Combine Weights and Cardio: Lose More Fat

Usually, many athletes wonder whether it's better to do weights or cardio exercises. In practice, it's always advisable to make a combination of both types of physical activity. 

People often begin to exercise with the purpose of burning fat and losing weight. They sometimes have this doubt: is it better to combine weight training and cardio or opt for one over the other? There are many theories and myths surrounding the need to combine weights and cardio for burning fat. Let’s analyze the issue to try to reach a conclusion.

Until recently, it was thought that to lose pounds and burn calories, you had to do endless, low-intensity cardio sessions. However, the results were never conclusive and, to achieve better results, it’s necessary to go deeper into the issue.

Theories have evolved based on new research and discoveries. Currently, the trend is to complement cardio sessions with weight training.

Lose fat with cardiovascular exercises

Cardiovascular exercises are aerobic exercises that allow you to burn fat immediately as you’re training. In this category, we have activities such as running, jumping, swimming, dancing, cycling, etc.

These exercises mobilize large muscle groups. To do this, they primarily use energy from fats and, to a lesser extent, glycogen.

This process occurs because the body takes glucose as the first source of energy when the different muscle groups are put into motion. However, as glucose supplies end quickly, accumulated fats are used, which allows us to eliminate them.

Taking that into account, we reach an indisputable fact: cardio is the winner when it comes to burning calories and fat during exercise. However, we must keep in mind that, for this to work, we require short periods of training and the exercises must include high-intensity intervals.

To burn fat effectively, we must complete at least 30 minutes of physical activity. It’s also important to remember that, as time passes, the body adapts to the exercises and it becomes increasingly difficult to burn calories and fat.

Weights as a means to lose fat

Weights are an anaerobic exercise in which the body uses glycogen as the main source of energy. In this type of exercise, the muscles work at their maximum power, so they use glycogen and the amino acids present in them as fuel.

At first, the number of calories and the amount of fat burned with this activity is lower compared to cardio exercises.

However, by analyzing the process that the body generates more carefully, it’s possible to affirm that weight training is also a great ally when it comes to burning fat. This is mainly due to two reasons:

• This type of exercise routine intensifies oxygen consumption, which results in greater energy consumption. That is to say since the muscular recovery time after exercise is longer and the metabolic rate remains high, calories continue to burn hours after completing the training.
• Muscles burn fat on their own, without the need to exercise them, and weight training generates muscle gain. This makes the body burn fat throughout the day without doing anything due to the well-developed muscles.

When people train with weights regularly, they can perform more intense workouts as their fitness improves. This will have a direct impact on muscle gain, which in turn, will generate an increase in their basal metabolism and improve their fat burning capacity.

This whole process, derived from combining these exercises, is like a chain that has a very beneficial effect on the body. We should also complement this with food that’s adequate for these objectives.

The success is in combining weights and cardio in your workouts

It’s clear that there’s no need to choose between weight training and cardio to burn fat. Each has its own effect for this purpose, provided that you practice properly and regularly.

Cardio is a good option to burn fat and lose weight faster, but weights do it more effectively and lastingly. Hence, it’s ideal to combine weights and cardio in your workouts to have the best results.