Weights Versus Cardio

Personally, if you're going to do cardio, it would be better to head to a track and do 20 minutes of intense sprints as hard as you can, rest then repeat. Long duration slow cardio is going to do nothing for you other than raise stress hormones and hunger hormones. I would lift heavy weights any day before cardio.

Well, that's a load of crap. Long-duration cardio is a great way to burn calories while not overstressing your body - HIIT can fatigue you physically and mentally, and it can lengthen your recovery time.

Weights are a must. Cardio is good for keeping your heart in shape and burning more calories, and many people find it relaxing or stress-relieving, but what kind of cardio and how much you do is up to you as long as you get your heart rate up enough.

People do alot of cardio because they are uncomfortable with weights, think they will bulk up, or don't feel they have worked hard enough.. You should do what your doing if you have 5-10lbs to lose is my 2 cents.

Body fat loss and compensatory mechanisms in response to different doses of aerobic exercise--a randomized controlled trial in overweight sedentary males.

Abstract

The amount of weight loss induced by exercise is often disappointing. A diet-induced negative energy balance triggers compensatory mechanisms, e.g., lower metabolic rate and increased appetite. However, knowledge about potential compensatory mechanisms triggered by increased aerobic exercise is limited. A randomized controlled trial was performed in healthy, sedentary, moderately overweight young men to examine the effects of increasing doses of aerobic exercise on body composition, accumulated energy balance, and the degree of compensation. Eighteen participants were randomized to a continuous sedentary control group, 21 to a moderate-exercise (MOD; 300 kcal/day), and 22 to a high-exercise (HIGH; 600 kcal/day) group for 13 wk, corresponding to ∼30 and 60 min of daily aerobic exercise, respectively. Body weight (MOD: -3.6 kg, P < 0.001; HIGH: -2.7 kg, P = 0.01) and fat mass (MOD: -4.0 kg, P < 0.001 and HIGH: -3.8 kg, P < 0.001) decreased similarly in both exercise groups. Although the exercise-induced energy expenditure in HIGH was twice that of MOD, the resulting accumulated energy balance, calculated from changes in body composition, was not different (MOD: -39.6 Mcal, HIGH: -34.3 Mcal, not significant). Energy balance was 83% more negative than expected in MOD, while it was 20% less negative than expected in HIGH. No statistically significant changes were found in energy intake or nonexercise physical activity that could explain the different compensatory responses associated with 30 vs. 60 min of daily aerobic exercise. In conclusion, a similar body fat loss was obtained regardless of exercise dose. A moderate dose of exercise induced a markedly greater than expected negative energy balance, while a higher dose induced a small but quantifiable degree of compensation.

People do alot of cardio because they are uncomfortable with weights, think they will bulk up, or don't feel they have worked hard enough.. You should do what your doing if you have 5-10lbs to lose is my 2 cents.

Funniest thing I heard all day! I do cardio because it burns calories, lots of them, more so then weights. Yes I lose fat faster. If I did nothing but weights I'd have lots of muscle, underneath layers of fat. I could just do cardio to lose weight, but I use weights to become shapely and strong. I am in no way scared of my weights, I was in fact just yesterday looking at some new ones seeing as how my handweight set is from 1992, plastic pastel color scheme and all, but I decided mine still work just fine.

In my opinion you should do more cardio and less weights to lose whatever fat it is you're trying to lose. But use weights for shape and strength.

People do alot of cardio because they are uncomfortable with weights, think they will bulk up, or don't feel they have worked hard enough.. You should do what your doing if you have 5-10lbs to lose is my 2 cents.

Funniest thing I heard all day! I do cardio because it burns calories, lots of them, more so then weights. Yes I lose fat faster. If I did nothing but weights I'd have lots of muscle, underneath layers of fat. I could just do cardio to lose weight, but I use weights to become shapely and strong. I am in no way scared of my weights, I was in fact just yesterday looking at some new ones seeing as how my handweight set is from 1992, plastic pastel color scheme and all, but I decided mine still work just fine.

In my opinion you should do more cardio and less weights to lose whatever fat it is you're trying to lose. But use weights for shape and strength.

Cardio helps getting your HR up into the fat burning zone and keeping it there for a while thus maximising on the effectiveness of burning those excess fat.
It also gives your metabolism the boost you need to keep burning fat long after you stopped your routine for the day, thus the reason you will become hungry much quicker.
The idea is to supplement a solid cardio training programme with a decent calorie controlled diet and in the process reduce the carbs as to burn away the fat you wish to burn away THEN bulk up on the muscle you want and then trim and shape to the final shape you want by doing the weight training.

Just my 2c

People do alot of cardio because they are uncomfortable with weights, think they will bulk up, or don't feel they have worked hard enough.. You should do what your doing if you have 5-10lbs to lose is my 2 cents.

Funniest thing I heard all day! I do cardio because it burns calories, lots of them, more so then weights. Yes I lose fat faster. If I did nothing but weights I'd have lots of muscle, underneath layers of fat. I could just do cardio to lose weight, but I use weights to become shapely and strong. I am in no way scared of my weights, I was in fact just yesterday looking at some new ones seeing as how my handweight set is from 1992, plastic pastel color scheme and all, but I decided mine still work just fine.

In my opinion you should do more cardio and less weights to lose whatever fat it is you're trying to lose. But use weights for shape and strength.

When you weight train it burns a lot of calories and will continue to burn for about 36 hrs after you're done lifting. Muscle burns fat even at rest. You can't go wrong EVER with weight lifting. If you do cardio at the wrong pace you can burn muscle. Your heart rate needs to be at target to burn fat and not muscle.

People do alot of cardio because they are uncomfortable with weights, think they will bulk up, or don't feel they have worked hard enough.. You should do what your doing if you have 5-10lbs to lose is my 2 cents.

Funniest thing I heard all day! I do cardio because it burns calories, lots of them, more so then weights. Yes I lose fat faster. If I did nothing but weights I'd have lots of muscle, underneath layers of fat. I could just do cardio to lose weight, but I use weights to become shapely and strong. I am in no way scared of my weights, I was in fact just yesterday looking at some new ones seeing as how my handweight set is from 1992, plastic pastel color scheme and all, but I decided mine still work just fine.

In my opinion you should do more cardio and less weights to lose whatever fat it is you're trying to lose. But use weights for shape and strength.

Yea this is wrong. You can easily just cut out cardio completely and lose a crap ton of weight while building muscle. You're not just going to have a bunch of muscle under fat. While cardio is a good supplement to weight training it is not needed. However, it's probably best to do both provided you're not over taxing your body.