cardio vs. strength

cesmjc01

I am trying to drop extra weight due to a million reasons including quitting smoking last year, having kids, cupcakes, ect. ect....... You get the point. I feel I should focus on Cardio first then strength training to tone it all back up after I have lost some of the weight. Am I delusional or am I on the right track?

scaryfairy81

Strength training helps build lean muscle, without adding bulk, and lean muscle helps burn fat! So it all helps in the end.

Heather75

A combination of the two is the best way to go. Strength training builds the large muscle groups and helps you burn more calories while you are at rest.

meggonkgonk

balanced program is really ideal, but I started with cardio and worked into incorporating strength, and it worked well for me.

I think cardio at teh beginning is especially good because it burns off more calories, giving you more leeway in terms of your food/in take.

Remember that your cals in vs cals out is more important than how much you burn in working out.

peytjalmom

Whatever gets you started and then build on that from what you learn and get motivated to do!

cesmjc01

Thanks guys I am pretty new on here. I have never had any issues with my weight till I hit 32 and it seems my metabolism just quit. Quitting smoking didn't help much either it was good I quit but I gave up smoking and took up munching. So I want to get this weight back off before it dose as much harm as the smoking did. Will do what I can to incorporate some strength training into my day as well. Thanks for the advise everyone

rileysowner

I don't know how fit you are, but if you can handle it Metabolic Resistance Training (Cardio Strength Training) which is a hybrid of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and Strength Training would be your best bet to get rid of fat, or pretty much just as good High Intensity Interval Training. You can find out more on my blog http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/rileysowner for MRT, and http://www.intervaltraining.net/ for HIIT. Even doing Interval Training will do more for losing fat than long duration steady state cardio.

While long duration cardio will work for some things, for fat lose it is not the best. The problem with it is that while it seems to burn a lot of calories while you are working out, that calorie burn stops almost right away when you stop exercising. That is not the case with MRT or HIIT, or even Interval Training as far as I know. Long duration cardio will also break down muscles to maximize your performance for endurance.

Check out the difference between a Marathoner and a Sprinter.



I am guessing while not wanting to be a big as the Sprinter is, you would like a body toned like that. It is difficult to do that with cardio.

If you want to do cardio, mix in strength training as well. It doesn't require weights, you can do it using body weight exercises as well.