In the training scene, there’s always been this ongoing debate about weights or cardio for fat loss. Which one gets the best results, which one should somebody do?
Now firstly, the real answer is DO BOTH!
But if you only could do one, which would it be and why?
Most people generally tend to sway towards the one they personally enjoy more, but we know sticking to what you find more enjoyable although it can help keep you consistent doesn’t mean you will get the result your after.
When it comes to working this out we have a few things we need to take into account for:
- Caloric Expenditure During Exercise
- Post Exercise Caloric Expenditure
- Effect On Hormones Impacting Body Composition
- Metabolic Adaptations to Training
- What Look Do You Want?
What Burns More Calories
So we know fat loss comes down to a calorie equation of calories in vs calories out although there are a few things we will allude to here that make it a little more complex. But what burns more calories during a single training session weights or cardio?
This is where it the truth gets a little less clear as both weights and cardio training can have huge variability in how you perform them and how much energy expenditure is involved. If you took a 45 minute cardio session and compared it to a 45 minute bi’s and tri’s session then the results would be pretty clear towards cardio but not all strength training looks like that.
A full body metabolic strength workout involving heavy lifts like squats, deadlifts, rows, presses and lunges will burn through a significantly higher amount of calories during the session and often look pretty similar to a tough interval training session.
So when it comes to burning more calories during the session it’s about even between cardio and lifting when you use metabolic strength style workouts.
Chasing The Afterburn
Over the last few years, people have started talking about excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) as a means to promote high-intensity training methods for fat burning and building fitness. For good reason too, if we can continue to burn more calories outside our workouts then we can lose more fat or my favourite eat more food.
In terms of EPOC during steady state cardio training like running most of the oxygen demands are met during the course of the session and therefore EPOC is limited and minimal extra calories are burned afterwards. Although an interval style cardio training session like 10 x 400m sprints with 3 minutes rest between creates a significant EPOC and will burn a large number of calories in the post-exercise period.
Lifting likewise to interval training requires the body to force recovery to the muscles over the next few days and therefore also has a larger EPOC than steady state training. Implementing metabolic strength training like we mentioned before is also super effective for this reason, plus adding in strongman style conditioning work which helps both build muscle and burn fat can produce a huge EPOC.
In terms of post-exercise calorie burn lifting wins out against steady state cardio however hard interval based cardio can come up pretty close to even.
Training, Hormones and Metabolic Adaptation
One of the often overlooked pieces of information when it comes to training is how different training methods impact upon hormones which then impacts on results.
The most commonly thrown around word in hormones and training is cortisol that supposedly breaks down muscle tissue and stores body fat. Now cortisol isn’t necessarily the evil we make it out to be and is actually quite an important part of the recovery process post-exercise however chronically high cortisol as a response to extreme volumes of endurance training often can lead to losing muscle, adrenal fatigue and the high exercise volumes can lower thyroid activity which, in turn, lowers the metabolic rate and halts progress of fat loss.
Now in the short term a lowered metabolic rate while losing the weight isn’t necessarily the end of the world and is actually quite common. The big evil is that once people lose the weight very little focus goes into restoring the thyroid and adrenals to their normal function or building back the lost muscle which will restore the metabolic rate.
On the other hand, even though strength training under a caloric deficit can still have similar effects on adrenals or thyroid (very limited when dieting correctly), strength training promotes retaining the muscle ultimately leading to maintaining a higher metabolic rate than if the majority of training is cardio. Plus as an added bonus, if you continue to build muscle after your fat loss phase your metabolism will continue to build which means you will be able to cut weight while eating more next time rather than less!
That means you can go and spend more time checking out the top 10 post workout feeds in Newcastle, rather than just dreaming about pizza and burgers.
Strength training also promotes the release of anabolic hormones which can help promote muscle gain and fat loss which make it a big winner when it comes to hormones.
What If I Just Do More?
An interesting study recently showed that people have a maximum capacity of calories in which they can burn within a time period. They did this by measuring caloric expenditure in people while giving them different training volumes; no training, 1 hour per day, 2 hours per day, 4 hours per day.
As you would assume the training groups burnt more calories than the no training group, however, there was an increase in calories burnt between the 1 hour group and the higher exercise groups but no difference between the 2 hours and 4 hours group.
This suggested that there is an upper limit to the number of calories you can burn in a day and promotes more frequent exposures to exercise as opposed to longer bouts of training. It was suggested that the longer exercise exposure leads to a decrease in calories burnt through other means such as non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) and through potentially a reduced metabolic rate from the exhaustion created through the exercise.
An easy way to understand this is if you’ve ever done a huge long run or workout, then you come home to do what?
Nothing!
This was my experience with running my first half marathon, I walked to get food afterwards then just lazed around on the lounge the rest of the day. Not to mention the following 3 days where I couldn’t walk without pain. Even though I would have burned a tonne of calories during the half marathon, I would have more than covered it the following days in my sedentary lifestyle afterwards.
Now, this isn’t related directly to either strength or cardio training but it’s much more common to see people attempt to spend multiple hours doing cardio training in an attempt to lose fat where it may possibly be causing a negative effect or simply be a waste of your time.
I’m yet to see someone have enough energy in the tank to continue a metabolic strength training workout past 90 minutes with any sort of quality so I’d have to say strength wins it again here.
Do You Actually Want To Look Like A Runner?
Now if you answered yes to that question then go for it, I’m actually a big believer that people should do more running and conditioning in general but for a lot of people that come to us, that answer is no.
Most people want to look athletic while feeling strong and fit. Most people see the builds of high-level rugby players, Crossfit games athletes or female netball and performance athletes. These guys spend a tonne of time training in a wide variety of disciplines but the main factors are they maintain a bunch of muscle, do enough conditioning and eat well enough to look good.
Now if you’re only going to stick to cardio even though your weight may drop down, you won’t have the look you were chasing at the start unless you’re someone who naturally holds a lot of muscle on their frame.
This one really comes down to what YOU want. But for most of the people, we work with strength is once again the missing link.
We Have A Winner!
So if you ask us it all sways the way of strength first. Sure if we could do both sure we would but you can definitely get amazing results in looking good, moving and feeling athletic all from strength training alone.
Now obviously the biggest thing with fat loss is nutrition so if you’re feeling lost with this then make sure to check out this article.