Hi. I’m a parkour practitioner and trainer from Chennai. I have been helping people achieve their fitness goals through parkour training. A number of people join my classes to lose fat in a short period of time. Most of them express that they want to do ONLY cardio workouts and they respond with a big NO when I ask them to do strength training workouts. One of the biggest misconceptions about cardio workout is that it keeps you in that 'Fat Burning Zone' and burns all the fat magically. It is true to a certain extent since typical cardio workouts like jogging and running utilise the energy system known as the aerobic energy. The source for the aerobic energy is Glucose which is stored as glycogen, Fatty acids which are stored as triglycerides in the muscle and Oxygen. When cardio workouts are performed, fat stored in the form of Fatty acids is used for energy.
So yeah, theoretically it makes perfect sense. But in application, we can see that cardio workouts are not as effective as they are believed to be. Especially, the low intensity cardio workouts like walking and jogging make low usage of energy, which means, in order to burn significant amount of calories, one has to do cardio workout for an hour or longer. People these days DO NOT have the time to do only cardio for more than one hour everyday. And doing cardio alone, without strengthening the muscles, will lead to injuries. I’ll talk about that in detail later.
Strength training, on the other hand, is very effective to burn calories. It allow us to burn calories at a faster rate, as it engages the larger and stronger, Type 2 muscles, which are much more energy-demanding than Type 1 muscle fibres that are used during cardio training. Intense strength training is so exhausting to the body that it will still burn calories even after the training is done. This state is known as EPOC.
E - Excess
P - Post exercise
O - Oxygen
C – Consumption
Studies have proven that the after-burn from the strength training burns 75kcal or 33% more than the cardio training in the immediate 24hrs after the workout. Burning 33% more calories might not seem like it makes much of a difference but in strength training, more calories are burnt in less time. Some studies say that the after-burn continues even 48hrs post-workout. And the best part is that, 80% of calories that are burnt during strength training comes directly from the FAT.
People want to burn fat in order to stay strong, fit and in a good shape. By doing strength training, you’re not only burning fat in a short period but also building strong muscles. In order to build muscles and achieve the shape you've always wanted, your body has to send strong stimulus to the brain to activate the hormones involved in muscle building. Such stimulus is best provided from strength training and not so much from cardio training. In fact, cardio training generates so low a stimulus that your body doesn’t even prioritize on keeping the Type 2 fibre. Meaning, as you lose weight and fat by doing cardio, you will also lose muscle mass at the same time. This type of weight loss will make you weak and prone to injuries. With strength training, you will lose fat as a result of the after-burn effect and you will preserve or even build muscle along the way.
Strength training will definitely burn fat effectively but it is also important that you do the type of training that is best for it. It is not necessary that you have to lift weights in order to build strength and burn fat at the same time. The best type of exercises for fat burning are those which comprise of heavy compound movements which involve more muscle groups at the same time, such as, Pull-ups, Weighted Push-ups, Jump squats, Muscle-ups etc. The more the muscles are engaged, the more the calories are burnt. It also should focus on an intensity that will have you reaching muscular failure in 10 – 15 reps. This allows you to engage all the muscle fibers (Type 1, Type 2A and Type 2B), which will generate a greater metabolic demand, which, again, burns calories and improves muscle growth. Speaking from my experience, calisthenics training is one of the best to train multiple muscle groups simultaneously. You should also keep in mind the fact that the rest you give your body between the workouts should be minimum, so that you will push to your maximum effort and burn the maximum calories possible while pushing the muscles to its maximum limit.
I’m not trying to say that cardio workouts are not at all necessary. It does have its own benefits. It helps in building endurance and to have a healthy heart which will help you stay away from cardiac problems which most of the Indians are suffering from.
I personally don’t enjoy typical cardio workouts like running because I get bored after a certain point. My parkour training itself is a good high intensity cardio workout because it involves a lot of running, sprinting and jumping to move from one point to another.
If you're someone who wants to get into shape, build or maintain muscle mass and burn fat at the same time, I would suggest that you follow a proper strength training routine and a good diet plan.
Train hard and smart.
Parkourpaiyan.
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