If you want to lose weight, you’re probably wondering which type of exercise will help you make the most progress: aerobic exercise or strength training? There are several factors to consider when deciding which of the two training methods to prioritize.
But before weighting hose factors, it’s important to first break down what it means for your goals and body composition and weight.
The difference between weight loss and fat loss
Both cardiovascular exercise and strength training are effective in weight loss, but the heart often has a major impact on scale. However, this can be misleading. Weightlifting builds more muscle.
Therefore, if you concentrate on strength training for a period of time, you will see that even if you have low fat and a lot of muscle (contribute to the fitter’s physique), your weight will remain roughly the same.
You should also know that the percentage of muscle mass decreases with age beginning at age 30.
By building and maintaining muscle mass, strength training helps slow its decline and maintain waistline trim. In one Harvard study of over 10,000 men, those who performed 20 minutes of strength training per day had less visceral (deep abdominal) fat in 12 years compared to those who spent the same amount of time on aerobic exercise.
Aerobic exercise and strength training: Which burns more calories?
The number of calories burned during a particular training depends on many factors.
- Your weight
- The duration of your workout and the ratio of your work to rest (i.e., the amount of time you are moving),
- Your fitness level
- Your level of effort
To quantify how hard you work during exercise, scientists use “metabolic equivalents” or MetS systems.
Benefits of burning calorie aerobic exercise
On the Mets scale, you have six to ride a low-intensity bike, eight to ride a 12-minute miles, and six to strength training.
For low-intensity steady-state (LISS) aerobic exercise, the majority of these calories come from fat. The reason is that at lower exercise intensity (60-70% of maximum heart rate), the body preferentially uses aerobic metabolism, which breaks down fat for energy.
So, per minute, it is clear that cardiovascular exercise burns more calories than strength training while you’re doing it. However, the number of calories you burn during your workout is only a portion of the total burns you’ve had since your workout.
When you recover from strength training or other types of high-intensity exercise, your body can remain in a calorie-burning state for a long time after you finish the exercise.
Benefits of burning calorie strength training
Exercise at higher intensity for a shorter period (think: high-intensity interval training, or HIIT) can burn more calories due to what scientists call excessive post-exercise oxygen consumption or EPOC. Also, more simply known as the “afterbahn effect,” EPOC includes all of the extra calories your body burns when recovering from exercise.
Simply put, it takes much longer to recover from a higher intensity effort than a lower intensity effort, and that recovery requires energy. So a 20-minute HIIT workout can eventually burn more total calories than an hour’s run.
Furthermore, muscles are one of the most important factors that affect your basal metabolic rate (the calories burned to maintain basic physical functions) and your overall metabolic rate (the calories burned in one day from all activities, including exercise). Essentially, the more muscles you have, the more calories you burn on average to maintain that muscle.
How to combine aerobic exercise training for weight loss
Ultimately, the best workouts for weight loss tend to be based on lifting and high-intensity aerobic exercise. However, you can do low-intensity aerobic exercise as part of your weight loss plan. Overall, the more you move, the less fat you get (as long as you dial in your meals). It’s that easy.
Additionally, low-intensity steady-state aerobic exercise (aka zone 2) helps the body recover between intense strength training sessions.
Finally, it is important to remember that exercise adherence and consistency outweighs all other workout variables when it comes to weight loss. Therefore, prioritize the form of exercise you can enjoy and do consistently – whether it’s aerobic exercise, weightlifting, or something else, you increase your chances of achieving your target weight.
