Strength training or cardio? “If you’re a serious person who wants to tone your body, cardio is a waste of time.“ Do you agree with this statement by the late Leroy Colbert. Many people often focus on cardio, short for cardiovascular, thinking that it’s solely the most efficient way to lose excess weight, become toned, and/or become healthier.
Strength training may be a far more efficient way to tone, strengthen, and maintain a long term, positive body composition.
The notion that “cardio” is the only best way to lose weight has pervaded gyms and exercise circles for years. Cardio may be a waste of time when it comes to fat loss. Solely focusing on cardio may be a poor, time consuming exercise in futility.
An hour’s worth of jogging or cycling on average barely burns 500 calories. Even high intensity aerobics for an hour only just surpasses 500 calories on average. Strength trainin, however, is considered by many to be superior to cardio and does much more than just burn calories. The purpose of this post isn’t to knock those who do cardio, but to possibly highlight ‘a better mouse trap.’
Strength training benefits include improving bone density, the heart muscle becomes stronger and healthier, more calories are burned because of an increase in muscle mass, improved posture, reduced back pain, the list goes on… Always view strength training, with proper dietary supplementation, as a healthy lifestyle addition.
Many times we get so preoccupied with losing weight that we make goals to lose a certain amount then when we reach that goal we tend to ‘slack off’ and gain all of the extra weight back again.
Consider making strength training your primary method of exercise, it may give far superior benefits than if one decides to do cardio, cardio, cardio.
What type of strength training one may ask? In my post, ‘what exercises should I do when I join a gym’?, I list compound exercises(compound movements) that are universally beneficial.
If one enjoys doing cardio, then continue to do so, however strength training may be a more beneficial type of exercise eliciting better, long term results.