Prioritizing Lifting Weights Over Cardio
Nov 23, 2020 mindpumpThere is a place for both cardio and weight lifting in your life. There is a level of cardio that is important for heart health and overall wellness. When it comes to getting and maintaining the physique you want, however, lifting weights is far superior to cardio. Lifting weights can help you get the body you want by helping you lose weight and grow muscle. You can avoid two of the main pitfalls that come with a cardio-focused workout routine – plateaus and longer workout sessions – by focusing the bulk of your efforts on lifting weight.
Weight loss
Prioritizing lifting weights over cardio is a way for you to prioritize weight loss. This is not the line of thinking that many people have when they start to look for a plan to help with weight loss. The fact that cardio has the potential to burn such a high number of calories can make it seem like the best option for weight loss. The reality is that lifting weights consistently will actually increase your metabolism. Increasing your metabolism will help you lose weight and make it easier to maintain your progress.
Muscle growth
Another reason to prioritize lifting weights over cardio is the fact that it is the most effective way for you to build muscle. Muscle growth helps improve your metabolism and can completely reshape your body. Cardio can change the way your body looks by helping some with weight loss but the results will be minimal in comparison to the ones you will get from lifting weights. If you are looking to transform your physique, lifting weights and building muscles will provide you with the best results.
Continued progress
Prioritizing lifting weights over cardio will help you keep your progress moving forward. Focusing on cardio can quickly lead to a plateau as your body adapts. A lot of cardio can cause your body to burn fewer calories. This happens because the significant calorie burn of cardio can signal to your body that there is a problem. Your body will react by trying to conserve as many calories a possible by slowing down your metabolism. This means that you will start burning fewer calories while at rest and during exercise. Lifting weights, on the other hand, can provide you with continued progress. Lifting weights signals your muscles to grow. This growth requires energy which your body gets by burning calories at a higher rate. You can enjoy continued progress by lifting weights as long as you follow a weight lifting program that takes adaptation into account by varying things like reps, weight, and movement.
Less time working out
Your time is valuable and finite. Health is a priority but so it your time. Prioritizing weight lifting over cardio will allow you to spend less time working out while still getting results. Focusing on cardio will eventually signal to your body that it needs to start conserving calories. The result is that you will have to spend more and more time doing cardio in order to burn the same number of calories you did previously. This can cause a cycle where you end up spending a lot of time doing cardio in an effort to see the same results. Lifting weights allows you to spend less time working out while still making progress toward your goals.
An overall healthy lifestyle will naturally include some cardio. Moving more throughout the day, getting outside for fun physical activities, and including some short bursts of cardio into your workout routine are all ways that you can take care of your heart health without experiencing the downsides of too much cardio. Prioritizing weight lifting during your dedicated workouts will provide you with the best results when it comes to weight loss, muscle growth, progress, and the amount of time you spend working out.
