A big thanks to Chris Solly, Personal Trainer at Bodyfix Christchurch for this article.

1. Fat Burning

For strictly torching calories, cardio burns more calories per minute than strength training.
However lifting weights has a metabolic spike and it provides up to an hour after your workout while your muscles recover.

More Muscle boosts overall metabolism because it uses more energy.

So the more muscle you have, the higher your Resting Energy Expenditure.
Interval training burns calories more efficiently than a typical cardio workout keeping the body burning calories for hours after the workout is over.

Winner : Strength Training ( For long term returns)

2.Stress Relief

Cardio boosts serotonin levels in the brain, which can counteract depression, clear the mind and reduce fatigue –
-a benefit strict pumping iron just doesn’t offer.

Winner : Cardio

3. Avoid injury

Cardio can put tremendous strain on muscles, joints and tendons, which over time, can result in injury. To stay injury-free, it’s imperative to complement cardio with strength training. You can be injured with both cardio and strength training, however functional strength training consisting of moves that promote balance and core strength is one of the best ways to reduce the risk of injury.

Winner: Strength Training

4. Boost Self Confidence

Both cardio and strength training can help improve self-image. Cardiovascular training gives endurance athletes a sense of accomplishment, according to sports psychologists. While strength training can offer a similar benefit as weight and reps increase over time. However, strength training can also help reshape the body. Cardiovascular workouts result in weight loss, a combination of fat and muscle, but weight training promotes fat loss while enhancing the body’s natural curves.

Winner: Strength Training

5. Slow the Aging Process

While strength training can help reduce intraabdominal fat, a major risk factor for heart disease, the real anti-aging and health promoting benefits come from cardiovascular exercise, which has been proven to reduce the risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, high blood pressure and cancer. With aging comes the loss of muscle mass, and decreased heart and body size. Regular exercise can help slow or even reverse this process by encouraging lean muscle mass, improving mobility and reducing the chance of heart attack by 50 percent.

Winner: Cardio

6. Increase Speed and Endurance

Want to race faster? You need a mix of cardio and strength. Practicing speed and efficiency in your sport will increase endurance while strength training with core work and plyometrics are important for increasing power.

Winner: Draw

The Bottom Line

Does this mean that all strength training program’s and all cardio programs will work equally?

Not exactly. To get the most benefit out of your strength training routine, use compound movements that use multiple, larger muscle groups. This will not only save time by working more muscles in less time, but it will also give you better strength gains than performing isolated exercises. While doing cardio, get in the habit of doing short bursts of high intensities. The higher intensities will burn more fat in significantly less time.

Focus on quality, not quantity for the best results. It’s clear that both cardio and strength serve very different purposes, but for a well-rounded workout plan that gives you all the health benefits mentioned above, you should incorporate both. This is all only part of the equation too do not forget, you can do all the work you like in the gym or in the great outdoors but if your nutrition is not in check too, you won’t get the results you deserve. (whether in your performance or in the changes to your body shape that you’re after).

 

So if you want help to navigate the path of training and to get the results you want -get in touch with me today and we can work together incorporating it all in a program that suits you!

 

I always focus on my clients drive to change their lives for the better giving them confidence and guidance to achieve their goals faster and safer.

 

“YOU CAN HAVE RESULTS OR EXCUSES, BUT NOT BOTH”

Click here to book your FREE consult with Chris Solly today.