Many people think that if you want to lose fat, you should do more cardio, and that if you want to build muscle, you should lift weights. But it's not that simple. You can use weight training to lose fat, and in some ways it's actually better than cardio.
Falling for the common misconception that you need to do cardio to lose weight is one of the biggest mistakes you could make and could hinder your progress.
you can actually do both, vary your workouts so you dont get bored and get all these benefits.
Benefits of lifting weights
There are too many physical, health, and mental benefits to leave strength training out of your workout schedule. Here is why and how you should include this important piece into any training program:
-increase your physical work capacity, by improving your ability to perform activities of daily living. You will be able to work harder and longer with the proper weight training activities.
-It improves bone density. One of the best ways you can control bone loss as you age is to add strength training into your workout plan.
-It promotes fat-free body mass with decreasing sarcopenia. The lean muscle mass that we all work so hard for decreases with age. If we don't add strength training to our routine then it will turn into fat.
-It Increases the strength of connective tissue, muscles, and tendons. This leads to improved motor performance and decreased injury risk.
-It improves your quality of life as you gaining body confidence. Strength training will not only make you strong, but will also help with managing your weight.
-It boots your metabolism, Your body works harder to maintain muscle over fat. Strength training can boost your metabolism so you burn more calories throughout the day even when you are resting.
How to start
-Start slowly, increasing the weight evertime, this will decrease your chance of injury and soreness.
-Start with single sets and work your way up to multiple sets.
-Use the correct weight amount. Using too much weight will increase your chance of injury because your form will suffer. Vice versa, by not using enough weight your muscles will not be challenged and you won't experience the desired benefits of weight training. How do you know you are lifting the correct amount of weight? It should be hard to perform the last few repetitions without comprising your form.
-Give your muscles time to rest and recovery. You should wait at least 48 hours before you train the same muscle group once again.
Benefits of doing cardio
Want an all natural way to lift your mood, improve your memory, and protect your brain against the decline that comes with aging?
Get moving!
Aerobic exercise or "cardio" get your heart pumping and sweat flowing, have significant and beneficial effects on the brain and body.
Just some benefits include:
-Weight loss, and low Colesterol levels, by burning the excess of calories used as energy during the workout, cardio exercise was also linked with increases in HDL, also known as "good" cholesterol because it mobilizes the cholesterol in your blood.
- It helps prevent and manage diabetes by improving the way the body uses blood sugar. a single session of cardio has been found to increase insulin action and glucose tolerance for more than 24 hours; one week of it can improve whole-body insulin sensitivity.
-Stronger heart and lungs, our hearth is a muscle that has to be active by doing cardio regularly you can reduce the risk of heart disease and some types of cancer.
-Increased bone density
-Reduced stress it will help you to have temporary relief from depression and anxiety by their ability to reduce levels of natural stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol.
- It will improve your sleep that comes with a lot of benefits for your general health.
-You will fell more energy throughout the day by increasing your overall blood flow and provide our minds with fresh energy and oxygen.
How to start
If you are just getting started, first focus on simply finding an activity that gets you moving and gets your heart rate up. Those are the two key components to what cardio is, any form of exercise will do, whether it is going for a walk, a bike ride or performing in an organized sport.