Is it better to lift or do just cardio?

My experience was that it was better to lift and do some cardio on my non-lifting days. I've found that lifting has shaped my body more along the lines that I wanted while cardio did not. Cardio did help me create a caloric deficit and lose weight, but it did not give me the physical appearance that I wanted.

That said, the best kind of exercise is the one that you enjoy more and will do consistently.

I just started lifting. I wish I would have started lifting from the beginning.

ETA: I would say both are important, but put more focus on the one you enjoy the most or the one that gives you the physical appearance you want.

Lifting is a very useful tool in keeping off the weight you lose ... I did purely cardio for the first 3 months (I had 165lb to lose) and then gradually introduced strength training. Nowadays I strength train for an hour, three times week, plus 30 minutes on the exercise bike three times a week and have one rest day a week.

Building muscle is important because the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn even at rest - I love my weight training, it gives me an immensely positive feeling and I can't recommend it highly enough, but I find cardio mind numbing, even though it is a necessary evil.

Both strength and cardio have their place and they both do their own good, but the key is to find something you enjoy. Yoga will indeed increase flexibility and give you a toned look, but weight/strength training will increase your muscle mass, which will in turn increase your calorie burn even at rest.

xXx

You should do both to address both cardiovascular and skeletal health. But from an aesthetic standpoint, I saw much better results when I lifted.

BecomingBane wrote: »

My experience was that it was better to lift and do some cardio on my non-lifting days. I've found that lifting has shaped my body more along the lines that I wanted while cardio did not. Cardio did help me create a caloric deficit and lose weight, but it did not give me the physical appearance that I wanted.

That said, the best kind of exercise is the one that you enjoy more and will do consistently.

I agree. I do a balance of both, HIIT MWF (circuit, bootcamp and OTF) and heavy weights + 30 minutes of treadmill intervals T&R. I've only "lost" 5-10 lbs at most, but i've gone from a solid size 8 to a small size 6 and I look (and feel!) completely different. The weight training has pulled in my stomach, waist, and thighs and i've gotten rid of that gross armpit flab.

Depending on how you choose to do your weights, there are some great tricks for keeping your HR up so you continue to burn calories during anabolic training:
If you lift in a class at the gym- do 20-30 minutes of intense HIIT training on the treadmill. I do 30 sec intervals at 4.2mph, 7.2 mph, 5.2mph, 8.2mph and repeat. I can usually keep my HR over 100 for an entire 1 hour weight session after this.
If you lift alone- Two ways to go about this. 1) start with a 10-15 minute jog, do 30 min of weights, go back for another jog, follow it with another weight session. 2) splice your weight training with squats at tempo (or box jumps, or jump squats...) That will raise your heart rate back up.

Do both

Do not lose weight without lifting. Muscle burns more calories than fat. So the more pounds of muscle you have in your body, the higher your metabolism is, the more calories you burn daily with and without exercise.

When you cut (eat below your maintainence calories, which is what makes you lose weight) you lose weight in two ways. You lose fat and you lose lean muscle mass. But wait, I just told you the more muscle you have the higher your metabolism so you don't want to lose muscle! That's where lifting comes in. You won't gain any muscle while you're cutting calories (except those few newbie gains) but lifting while cutting ensures you maintain as much of your muscle mass as possible so you don't destroy your metabolism.

Whoever told you that you need to lose 75% of your weight before you start lifting should stop giving advice.

Ideally you can do both (I do both), but there are people who only lift and do a higher number of reps for their cardio. I will tell you that I personally notice the biggest difference in my body when I'm actually eating at maintainence because lifting causes this process called recomposition where you gain muscle (which you can only happen at maintainence or in bulk) and subsequently lose fat because your metabolism increase and you're eating to maintain your weight. That's when I lose the most inches. However doing that I don't lose any weight. If I care about the number on the scale, which normally I don't, I cut calories because instead of replacing pounds of fat with pounds of muscle I just lose the body mass.

jeepinshawn wrote: »

beautifulwarrior18 wrote: »

Do not lose weight without lifting. Muscle burns more calories than fat. So the more pounds of muscle you have in your body, the higher your metabolism is, the more calories you burn daily with and without exercise.

When you cut (eat below your maintainence calories, which is what makes you lose weight) you lose weight in two ways. You lose fat and you lose lean muscle mass. But wait, I just told you the more muscle you have the higher your metabolism so you don't want to lose muscle! That's where lifting comes in. You won't gain any muscle while you're cutting calories (except those few newbie gains) but lifting while cutting ensures you maintain as much of your muscle mass as possible so you don't destroy your metabolism.

Whoever told you that you need to lose 75% of your weight before you start lifting should stop giving advice.

Ideally you can do both (I do both), but there are people who only lift and do a higher number of reps for their cardio. I will tell you that I personally notice the biggest difference in my body when I'm actually eating at maintainence because lifting causes this process called recomposition where you gain muscle (which you can only happen at maintainence or in bulk) and subsequently lose fat because your metabolism increase and you're eating to maintain your weight. That's when I lose the most inches. However doing that I don't lose any weight. If I care about the number on the scale, which normally I don't, I cut calories because instead of replacing pounds of fat with pounds of muscle I just lose the body mass.

The muscle burns more argument is really sort of voided because it is so miniscule it doesn't matter. If you like cardio do it, you will burn more calories in an hour long run in than several
Hours of weights. Lifting will also slow down your weight loss, and could make you feel even more hungry. I lost 120lbs in a year all of it was diet and walking. When I got close to maintainence I started doing hiit. 6 months after maintenence I ran a half marathon, I feel great. Now I will be working on weights and running, for me now that I'm down to a healthy weight it is easier to focus on exercise instead of the number on the scale.

Lifting would only slow weight loss the first week due to increase fluid retention to repair muscle. Outside of that, it will not slow anything down. If anything, it will increase fat loss and you will yield greater improvements to body fat percentage which is actually what most people want.

Do both. I personally hate jogging on a treadmill or biking so I never do just that. (Usually means I end up doing HIIT.) I tend to finish my workout with stair master since I prefer to spend most of my energy on lifting.
But as others mentioned, stick to what you enjoy and what you're most likely to continue doing. Just don't knock anything until you've try it.

BecomingBane wrote: »

My experience was that it was better to lift and do some cardio on my non-lifting days. I've found that lifting has shaped my body more along the lines that I wanted while cardio did not. Cardio did help me create a caloric deficit and lose weight, but it did not give me the physical appearance that I wanted.

That said, the best kind of exercise is the one that you enjoy more and will do consistently.

I agree with this ^^ I have lost 109lbs doing mostly cardio at least 5-6 days a week. Did some lifting weights but not seriously. For the past couple months I've gotten more serious about lifting weights (doing SL 5x5 now) am doing cardio on days I don't lift weights. I'm amazed at how I'm becoming more compact. I'm losing inches more than weight right now. Clothes I put on a month ago are baggy on me. I still want to lose 50lbs though. Now that the weather is nice I'm out on my bike quite often and sometimes do that on lifting days (my legs get quite a workout!)