Weight training or cardio? which burns more fat

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  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
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    EmilySpeight1 wrote: »
    Just wondering which burns more fat? Training with weights or cardio?

    HIIT and sprints.



  • R4D10Active
    R4D10Active Posts: 1 Member
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    hamlet1222 wrote: »
    weight training adds muscle to your body, muscles burn calories 24/7 even when your asleep. I recommend doing a bit of both.
    This!
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    R4D10Active wrote: »
    hamlet1222 wrote: »
    weight training adds muscle to your body, muscles burn calories 24/7 even when your asleep. I recommend doing a bit of both.
    This!
    Each additional pound of muscle burns somewhere around 4-6 calories, so you'd have to gain a pretty significant amount of muscle mass for the extra burn to amount to much. Building 20-30 pounds of muscle is a massive undertaking - and one that absolutely, unequivocally will not happen in a caloric deficit.
  • dlm7507
    dlm7507 Posts: 237 Member
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    At rest (Resting Metabolic Rate) men burn more calories than women. With the same exercise, men burn more calories than women. Why? Because they have more muscle. A takeaway to consider is that more muscle has you burning more fat all the time. If you are thinking about the sustainable long haul, put on some muscle. It makes fat loss easier.
  • mwyvr
    mwyvr Posts: 1,883 Member
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    Personally I don't care which burns more fat because that's the wrong way to look at the question, for me. I prefer to reframe it as "which do I like to do more?"

    If I have to choose between the two I pick cardio every time because everything I enjoy doing involves cardio and benefits greatly from improved cardio respiratory fitness.

    Of course no one has to pick only one. Pick both if you want.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited October 2015
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    Very few things burn calories like moderate, steady running. It can be 5x the calories per unit time, relative to "lifting". And it can be done everyday, day after day, without risking injury.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,714 Member
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    Both burn calories. Calorie deficit is what helps you to burn fat. The reality is that the majority of body fat is burned at rest (like sitting and sleeping) and NOT during exercise.
    Lift to retain muscle, keep strength, and condition it. Do cardio to help with calorie deficit and heart health.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • MarvinsFitLife
    MarvinsFitLife Posts: 874 Member
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    Definitely cardio by now you should know by all the comments I had to scroll through lol yea but I run a lot more than lifting weights
  • AppetiteControlFreak
    AppetiteControlFreak Posts: 76 Member
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    Consistent work with a good diet works

    Most people fail because they quit, not because of a bad plan

    So do what you enjoy and will stick with long term

    Cardio is definitely a better fat burner.

    Adding some muscle shape in the right places has a definite visual impact.

    In the end you can have a healthy heart, add some functional muscle, and look / feel good!

  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    coachjschroth wrote: »
    During a single bout of cardio, more fat calories will be consumed. It's just the nature of steady state cardio which utilizes oxidative energy sources. However, Weight training generally burns more fat calories over time. It's well documented and is a result of EPOC (exess post exercise oxygen consumption). There are many articles out there, including peer-reviewed, that elaborate on it more if you're interested in the research data. This was already mentioned in a post above but the term EPOC wasn't mentioned.

    Also, regardless if your goal is to maintain or increase muscle mass, muscle is a much more metabolically active tissue. It will burn 2-3x more calories than adipose tissue will.

    And finally, it is possible to add lean muscle even in a deficit, assuming the deficit isn't extremely severe. That has also been documented.

    In a study I read that I can't find anymore (I should start making a habit out of bookmarking interesting studies), they tested elevated calorie burn while strength training. They used bench press in the stufy. It was highest at max intensity of 90% of 1RM, and was about 10 kcal per set and during the rest period between sets before it normalized again.
    If you extrapolate, that's about ~150 kcal in an average workout?
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 5,951 Member
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    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Both burn calories. Calorie deficit is what helps you to burn fat. The reality is that the majority of body fat is burned at rest (like sitting and sleeping) and NOT during exercise.
    Lift to retain muscle, keep strength, and condition it. Do cardio to help with calorie deficit and heart health.
    This is all that really needs to be said...
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,714 Member
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    coachjschroth wrote: »
    During a single bout of cardio, more fat calories will be consumed. It's just the nature of steady state cardio which utilizes oxidative energy sources. However, Weight training generally burns more fat calories over time. It's well documented and is a result of EPOC (exess post exercise oxygen consumption). There are many articles out there, including peer-reviewed, that elaborate on it more if you're interested in the research data. This was already mentioned in a post above but the term EPOC wasn't mentioned.

    Also, regardless if your goal is to maintain or increase muscle mass, muscle is a much more metabolically active tissue. It will burn 2-3x more calories than adipose tissue will.

    And finally, it is possible to add lean muscle even in a deficit, assuming the deficit isn't extremely severe. That has also been documented.
    EPOC is highly exaggerated. Azdak contributed a good article on this with peer reviewed studies:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1106134/the-final-nail-in-the-hiit-epoc-coffin

    It's not really as complicated as most think. We rest more than we exercise (unless someone is exercising 5-8 hours a day). At rest, fat is the PRIMARY source of energy usage. That's why people who don't exercise lose fat on a calorie deficit. Also the same reason that people who are bedridden or who can't exercise lose body fat if on a calorie deficit.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • jessef593
    jessef593 Posts: 2,272 Member
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    Neither, your calorie deficit does. I burn twice as many calories when I incorporate both into my workouts. Mix it up, become stronger and increase your cardio
  • wildsilver91168
    wildsilver91168 Posts: 10 Member
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    Cardio burns more fat
  • dlm7507
    dlm7507 Posts: 237 Member
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    Muscle burns more fat 24/7. If you like cardio then that's what you should do, but scale weigh is mostly what you eat. You can't out exercise a trip to the doughnut place. Exercise is for body composition. It lets you enjoy a decent meal if you burn a bunch of calories exercising and you are eating at a big deficit, but I can burn calories faster with a kettlebell than I can on a dreadmill so it's also time efficient.

    The difference in muscle for men and women is why the big difference in metabolic rate which makes fat loss harder for women and in the case of small women, the caloric deficit means they can never enjoy a good meal unless tthey exercise. Adding a bit of muscle is a very good thing for fat loss, especially for women. I'm not being sexist, that is just a fact.

    At my age, height and weight my RMR is 2151. If I were the same age, height and weight as a female it would be 1832. I can eat 319 more calories/day as a woman my a,h,w for us both to stay the same weight. To loose 2 lbs/wk I eat 1600 calories/day, she eats 1282. Exercise that burns 235 net calories for me burns 106 net calories for her. The difference? The difference in muscle in men and women and it's effect on metabolism. Putting on some muscle will improve your metabolism for fat burning. It's not about the fat you burn while exercising, it's about the fat you continue burning, even when you are not exercising.
  • gail1time
    gail1time Posts: 8 Member
    edited October 2015
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    19gabriela01 wrote: »
    Well I get my heart rate pretty high and sweat more than while running with squats and deadlifts. Or combined deadlift + front squat = one rep with lighter weight around 20, 30 kg. And these movements I make faster than whith heavier weights

    yes weights win hands down long after your workout weights still burn more fat
  • fbinsc
    fbinsc Posts: 735 Member
    edited October 2015
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    My experience is that HIIT cardio is the best for fat loss, strength traning second and long slow cardio the worst of the three. The long slow cardio burns more calories but the cortisol from the stress of it tends to keep fat on my belly. Have to have the diet right for any of it to work, and sleep matters.

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