Cardiovascular exercises and weight training are two common exercise types most people embarking on a weight loss journey can consider. Cardiovascular exercises help people build endurance and the speed at which they move their muscles, such as running and swimming. On the other hand, weight training strengthens the muscles, enhancing muscle mass. People must examine how their bodies respond to each of them to determine which is ideal for weight loss.
For an exercise to be considered a cardiovascular workout, it must raise the heart rate and the breathing rate from a moderate to a vigorous intensity level for a minimum of 10 minutes. The minimum duration is what sets cardiovascular exercises apart from other training types. Exercises such as lifting weights don’t consistently raise the heart and breathing rates throughout a 10-minute or more exercise duration.
Weight training, also called strength training or resistance training, involves using muscular resistance to build anaerobic endurance, enhance muscular strength, and build skeletal muscle strength. Anaerobic endurance is the body’s ability to sustain short, fast, and high-intensity exercises without requiring as much oxygen as aerobic exercises, such as cardiovascular workouts.
Resistance training exercises, including lifting weights, rely on the principle that when the body is subject to a resistance force, it will always strive to overcome that force and adapt. As an individual continues to overcome more resistance forces, the body also enhances its adaptability to overcome those forces. Therefore, when a person consistently does weight training, they continuously build muscle strength, helping them lift weights they couldn’t previously.
Regarding weight loss, the two exercise models help in burning fat, although they work differently. Cardiovascular exercise primarily uses oxygen to burn fat, thus delivering energy to the muscles and other body parts. On the other hand, weight training doesn’t necessarily need as much oxygen as cardiovascular exercises since the body can burn fat anaerobically (without requiring oxygen).
While many experts disagree that a caloric deficit is crucial in weight loss, it is still applicable in explaining how the body can lose weight. A caloric deficit results from burning more calories than one consumes daily. This means a person’s body will use ingested calories first and then burn the body’s fat reserves after depleting the ingested calories.
Fat reserves result from the body converting excess ingested calories into fat deposits, especially in the abdomen. Importantly, people should consume their daily recommended calories to maintain a calorie deficit. A nutritionist can help one decide their daily calorie intake so they don’t consume excess calories.
Exercise helps enhance a calorie deficit by helping deplete ingested calories before getting to the fat reserves. Cardiovascular exercise and weight training help maintain a calorie deficit at different intensities. Of the two exercise types, cardiovascular exercise helps burn more fat than resistance training for a given period.
The increased heart rate and breathing rate characteristic of cardio workouts means that a person constantly takes in a lot of oxygen, which helps the body burn fat. In contrast, weight training burns fewer calories than cardio in the same period since there is no consistent fat-burning mechanism.
Some studies report that a 160-pound person doing a moderate cardio exercise, such as a slow-paced jog, may burn about 250 calories in 30 minutes. If the individual makes the cardio a bit more intense by, for instance, increasing the jogging pace to 6 mph, they can burn about 365 calories in half an hour. In comparison, a person doing weight training at varied intensity levels in the same 30-minute duration may burn between 130 and 220 calories.
While cardiovascular exercises burn more fat per session than weight training, weightlifting has a longer afterburn effect. Afterburn occurs when the body burns fat after a person works out. Weight training also builds muscle that constantly feeds off fat when a person rests. This helps increase a person’s resting metabolic rate (RMR). RMR is a measure of how many calories a person burns while resting.
Thus, both exercise models have a weight loss potential. Choosing which exercise is better is a person’s choice, depending on their goals. For faster results, cardio is the better option. Weight training may be ideal for someone seeking to lose weight and add muscle mass.
