Strength or Cardiovascular Training?
When it comes to getting the body you want, which one is better? What will get you to your goals faster? This seems to be the biggest debate among fitness experts everywhere, and it doesn’t seem to be coming to a halt anytime soon. With increased access to fitness routines through the internet, social media, virtual training, it may be overwhelming to determine what is best to reach your goals.
In the past, men hit the weight room while women took classes or stayed within the cardio section. But recently, women have been lifting with the men as well as men taking notes from the women. With this new change, and many saying cardio is the thing of the past, it becomes confusing to determine what you should be doing. Don’t worry, I am here to break it all down for you.
Calorie Burner
When it comes to exercising, the difference between you and your goals could be the number of calories you are burning. During your workout, cardio will burn more calories than strength training but it is after the workout that strength training excels. You will have a metabolic spike after a strength workout as your body expends energy to repair muscle tissue.
It is estimated that you will burn an additional quarter of the calories you just burnt off. For example, if you burned 300 calories, it will actually total to 375 calories overall. If you want to spend less time in the gym and get more out of your workouts, you’ll want to incorporate strength training into your exercise regimen.
Muscle Definition
Looking for those sculpted arms or back muscles? You might want to ditch the treadmill and start picking up those dumbbells. When it comes to having that ‘toned’ appearance, it is best accomplished by gaining muscle mass through strength training as this will not only burn fat but will give you that strong, muscular look you are aiming for.
Strength training directly builds your muscles by tearing muscle tissue and repairing to be bigger and stronger. The term ‘toned’ is to have the muscle mass that shows which is achieved by placing your body under tension to encourage it to build back stronger. To achieve that beachside look, you’ll want to add weights to your workout routine.
Disease Prevention
At the end of the day, you don’t want to waste your time on something that won’t improve the trajectory of your life, right? Cardiovascular training is your ticket for longevity as it not only improves your heart’s health by reducing the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure but also reduces the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, strokes, and multiple types of cancers.
What more can you ask for? Strength training does have its specific benefits but, cardiovascular training has far more benefits for risk prevention. These benefits are never too late to achieve as you will see improvements in your health with just one exercise session but it is strongly recommended to exercise on a regular basis to gain the most benefits. Overall, if you are looking for prevention of diseases, cardiovascular training will become your new best friend.
Injury Prevention
Do you see those runners with knee bracers? Or lifters with all those wraps? The vast majority are for additional support but some are for chronic injuries. Cardio training is repetitive in nature and puts some serious stress on your joints and surrounding structures. It is said that running places as much as 5times your body weight on your joints with every step. For example, if you weighed 120lbs, that would be 600lbs of force with each step.
Imagine how many steps you take! Strength training on the other hand does what it says, strengthens your body. The tension placed on your joints elicits your body to become stronger and increase its stability. Strength training not only targets your muscles but increases your core stability, improves your balance, and teaches your brain to increase the speed of muscle contractions. This is all a recipe for injury prevention. If you are looking to stay out of the doctor’s office, incorporate strength training in your routine.
What’s next?
When it comes to which one is better, it is all dependent on your goals. If your goals are to be stronger, toned, and muscular you’ll want to focus your time on strength training. If you want to increase your endurance, improve your heart health, and reduce your risk of diseases then cardiovascular training is the right fit for you. But it doesn’t stop there as you don’t have to choose! You can gain the benefits of both by incorporating both types of training into your workout routine by writing down your goals to determine what type of training fits best for each of your goals.
