Cardio Training vs. Resistance Training for Fat Loss

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At this time of year, everyone is in a panic to lose some extra kilos
before their summer holiday but before you rush out to the local gym
in an attempt to shed those extra kilos, it might just pay to find out
the best way to lose your excess body fat. Gym's have bulging fitness
classes and every treadmill and exercise bike taken, it is easy to
think that this is the right way to go. However you might be surprised
to find that this is not necessarily the most effective way to rid
yourself of your unwanted flabby parts.
The ScienceLosing body fat is simply about creating a negative energy
balance, i.e. expending more energy than we take in. We expend energy
through ? our metabolic rate? the energy required to take in, digest,
absorb and utilise food? physical activity
Your metabolism is the key to effective, long term body fat reduction.
Metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories to sustain
itself. The higher your metabolism the more effective your body is at
burning calories even whilst you are sleeping, sounds good to me.
There are ways to increase your metabolism, however before I get onto
that, a quick tip. Cutting calories can actually cause your metabolism
to get slower, so dieting in the traditional sense will actually cause
your body to go into a survival mode, enabling the body to store more
fat rather than actually ridding yourself of it. So long as you have a
reasonable calorie intake there is no reason to diet, however there is
no substitute for eating good fresh, natural produce (but that is
another discussion)
So what is the most effective way to increase your metabolism? Muscle
is the most metabolically active tissue in your body, so increasing
the amount of muscle mass in your body substantially increases your
body's abilities to burn body fat.
Cardio TrainingPhysical activity of any kind burns calories, we all
understand that, and actually jumping onto a treadmill and pounding
out a few kilometres each day has the overall effect of burning
calories whilst you are training. This is good, but you do need to
stick at it, and you'll need to change your training regularly to
continue burning the same amount of calories. This is because you body
is clever, it quickly becomes more efficient at doing this type of
training i.e. not expending as much energy for the same quantity of
work. Cardio training is also not the most effective way to build lean
muscle mass, in fact doing to much cardio training is catabolic in
nature, meaning that it actually breaks down muscle mass, you just
have to look at marathon runners for evidence of this.
Resistance trainingResistance training is training your body to
overcome resistance in the form of a weight, be it your body weight,
using weights held in your hands, or operating the machines in your
local gym. Many people shy away from this form of training for a
variety of reasons. However many studies have shown this type of
training is by far the most effective fat burning strategy, and guys
(and especially girls), you will not end up looking like 'Arnie', not
unless you want to live in the gym for the next 5 years.
By following a resistance training program that focuses on working
multiple muscle groups in every exercise is by far the most time
efficient training. In double quick time you will shed the excess body
fat and develop a lean and flexible, fat burning machine. Women
benefit especially from this mode of training, as it is
physiologically improbable for you to make substantial gains in size.
A study by Staron et al. (1990) showed that after a 20 week programme
of heavy resistance training, female participants showed decreased
body fat with an increase in muscle tissue, however, with no change in
physical size. So the muscle you build, gives tone and shape to your
figure, gives you stronger bones, improving also your body image and
posture.
Resistance training has a triple effect for effect fat loss: ? you
burn calories whilst you are training? you are burning calories whilst
your body is recovering? And you are burning more calories because
your metabolism has increased with the increased muscle tissue.
Resistance Training EquipmentSave your money, don't go out and buy an
expensive multi-station home gym, it is not necessary. It is not even
necessary to step into a gym. I normally train at home with equipment
not costing any more than 150' and you could probably get the required
equipment for less than 100'. Training with your own body weight is
often enough, you can add resistance with some simple weights, and the
use of a stability ball creates an enormous variety of workouts that
gives your body a complete workout.
So you see there is an alternative to pounding out the kilometres on
the treadmill, or wearing out the pedals on your exercise bike to
fight the flab. Do not misunderstand what I say here, I do strongly
believe that a certain amount of cardio training will help trim the
body fat, but including resistance training into your workouts will
definitely help you achieve your health goals in less time.
Tim GoodwinGetFit.lu Personal Training for the busiest
people
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