4 ways to use weights for cardio

Weight training is a marvellous tool to use to build muscle mass, strength and even cardio! Many people tend to dismiss weight training as a great and high-fat burning strategy for weight loss. The good news is that as you perform cardio training with weights, you will increase your endurance, strength, and muscle strength. Now, I know you want to confirm that this training ignites the fat-burning mode. Don’t stress. It’s absolutely one of the best forms of fat burning.

 Without going into the science behind this, I will give you some great strategies in my weight training and fat loss journeys. I will also share the training programs that worked very well in helping me lose body fat rapidly to get ready for the many physique competitions I had scheduled.

 This is a great way to burn body fat faster, especially if you have a specific amount of weight to lose, and it also gives your body an amazing shape. It does have to be performed correctly, to get results. That doesn’t even consider the clean diet you need to adapt to get leaner. But I will save that for another post.

4 ways to use weights for cardio

1. Circuit training. This is similar to a full-body workout, but you are using your full body to perform your exercises. I like to switch it up by using an upper-body move, followed by a lower-body one. This gives your body a chance to recover and come back strong for the following exercise.
2. Giant sets. This is where you perform several exercises in consecutive order with no rest in between. This is very similar to circuit training, although traditionally, you would focus on 1–2 muscle groups only. For instance, you could perform a giant set for legs or back. It would be best if YOu incorporated at least 4 exercises for this one, but you should put it up to 5 if you can. It’s a great way to magnify your fat-burning potential. This will take a lot out of you, so it’s best to perform it 1–2 days a week, with several days rest in between.
3. Tri sets. Similar to giant sets, this is just 3 exercises performed consecutively. It’s a bit of a toned-down version of the giant sets, and something you can choose to do every day without completely exhausting your body. This is my preferred workout routine, and it also gets the job done faster and builds up my stamina (and muscle of course!)
4. Lower weights, higher reps. This one can really set the burn alight! Depending on what you are doing, you can get a huge impact on this type of training. Just imagine performing 15–20 squats per exercise, followed by leg press for the same amount of reps? Perhaps you believe it won’t be a lot – but wait until you get to the midpoint. It’s testing. Although this isn’t going to cause too much growth impact, it’s a great way to alternate the muscle fibres you are working on and switch up your workout.

As you can see, there are several ways you can incorporate cardio with weight training. Many of us don’t realise the potential weight training holds for us – and I urge you to try this on for size. If you are noticing your body is becoming too tired from this training, allow yourself an extra day’s rest, or lower the number of sets or reps you perform. These are great strategies to use to make some changes to your training, ut they can become exhausting. Listen to your body and make the necessary changes for you.