cardio for suckers?

Cardio isn't optimal for losing weight, that's true. Lifting weights is much more effective. However, there are a lot of other health related issues and athletic performance benefits to doing cardio.

If you completely eliminate cardio you'd be neglecting your most important muscle, though .... your heart.

I agree!

But I also have read this. I am curious to know how the heart is receiving the benefit of weightlifting as opposed to cardio. It is the cardio that gets the heart pumping and keeps the heart rate up there for an extended period of time. Waiting to read the other responses.

If you completely eliminate cardio you'd be neglecting your most important muscle, though .... your heart.

I totally agree with this statement! But I do believe HIIT training can give you an excellent combination of both worlds, weight lifting for the metabolic effect and cardio burst for your heart!! It's one of my favorite ways to train! :blushing:

Strength training encourages anaerobic metabolic development of muscle. If you do strength training without cardio you will end up with large muscles with little endurance. A lot of strength buffs don't like this fact and try to pretend it's not true, but in order to get balanced development of muscle (and real over-all fitness) you need cardio AND strength training.

And no, the heart does not receive the same benefit from strength. Because strength training is anaerobic and does not require oxygen to the same degree as cardio, it does not elevate heart rate to the same degree as cardio/endurance training. (Please note, I am no talking out of my *kitten* here...I'm a biology professor in charge of human A&P instruction at my school.)

This guy is wrong! Yes if your only going to work out one day in your life choose weight lifting over cardio. The two hours vs. 24 to 48 hours maybe true. If we are going to treat hours of raised metabolism as king of what's best for those that want to lose weight I suggest catching the common cold. Nearly two weeks of higher metabolism fighting off the virus.

At the end of the day what is important to the person who wants to lose fat is the CUMULATIVE effect on metabolism. Cardio is better.Here's why. The body has two main sources of energy glycogen(Sugar) and fat. At rest we burn ruffly 70% fat and 30% glycogen. As we begin to work out intensely these ratios climb for glycogen and fall for fat.When we are completely out of breath we have reached an anaerobic state where no fat is being used. This state of not burning fat also handicaps the bodies ability to use glycogen as an energy source. Inside all our muscles are enzymes which break up fat cells into the chemical components that can be used to create energy as it enters the cells. When someone runs at the high end of there aerobic window repeated times the body sends out a chemical message that the energy demands are too great for the currant muscle structure. In an adaptive counter move the body builds more of the enzymes (Which are just a group of proteins in a special configuration) that break apart fat. An Olympic athlete will show fat release into the blood stream within seconds of running on a treadmill. People with poor cardio fitness can take well over a half hour. Cardio fitness = Higher ability to produce energy. Higher % of fat used for energy during workouts.

Also gaining cardiovascular fitness lowers your resting heart rate which helps for recovery from exercise stress and sickness.

Cardio burns fat. I like to strength train, but I need my cardio. Strength training may continue to burn more calories after a workout, but cardio burns fat.

Strength training encourages anaerobic metabolic development of muscle. If you do strength training without cardio you will end up with large muscles with little endurance. A lot of strength buffs don't like this fact and try to pretend it's not true, but in order to get balanced development of muscle (and real over-all fitness) you need cardio AND strength training.

And no, the heart does not receive the same benefit from strength. Because strength training is anaerobic and does not require oxygen to the same degree as cardio, it does not elevate heart rate to the same degree as cardio/endurance training. (Please note, I am no talking out of my *kitten* here...I'm a biology professor in charge of human A&P instruction at my school.)

Not to mention that extreme heavy lifting will raise the blood pressure REALLY HIGH. I advocate getting strong and lifting strong, but I also advocate that you back it with a good cardio program.
I've worked out with many a "meat head" and when climbing stairs to the upper floor when the gym is leaves them out of breath. Many of them don't do cardio because it inhibits muscle gains. They only do cardio when prepping for a contest and even then it's low/moderate cardio because they don't want to lose muscle.