There’s a lesson I wish I had learned a long time ago. It is that there are other ways to burn calories and lose weight besides aerobics. Because it seems that resistance training may be as important for burning off the fat.
Hmmmm. No wonder I was struggling with weight loss even though I spent hours on the stationary bike and treadmill. Yet for some reason my fat loss was more or less minimal to say the least. More of less limited to what you could say was “not so much”.
So if you are laboring under the assumption aerobics are best for fat burning too maybe a second look is called for. To find out just where resistance training fits into the big picture here.
Well from what I can tell aerobic exercises have always been associated with fat loss. The reason is not hard to see. Aerobics is relatively easy and not all that uncomfortable to do. I mean come on now. It’s not THAT tough compared to some things. Besides the theory is simple enough. Reach your fat burning zone. Stay there for 30-40 minutes duration. And you are done.
All the better you can watch TV, listen to your iPOD, even read the paper during your aerobics session.
Alternatively, we’d rather not think of the stress and strain resistance training involves. I mean it involves lifting weights repeatedly for a specific number of times. Ugh! All the math involved gives me a headache. No wonder we prefer to stay in our aerobics comfort zone.
But let’s do a reality check here and take a hard look at the list of relative benefits of cardio exercise versus strength training as defined. With an easily overlooked drawback thrown in too.
Here’s some fat burning pros and cons cardio offers you.
Your cardiovascular training routine burns more calories than weight training – but not significantly more.
There is less burning of calories after your workouts.
Plus you can’t ignore the serious stress you’re putting on your joints and the strain on your muscles unless of course you’re doing water aerobics.
Okay but what fat burning results does resistance training produce?
Actually, depending on the number of reps and how much weight you use, you can burn about the same number of calories as with an aerobic workout.
And get this. Post workout, your metabolic rate remains elevated by as much as 30% and will stay that way for as long as 36 hours. Meaning that as your muscles rebuild and repair you are still burning calories. Even while you sleep.
When you workout your core and ab muscles you have less chance of injury as you learn balance and co-ordination in such workouts.
There you go. Resistance training helps you lose fat and develop muscle tissue that burns more fat. So now that you know that, what’s your next step?
First this revelation is no reason to call the whole thing off. Your cardio routine that is. No, the reasonable thing to do is combine moderate weight training with low impact aerobics. I suggest that because aerobic activities themselves bring with them their additional benefits.
They build up your lungs and heart helping them to work more efficiently.
They enhance blood circulation.
They work to get you to a better overall level of fitness, endurance, and stamina.
They can help speed repair of muscle tissue damage resulting from your strength training workout.
Okay so what takeaway should you be getting here? Simple. You’re better of following a comprehensive program of resistance, cardio plus improve eating habits which will combine to lead to a leaner, fitter you.
And if you’d like to learn how a regular jump rope workout can help you achieve your fitness goals, or just need to know how many calories are burned jumping rope you definitely want to visit MeltOffTheInches.com. That popular site has many helpful articles on related topics of interest for those looking to lose weight by exercising more.