Cardio Vs Weight Training: What Should You Choose?

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This is one of those debates that has been going on for decades !There is no denying the fact that both cardio workout and weight training are very good for your overall health. And also the fact that over-doing both could have harmful and sometimes dangerous consequences. So, what should you opt for? Read on to find out:

CARDIO WORKOUT

This basically includes any exercise that involves moving your body and increasing the heart rate. Examples include running, swimming, cycling, walking, dancing, pilates and any sport like football, tennis. In the gym it involves working out on treadmill, cycle and cross trainer/elliptical trainer.

Purpose

-Mainly weight loss and building stamina.

How It Works

– It burns fat by making the body work aerobically and anaerobically excreting through sweat and urine.

The Pros

-It helps in burning calories and is great for weight loss. It is more effective in losing weight and builds endurance. It improves heart health, increases metabolic rate, releases the happy hormones that improve your mood and relieve anxiety.

The Cons:

-You can lose muscle mass along with the fat.Sustained effort is required as the fat loss stops once you stop doing cardio.Proper dietary changes are required for expected results.

WEIGHT TRAINING

Also called as strength training, these are exercises that require use of resistance through weights which induce muscular contraction thereby building strength and increasing size of muscles.

Purpose

-Mainly used to build muscle mass or beef up body, depending on your regime.

How It Works

– With weight training, the body slowly develops lean muscle mass that increases the metabolic rate thereby burning the fats anaerobically to fuel the workouts.

The Pros

-Strength training exercises strengthen the bones and the muscles. They help you lose fat even outside your workouts as the body’s metabolic rate goes up. It gives you a more defined look.

The Cons

-The downside could be that you burn less calories compared to Cardio workout. Going to the gym everyday can become boring for some. Chances of injury are higher if performed unsupervised compared to cardio workout.

SO, WHAT SHOULD YOU CHOOSE?

Well, it really depends on who you are and what you are aiming for.

-Most of the people who join a fitness program want a sculpted look in shortest time possible. This is the outlook that causes most routines to fail as the results never meet the very high expectations.

-One has to understand that work-out results are very discriminatory. It depends on one’s shape, size, age and gender.

-Veteran trainers vouch for a mixture of weights and cardio with the resistance training holding a slight precedence. A stronger body is resistant to both injury and diseases.

-Ideally, 3 days each week of resistance combined with 3 days of cardio works perfectly for the mass. The weight training sessions are not to exceed 45 minutes and the cardio 30 minutes.

-Combining exercises will help you stay motivated and break monotony.

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Diet plays a very big role in your transformation, so does sleep. Keep the workouts short and intense to yield rich results and do contact a trainer for a detailed workout routine. Most importantly, don’t quit.Stay Healthy, Stay Happy!

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