By There is always another way — besides aerobic training, to lose body fat
So many people have been conditioned to resort to one method- to lose weight. Diet is essential, don’t get me wrong. But unfortunately, there is no faster way to lose weight without changing your diet and some sneaky snack habits.
But to give yourself a little bit more ‘leverage’ for weight loss — exercise is essential. The first ideal weight loss exercise will be the good old treadmill or daily running. Although this is not entirely wrong — what happens if you don’t like running or cardio?
It’s not always about cardio.
Does that mean you lose out on all those valuable fat-loss points cardio bunnies seem to have? No one caters to people like you or me who aren’t big fans of killing ourselves over a machine, sweat pouring and faces gleaming red. The gap between strength training and fat loss has been unclear.
Several studies have been conducted, but participants have been relatively small in numbers to justify the findings.
People do not want to volunteer for exercise for months on end. Dr Mandy Hagstrom, exercise physiologist and senior lecturer at UNSW Medicine & Health drew findings from 58 research papers using highly accurate body fat measurement forms.
These measurements were conducted to assess the results of strength training programs accurately. Studies involved 3000 people (a large number to get accurate results), and no one had previous experience with weight training.
Is cardio or weight training key to weight loss?
Participants performed various exercises, but everyone worked out for 45–60 minutes at a time, 2.7 times weekly. The programs lasted for five months.
On average, these participants lost 1.4 per cent of their total body fat after completing the training program.
This figure equals half a kilo of mass for most participants. While these figures look great for people like me (and you) who love weight training — it’s also essential to remember that proper nutrition and cardio with weights are ideal. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to eliminate cardio for good — although I’d say you don’t need to run a marathon daily to get good fat loss benefits. Remember that you will not add muscle to your frame when you use aerobic exercise as your primary exercise.
Key takeaways you should note
Exercise puts us in a position to lose fat and muscle mass simultaneously.
The only way to prevent this is regular weight training exercises.
Muscle loss means a decline in the efficiency of your metabolism. If you are the kind of person who dislikes cardio, you can bypass it in favour of weights. However, light walking seems to be the favourite amongst many people who choose to pump iron as a high priority.
Walking is also a great way to alleviate sore muscles from heavy lifting. Stick with the exercise options you both enjoy doing, which will help you commit to consistency over the long term.
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