Cardio, HIIT or Weightlifting to lose the most weight?
What works best to lose weight?
Fat loss is at the front of everybody’s mind these days. Here is a great 'sum-up' I've found on the subject:
Let’s say you want to lose weight, and you want to do so in the fastest way possible. Is it hours on the treadmill? Sprints up a hill? Could it possibly be squats and bench presses? I’m going to guess that you have assumptions on what might be best for you. In today’s royal rumble, I’m going to break down the difference between these three contenders and let you know which will give you the most bang for your buck. The results, which certainly aren’t unanimous, will surprise you…
If you are interested in getting in shape, the MOST important thing you can do for yourself is adjusting your diet.
Your diet is responsible for 80-90% of your successes or failures. As I’ve said previously, even if you spend ten hours a week exercising, that still leaves 168 hours for you to mess things up. Doh. If all you care about is losing weight, the fastest path to success is with a freaking kick-ass diet. Keep your total number of calories under control, cut out the junk food, give up soda, and start eating REAL FOODS: veggies, fruits, and lean meats.
Cardio: Pretty much anything with relative low intensity that you can do for a prolonged period of time that elevates your heart rate. Regular aerobics, going for a three mile jog, running on a treadmill for an hour, using the elliptical for twenty minutes, etc.
Cardio is the most basic thing you can do when it comes to burning calories. Let’s talk science: if you burn more calories than you consume in a day, you will lose weight. Step on a treadmill, run three miles, and you’ll burn around 300 calories. You don’t need any special weights, have extensive knowledge of any difficult exercises, just a pair of shoes and your legs. This is why the majority of people who start exercising do so by just running a treadmill or elliptical for hours: it’s tough to mess up, and it’s pretty mindless.
So why isn’t cardio efficient when it comes to burning calories? There’s very little Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) with cardio, which means you only burn calories when running; not much happens afterwards. If you want to read about how cardio doesn’t really burn any extra calories.
Interval Training (HIIT): When you decide to run, bike, use the elliptical, etc. with varying rates of speed and intensity. Sprinting for 30 seconds followed by 90 seconds of jogging, and repeating this cycle for 20-30 minutes.
HIIT constantly forces your heart to adjust to changing conditions: sprints, jogging, sprints, jogging, up hills, down hills, etc. Your heart learns to operate outside of its norm, and your body learns to adapt to these changes. All of this changing and sprinting kicks your metabolism into high gear for hours after you finish exercising.
Weight Training: Whenever you lift weights or do body weight exercises, often times in a cyclical nature.
So if cardio is decent for burning calories while you exercise, and high intensity interval training is more effective because it burns calories both during and after exercise, where does weight training come in?
According to studies, exercises that recruit the largest number of muscles (squats, lunges, kettlebell swings, squat thrusts, burpees, inverted rows, pull ups, and push ups). Do any of these exercises sound familiar? (CrossFit...). By doing these exercises in a circuit without stopping, keeping your rep ranges in the 8-12 range, your body will get a super workout, you will build muscle, and you’ll burn calories at an accelerated rate for reportedly up to 38 HOURS after your exercise. Yes you can sit on your but and still burn fat!
So to make a long story short... If you want to lose weight sign up with CrossFit ChalkBox now!
Book your FREE Trial here.