascular training is beneficial for heart and lung fitness.

The twins both trained three times a week for eight weeks and ate the same diet. We tested their progress with a body-composition test in week one and week eight to determine how much fat they had lost, and how much muscle they’d put on.

Surprisingly, the girl doing the intense cardio lost more body fat. Well, I found it surprising, I would have thought building muscle was key in increasing your metabolism and burning fat.

At the end of the eight weeks, Karen’s total body fat percentage was 32.1 percent (a drop of 2.4 percent or 1.5kg), and Kathy’s was 31.6 percent (a drop of 4.4 percent or 3.4kg).

It comes down to the intensity of the activity you’re doing — so the higher your heart rate while exercising, the more kilojoules you’re likely to burn.

Potentially, Kathy was working much harder on the treadmill than Karen was during her pump classes.

High-intensity work-outs continue to burn fat even after you’ve finish exercising. This is due to the fact your metabolism is still raised after training while your body uses energy to try to cool itself down and recover.

So if you want to burn fat, intense cardio is the way to go…

So while weight training is important, it looks like I’ll have to step up my cardio if I’m going to lose weight in the long term.