Why does strength training burn fat

Based on this research, you can use your body weight to estimate how many calories you will burn during different types of exercise, including cardio and weight training.

If you weigh pounds 73 kg , you will burn about calories per 30 minutes of jogging at a moderate pace 1. If you were to run at a faster pace of 6 miles per hour, you would burn around calories in 30 minutes 1. On the other hand, if you weight trained for the same amount of time, you might only burn around — calories.

Summary: The number of calories you burn during exercise depends on your body size and how intensely you exercise. Typically, a cardio workout burns more calories than a weight training workout of the same duration.

For example, weight training is more effective than cardio at building muscle, and muscle burns more calories at rest than some other tissues, including fat 3. Because of this, it is commonly said that building muscle is the key to increasing your resting metabolism — that is, how many calories you burn at rest. For the men, resting metabolism increased by about calories per day. In women, it was only about 50 calories per day. Specifically, research has shown that you burn more calories in the hours following a weight training session, compared to a cardio workout 5 , 6 , 7.

In fact, there are reports of resting metabolism staying elevated for up to 38 hours after weight training, while no such increase has been reported with cardio 7.

You may keep burning calories for hours or days afterward. For most types of exercise, a more intense workout will increase the number of calories you burn afterward 8. Also, weight training is typically more effective than cardio at increasing the number of calories you burn after a workout.

Although cardio and weight training are two of the most popular workouts, there are other options. One of these is high-intensity interval training HIIT , which involves short bursts of very intense exercise alternated with low-intensity recovery periods 9 , You can use HIIT with a variety of different exercises, including sprinting, biking, jump roping or other body-weight exercises.

One study compared the calories burned during 30 minutes of HIIT, weight training, running and biking. Research examining more than overweight and obese adults found that HIIT and traditional cardio reduced body fat and waist circumference to similar extents Some research estimates that you may burn about calories in 30 minutes of either cardio or HIIT if you weigh about pounds 73 kg One of the potential benefits of HIIT is that you can spend less time actually exercising, since rest periods are included between the intense periods of activity.

Some research shows it may burn more calories than weights or cardio. Overall, it can produce similar weight loss to cardio, but with less time spent exercising. We share valuable info to support your health goals with strength training. Working out has a myriad of physical and mental health benefits. From self-empowerment, confidence building, and anxiety reduction to muscle strengthening, maintaining a healthy heart, and getting blood pumping—exercise makes us feel good!

Looking and feeling your best comes in many different forms, so there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to fitness goals.

While strength training is usually not considered a part of the burn-fat-and-lose-weight menu, it can actually cause you to burn as much fat, or more, than cardio leading to better overall health.

From resistance training to HIIT, there are many methods to help you gain more muscle and quickly burn fat. When you build muscle you are, in effect, building a bigger engine—and what does a big engine do? It burns more fuel. When you do high reps or intense weight training it boosts your metabolism, which remains elevated even after you stop working out. When you incorporate strength training into your weight loss efforts you can experience an elevation in your metabolism, or EPOC, for far longer than usual.

This means that even when you stop weight training, your body is still burning calories. As such, blood is diverted away from your stomach and around your body, which, according to Dr Blannin, can put the kibosh on your appetite.

Minute-for-minute, cardiovascular exercise burns more calories than weight training due to the continuous nature of intensity. Because of this, doing cardio for weight loss can help you lose body fat.

However, the type of cardio you choose is important depending on what your goal is:. US research actually found that those who chose aerobic exercise lost up to four times more fat than those who only chose to strength train. However, and this is important, your healthy body goals might not just be about fat loss — maintaining muscle tissue is crucial for a healthy metabolism and sculpted physique.

That's where resistance training comes in. A huge upside of cardiovascular training is that you really don't need much to do it. Running , walking and high-intensity bodyweight workouts are all completely free ways to work out. If cycling's more your thing then investing in a bike plus bike helmet and bike lights , please is a great way to incorporate more cardio into your life.

Or, if you prefer to sweat at home, an exercise bike is a great shout for stationary fitness gains. Get around everything you need to know about the Peloton , Echelon and Apex bikes, now. Or, grab a skipping rope and get going. The humble bit of home gym equipment is brilliant at burning fat and building muscular endurance.

It's also hard as hell, FYI. As we age our brains gradually lose tissue. This process starts from the age of 30 and has a marked effect on our cognitive performance. Cardiovascular exercise has been linked to significantly reducing the amount of brain tissue lost over time, with one study showing that those who regularly exercised in this way had the most 'robust' brain tissue.

Basically, get sweaty, stay sharp. We love to see it. If high blood pressure is something you contend with, cardiovascular exercise can help to lower it to healthy levels, with one study showing data proving the effectiveness of endurance exercise steady-state cardio: walking, jogging, cycling, swimming as decreasing blood pressure levels in sedentary adults. A strong immune system has always been important, and fortunately, getting some daily cardio movement in each day will help keep your immune system ticking over at peak efficiency.

Research has shown that 'regular and moderate exercise has favourable effects on the immune system by increasing "immunoglobulins"' which are immune-system protecting molecules produced from your white blood cells. As we've touched on, the range of cardio workouts out there is one of the best things about it. Everything from walking, running, swimming, hiking, cycling, spinning, jogging, dancing to different modalities like HIIT and LISS training all count as cardio exercise! This is brilliant if you're trying to get your cardio done and dusted but tend to get bored of the same type of exercise over and over.

This plus point is something resistance training does have going for it as well it encompasses everything from powerlifting to circuit training , but a benefit is a benefit and document it we must. Now, onto the benefits of weight training. Now, to the heavy stuff. Why weight training burns fat, sculpts lean muscle tissue, keeps your metabolism healthy and improves stability and coordination. It shouldn't be a surprise that lifting weights can build and sculpt muscle.

Training with weights places more resistance on your muscles meaning the tissue is broken down more quickly. The fancy word for this process is 'hypertrophy'. While you can build muscle with just your bodyweight — callisthenics training is a testament to that — the more stress resistance your muscles are placed under will force them to work harder and grow more quickly.