The fitness industry has endured its own evolution over the years. The past decade or so has seen a surge in technology, with innovative gadgets, equipment, and apps, and also a resurgence in group fitness classes of all types, that, let’s face it, make exercising more efficient and fun. Yet, there is so much information–avoid this, do more of that–it can be overwhelming not only to the novice exerciser but even to those who have been grinding it out for decades! Thankfully, at their core, most activities fall into cardiovascular training (aka cardiorespiratory training or cardio), weight training, flexibility, or some sort of combination. With all of the options now available both in the gym and at home, which is most effective? Will cardio expedite weight loss more than weight training? Will weight training cause intense bulking? Is it okay to stick to the same type of activity? Answers to these questions and more, below! As always, please check with your physician before starting a fitness routine. The purpose of this article is for informational purposes only.
Which burns more calories, cardio or weight training?
During the actual workout, a steady-state cardio session often burns more calories than a session lifting weights. Regardless of the type of exercise, the body continues to burn calories after the workout in a physiological effect called Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), or after-burn effect. After exercise, the body uses the excess oxygen produced during exercise to restore normal body homeostasis, burning calories along the way. The higher the intensity of exercise and the more energy used via anaerobic pathways, the more EPOC (McCall, 2014). According to health and fitness expert Pete McCall, “Strength training with compound, multijoint weightlifting exercises or doing a weightlifting circuit that alternates between upper- and lower-body movements places a great demand on the involved muscles for ATP from the anaerobic pathways” (2014). With this being said, resistance training and HIIT both have a higher calorie burn after exercise than steady-state cardio. It is not clear which will burn the most in total, as other individual factors come into play (McCall, 2014). This is good information to remember as an extra incentive to get the workout in, regardless of the activity.
In addition, muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue because it is more metabolically active. So, the more lean muscle, the more the body burns calories even at rest, increasing the basal metabolic rate (BMR) (Clark, 2020).
Why should I do cardio?
Cardio, or exercise that increases heart rate and breathing without becoming breathless, increases cardiovascular endurance. What does that even mean? Cardiorespiratory endurance is essentially how well your heart and lungs deliver oxygen to the body. When you perform aerobic exercise, which is any exercise that uses oxygen to produce energy, the size and number of energy-producing mitochondria in cells increase. Dr. Chris Iliades explains that this “… makes the heart more efficient and capable of moving more oxygen-carrying blood with every beat. The lungs adapt to be able to take in more oxygen, and the muscles become equipped to use more oxygen” (2019, para. 3). Aerobic exercise is the most effective form of exercise to improve cardiovascular health and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cardiometabolic disease, such as diabetes (Iliades, 2019).
