I think I was one to fall for the idea that if I wanted to really lose weight that I’d have to do a lot of cardio but the more research I do, the more I learn that working out with weights is actually the better route to go. Below is what I thought was a well written snippet of info on the two. It makes sense, but I also feel that you can’t cardio out of your work out and that you can vary up the things you do so that your body does become accustomed to the same routine. Whether it be working on an incline, changing up the surfaces you work out on, switching it up between running, jogging, sprinting, walking, biking, etc.
I’ve recently decided that I’m going to workout twice a week on certain days and mix up my cardio with a multitude of things including hitting the bag. I feel this is something I can do at night b/c the benefits of weight training in the morning are superior to getting my body going for the day and essential burning more calories while at rest. Read the below bit, hopefully it gives you some insight as well:
“When it comes to burning off fat, weights have an edge over cardio.
There’s a common misperception that resistance training can’t work your cardiovascular system, but ask anyone who’s ever performed a 20-rep set of squats if his heart rate is elevated. It will be.
Technically speaking, anything that elevates your heart rate is “cardio.” Traditional steady-state cardio (think running a 5K, using the elliptical machine, or doing step aerobics) can be beneficial in terms of fat loss — at least for a while. But your body adapts to any stress placed on it. Over time, the work required to, say, run a 5K will decrease as your fitness improves. Diminishing returns kicks in. What once took 20 minutes to burn X number of calories will take 30 minutes, and then 40 minutes and so on.
With weights, on the other hand, you can stave off this effect by varying your exercises to keep your body guessing. You can change things up by adding resistance, decreasing rest time, increasing the number of reps you do or changing the order of your exercises. All of these things prevent your body from hitting a plateau, boosting your ability to burn fat.
Lifting weights also increases your lean muscle mass, which further increases metabolism at rest. That means you’ll be burning more calories throughout the day.”
