Cardio is touted for long as a huge solution for fat loss. People assume they must slog on treadmills to shift the weight scale. Eventually, the fat loss represents the calories. Eating fewer calories than requires burns more calories, and the weight reduces with physical activities.
Is Cardio a must to Lose Fat?
A simple and straight answer is NO. There is no need to do cardio to lose weight. You may lose fat by keeping a check on caloric intake and doing resistance training. Even considering the combination of both is effective.
The main point is in losing body fat, and it means taking fewer calories than you spend. Limiting the intake of calories will cause fat loss. Consuming fewer calories means your will burn more fat.
Why consider Resistance training than relying on cardio?
Resistance training increases the heart rate as it includes multi-joint exercises, converting fats into fuel, and maintains muscle mass. The exercises are deadlifts, squats, and bent-over rows, and push presses. The single-joint exercises are leg extensions and biceps curls. The benefit of doing multi-joint exercises is because it involves various big muscle groups. The more you recruit the muscles, the greater is the calorie burn.
Another popular alternative is HIIT- the High-intensity interval training. Incorporating HIIT and strength exercises helps enjoy in a single session the benefits of strength and cardio. To increase the heart rate with resistance training, perform intensity exercises such as lifting heavy weights, limiting rest periods, and performing faster the strength exercises.
How intense workouts help?
Intense training workouts help burn calories even after the completion of your workout. Resistance training takes a complex as a circuit or metabolic conditioning. It brings the body into an energy system creating an afterburn effect, where fat is the fuel. When performed faster and back-to-back, you can lose calories.
The afterburn refers to as post-exercise excess oxygen consumption. Here it repairs your tissues and muscles after a workout, and it requires more calories. As more calories get used for some time after the completion of exercises, the fat gets burned.
Final thoughts
Cardio is not essential to lose weight or fat, but strength and cardio training are crucial for a healthy lifestyle. Elimination of cardio from a regular fitness schedule is not necessary, do it as a part of good health. Resistance training improves bone density, balance, brain function and reduces the falling risk with age.