To stay fit and healthy, eating healthy is critical. But apart from healthy eating, managing your weight is also crucial. While talking about weight management, to shed some kilos, some people prefer cardio exercises, while some are wholly and solely into weight lifting.
While both are incredibly popular and give sure shot results, how do you choose which one is better for weight loss? While most fitness enthusiasts and experts like to include both in everyday exercises, some people also like to churn out some cardio exercises at home.
So, is cardio more effective than weight lifting, or is it weight lifting for weight loss all the way? Let’s find out by carefully analyzing the benefits of both cardio workouts and weight lifting.
Cardio Workout For Weight Loss
Cardio for weight loss is a type of exercise aerobic that uses oxygen and increases your breathing and heart rate. It helps to burn out those calories if you decide to go for cardio exercises like running, brisk walking, cycling, swimming, skipping, etc.
Cardio Exercises mainly focus on cardiovascular health. Regardless of which cardio exercises you go for, all of them have tons of benefits.
Some of the cardio workout benefits are-
- Cardio Improves The Heart Health
By regulating blood flow and lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, Cardio exercises are bliss for the heart. It also takes the heart rate up, which trains the body to use the oxygen more effectively. A lot of people are indulging in cardio exercises at home for the simple reason that, in the longer run, it prevents heart attacks, strokes and other heart-related diseases.
- Cardio Burns More Calories Than Weight Lifting During Training
Ideally, fitness trainers like to include a little bit of both when it comes to weight loss. However, cardio exercises help a person lose more calories during the session. But, this does not mean that cardio helps to lose more weight.
- Budget-Friendly
Since cardio workout includes exercises like walking, running, cycling, and many more such exercises, this one is easy on the pocket compared to weight lifting, wherein people need to buy tons of dumbbells and other machinery to begin exercising.
The biggest benefit that cardio exercises for weight loss have over weight lifting is that cardio exercises at home are also possible. If one decides to work out from the comfort of their home, they can just go for a run or just climb the stairs up and down for a bit, and their exercise for the day is done.
Weight Lifting For Weight Loss
Weight lifting is a kind of anaerobic activity, which includes lifting heavy weights like kettlebells, dumbbells and weight machines. The idea behind this exercise is that it helps to break down glucose for energy, which further burns the fat and creates more muscle in the body.
While comparing cardio workouts and Weight lifting, it is essential to know that people also lose weight by weight lifting, as it cuts down the fat as the new muscle grows.
There are a lot of benefits of weight training too. Some of which are –
- You’ll Burn Calories All-Day
With cardio exercises, you burn more calories during the workout. However, with weight lifting, you build more muscle, which increases your metabolism and, in turn, helps you lose weight throughout the day. It is also a known fact that muscle helps lose weight faster than fat.
- It Helps In Preventing Injuries And Fractures
While weight lifting, our bone density increases, which helps strengthen our muscles and make our bones also stronger—this way, we tend to prevent many diseases like osteoporosis too.
- Fat Loss And Muscle Gain
Weight lifting is a marvel for a person who is looking to shed weight and gain some muscle to look fit with the perfect body.
A Combination Of Cardio Exercises And Weight Lifting – Hit Or Miss?
Both of these forms of exercise have their own benefits. But something that works best is a combination of both of these exercises. This is because –
- While cardio exercises keep the heart and cardiovascular health in check, weight lifting will help you with muscle gain and fat loss.
- Working out and having a combination of both will help you lose weight faster and gain some muscle if you are on the journey to get that fit looking muscular body.
- Combining both will help you have a healthier heart and a peaceful mind, as it keeps depression and anxiety at bay.
Therefore, why settle for one when you can have the best of both worlds?
HIIT Workout For Weight Loss
With the growing awareness about fitness and weight management, there has been the birth of another form of exercise known as High-Intensity Interval Training. HIIT workout has been the hype for plenty of years now, as it is a boosted form of cardio that focuses on cardiovascular health and helps speed up the weight loss journey.
Done for a short period, it includes exercises like burpees, high knees, lunges, jumping jacks, mountain climbers and much more. These exercises burn more calories and help lose weight faster.
Verdict – Cardio Exercises Vs. Weight Lifting ? Which One To Go For?
Cardio exercises and weight lifting both have their own true and faithful supporters, as some are cardio lovers, while some like to gain some muscles by lifting weight in the gym. In our opinion, one should not settle for just one type of exercise. Firstly, they should examine and analyse which one suits them better, Cardio, weight lifting, or HIIT workout.
Moreover, if you need to lose weight quicker, you can also go for a combination of both as they help to lose weight faster and for a longer time. By doing both simultaneously, you are shedding weight, gaining muscles and making your heart stronger.
The only downfall with weight lifting is that cardio exercises at home are possible, while something like this is nearly not possible with weight training. However, if you decide to give a shot at both, it is going to work amazingly well for you, as both have been trusted methods of weight loss for years.
