January 6, 2020

Cardio vs. training with weights: Which is better for fat loss?

Cardio vs. Training mit Gewichten: Was ist besser für den Fettabbau?

Many people who have decided to lose weight are faced with a tricky question: should they do cardio or work out with weights? These are the two most popular types of workouts, but it can be hard to know which is the better choice.

This article will teach you everything you need to know about cardio vs. training with weights for fat loss.

Cardio burns more calories per training session

Many scientists have studied how many calories people burn during different activities. Based on this research, you can use your body weight to estimate how many calories you will burn during different types of exercise, including cardio and resistance training.

For most activities, the heavier you are, the more calories you will burn. If you weigh 75 kilos, then jogging at a moderate pace will burn around 250 kcal per 30 minutes of jogging (1). If you were to run faster at a speed of about 10 km/h, you would burn about 365 kcal per 30 minutes of running (1).

On the other hand, if you trained with weights for the same amount of time, you would only burn 130 to 220 kcal.

In general, you will burn more calories with cardio per training session for the same amount of time than with weight training at about the same effort.

Summary: The number of calories you burn during exercise depends on your body weight. Typically, cardio workouts burn more calories than weighted workouts for the same duration.

Training with weights helps you burn more calories every day

Although a weights workout typically doesn't burn as many calories as a cardio workout, it has other important benefits (2).

For example, weight training is more effective than cardio when it comes to building muscle, and muscle burns more calories at rest than some other body tissues, including fat (3). For this reason, it is usually said that building muscle is the key to increasing metabolic rate, where metabolic rate describes how many calories you burn at rest.

One study looked at the metabolic rate of subjects at rest during 24 weeks of weight training. In men, training with weights led to a 9% increase in metabolic rate at rest. This effect was less pronounced in women, with only a 4% increase in resting metabolic rate (4).

However, while this may sound good, it is important to think about how many calories this represents. In men, the described increase in resting metabolic rate increased calorie expenditure by around 140 kcal per day, compared to just 50 kcal per day in women.

So training with weights and building some muscle won't make your metabolism skyrocket, but it could increase it slightly.

However, training with weights has other calorie-burning benefits. Scientific research has shown that you burn more calories during the hours following a weights session compared to cardio training (5, 6, 7).

There are even reports that the metabolic rate remains elevated for up to 38 hours after a weight training session, while such an increase has not been observed with cardio training (7).

This means that the calorie-burning benefits of training with weights are not limited to just the training period. You could be burning more calories for hours after the workout. For most types of training, a more intense workout will increase the number of calories you burn after the workout (8).

Summary: Training with weights will increase your metabolic rate over time. In addition to this, training with weights is typically more effective than cardio training when it comes to increasing the amount of extra calories burned after the training session.

High-intensity interval training delivers similar benefits to cardio training in a shorter period of time

Although cardio and weight training are two of the most popular options, there are other options. One of these options is high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which involves short bursts of high-intensity training alternating with low-intensity recovery periods (9, 10).

Typically, a HIIT training session lasts 15 to 30 minutes. You can perform a HIIT workout with a range of different exercises including sprints, cycling, jumping rope or other bodyweight exercises.

HIIT could burn more calories

Some studies have directly compared the effects of cardio training, training with weights and HIIT.

One study compared the number of calories burned during 30 minutes of HIIT training, 30 minutes of resistance training and 30 minutes of running or cycling. The researchers found that HIIT burned 25 to 30% more calories than other forms of exercise (11). However, this does not necessarily mean that other types of exercise are not good for weight loss.

HIIT and traditional cardio training may have similar effects on weight loss

A study that looked at more than 400 overweight and obese adults found that HIIT and traditional cardio training reduced body fat and waist circumference to a similar extent (12).

In addition, other research has shown that HIIT-style workouts could burn the same amount of calories as traditional cardio, although this depends on the intensity of the workout.

Some studies have estimated that if you weigh 73 kilos, you could burn around 300 kcal each during 30 minutes of cardio or HIIT training (13).

One of the potential benefits of HIIT is that you spend less time actually exercising, as there are rest periods between the intense phases of activity.

Summary: High-intensity interval training (HIIT) can burn calories in a short period of time. Some research shows that it may burn more calories than training with weights or cardio. All in all, HIIT can produce similar weight loss as cardio training, but for less time.

Using multiple types of exercise might be best

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is one of the largest and most respected organizations that makes exercise recommendations. This organization has published science-based recommendations for weight loss (14).

How long should you exercise per week?

All in all, the ACSM states that less than 150 minutes of moderate or intense physical activity such as cardio per week is probably not enough for weight loss. However, it also says that more than 150 minutes of this type of physical activity is sufficient to help most people achieve significant weight loss.

In addition to this, scientific research shows that people tend to lose more body weight when they have higher activity levels (14).

What types of exercise should you do?

Interestingly, the ACSM study review concludes that exercising with weights is not very helpful for weight loss. However, it is important to remember that body composition can improve even if the weight does not change.

For example, training with weights can lead to an increase in muscle mass and a reduction in body fat. If your muscles and fat change to the same extent, the weight on the scales can remain the same even though you have become healthier.

A large study of 119 overweight or obese adults helps to put everything into perspective regarding exercise and weight loss. The study participants were divided into three groups: a group that did cardio training, a group that did weight training and a group that did both cardio and weight training (15).

After eight months, those who had done cardio training and cardio training plus training with weights had lost the most weight and fat. At the same time, the groups that had trained exclusively with weights or had done cardio training in addition to training with weights had built up the most muscle.

Overall, the cardio plus weights training group showed the best changes in body composition. These subjects had lost weight and fat while building muscle.

This means that a program that combines cardio and weights may be best for improving body composition.

Summary: Cardio is more effective than weight training when it comes to reducing body fat and you do more than 150 minutes per week. Training with weights is better for building muscle. A combination of both may be best for improving body composition.

Both diet and exercise are crucial for long-term success

Most people know that exercise and a healthy diet are essential for optimal health (14). Even strict adherence to the best exercise program is not enough, as you still need to pay attention to your diet if you want to optimize your progress.

Scientific research has shown that the ideal program for long-term weight loss includes a moderate reduction in calorie intake and a good exercise program (16).

Although many people know that a healthy diet is essential for weight loss, some go so far as to say that diet is all that matters for weight loss. However, it is important to realize that exercise can also help.

A review that looked at studies involving a total of 400 subjects examined the weight loss effects of diet plus exercise and compared them to the corresponding changes brought about by diet changes alone. The researchers found that the combination of diet plus exercise resulted in 20% greater weight loss after 10 weeks than diet without exercise (17).

In addition, the program that included dietary changes plus exercise was more effective than dietary changes alone when it came to maintaining the new weight after one year.

Conclusion

Both cardio and weight training can help you become healthier and fitter.

A cardio training session burns more calories than a training session with weights. However, after a weights workout, the metabolic rate stays elevated longer than after a cardio workout and a weights workout is better for building muscle.

An ideal training program for improving body composition and health should therefore include both cardio training and training with weights.

References:

Source: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cardio-vs-weights-for-weight-loss

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