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How to Pair Cardio and Weight Training at the Gym

Even though you might think of cardio and weight training as two separate types of exercise, if you pair them together, you have the most powerful combination for fat loss. People always ask which type of exercise will allow you to lose weight more efficiently, aerobic exercise (cardio) or weight training and resistance exercise. The answer is both. You should incorporate both for the best outcome. It makes the most sense, and it is what most healthy people do to get a lean body with muscle definition.

 

Fat loss combined with movement

 

Many scientific studies show that a certain level of fat loss with cardio versus weights outperforms weights because continuous movement at a quick rate will always outperform intermittent exercise. However, to achieve optimal fat burn, you need to do both cardio and weight training.

 

Advantages of weights for fat loss

 

Everyone knows that strength and resistance training builds muscle. Muscle has a higher metabolic rate than fat so having more muscle raises your resting metabolic rate a little compared to having more body fat.

 

In a weight training program, weight training is important to help maintain muscle. When you lose weight it tends to be a combination of fat and muscle. You want to lose the fat but hold onto the muscle for the reasons described above. Weight training helps you achieve this, and has many other benefits for health and performance, besides building extra muscle.

 

Advantages of cardio for fat loss

 

The main advantage of aerobic exercise at moderate intensities is that you can do it continuously for much longer than the intermittent exercise of lifting weights. It is this non-stop movement that gives cardio an inherent advantage in energy expenditure during an exercise session. Try combining this with weights and movement in circuit training HYPER sessions to provide that extra boost, but movement is the key. If you move fast enough to the point where you are running or cycling at around 80 percent of maximum heart rate, you will get some after-burn as well. That’s why most comparisons show cardio to be superior to traditional weight training for energy expenditure.