Do you exercise often? Well if you
do, have you ever wondered what the best way is to burn calories in a given
amount of time? You probably have. There are two main types of exercise that
people do at the gym, cardio and weight lifting. Cardio is defined as any
exercise that elevates your heart rate for an amount of time while weight
lifting is defined as any exercise that involves lifting weights or doing body
weight exercises.
The amount of calories burned from
cardio depends on how long you do cardio. For example, running three miles on a
treadmill could burn up to 300 calories. Although cardio has less impact on the
body, it isn’t as effective as weight training because it does not burn
calories after running. Weight training, on the other hand, burns calories
during and after the exercise. Doing weight training helps you build muscle,
which ultimately burns even more calories for approximately 38 hours. Studies
show that people doing weight training burned up to 35% more fat than people
just doing cardio. The only problem is that with weight training is that there
is more impact on the body like body pains. Eventually your body will not be
able to take the pain and will have to give up. If time is not a factor in your
schedule than doing steady cardio can be just as effective as weight training
in terms of burning calories.
So, does this mean that you should only
do cardio or weight training? The answer is no since both these types of
exercises can be just as effective in burning calories depending on how much
time someone has. Studies also show that a mix of both these types of exercises
might even be more helpful than just doing one or the other. Based on all this
information, exercise should be based on personal choice and what works for
you.
Questions:
Which type of exercise is more popular among Americans? What
type of exercise is better for long- term health? Does weight-training or
cardio work better for people who are overweight?
Sources:
http://www.askthetrainer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/cardio-vs-strength-training.jpg
I really enjoyed this post because I love to exercise. I use to swim and run in high school, so cardio was a huge thing for me, but I remember my coaches always stressing to hit the weight room so that our bodies could get stronger, so that we could push the limits even more. Personally, nowadays I like weight-lifting more because it is less stressful for me. While with swimming and running it just flat out sucks especially because most of the time I'm alone, whereas I'm usually with a friend when lifting.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic to choose, especially based off of my previous post in which I posed a question that is very similar to what your post answers. In my post I focused less on the burning of calories and more on the effects that exercise has on one's stress level. I was wondering, after finishing my article, if there was a certain type of exercise that was the best for stress. Would running for a long time so as to get a "runner's high" be best? Or is it better to push yourself with weight lifting and focus on the burn instead of one's obligations? What is the most convenient if time is a factor? These are all interesting things to learn and would be immensely helpful to college students.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very intriguing! In high school I was apart of my school's cross country and track team. In both seasons my coaches required the members of the team to do both cardio exercise and weightlifting. The weightlifting aspect of our workouts were to build our strength for running as well as our inner core. Now that I am out of high school and I no longer participate in an organized sport this article has new relevance to me. When I am exercising I often look for workouts that will burn the most calories, and I have always assumed that burning the most calories came through doing cardio exercises. In college, I rarely participate in any weightlifting and I often do not see many other women weightlifting either. Do you think that many women are not participating in weightlifting because of a particular body image they want to maintain? As this information becomes more popularized, it will be interesting to see the changes that may occur.
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