The million dollar question. Is cardio or weights better for weight loss?
If you ask the average person this question, chances are you’re going to get some variation of the same answer each time.
Most people are going to say that cardio has to be better than weights for weight loss, because it burns more calories.
But is this really true?
Does the fact that cardio burns more calories inherently make it better for helping you melt off that stubborn belly fat?
Well, lucky for you, we’re going to cover this topic in detail in this article.
Just do me one simple favor.
Read the entire article from start to finish without skimming through.
Because trust me.
You’re going to learn so much about weight loss and the different methods of training to get the best results.
And when you finish reading, you’ll have the answer to the question: Is cardio or weights better for weight loss?
So, without further ado, let’s get into it.
First, You Need To Know This
I’d be remiss if I didn’t start off this article by telling you the most important thing you need to know about weight loss.
The ONLY way to lose fat is to be in a calorie deficit.
What’s a calorie deficit?
So glad you asked.
A calorie deficit is when you eat fewer calories than your body burns.
So your body needs to tap into your stored fat in order to have the energy to operate on a daily basis (walk, eat, sleep, digest food, etc).
Simple enough, right?
But why am I bringing this up?
Because once you understand that the only way to lose fat is to be in a calorie deficit, you begin to realize that there’s no magical workout or exercise or supplement that can help melt the fat away.
At the end of the day, your ability to lose weight is predicated on your nutrition.
Not the kind of workouts you do.
With that being said, even though exercise doesn’t contribute to weight loss as much as most people think it does, it’s still pivotal for your overall health.
And for how easy or how hard your weight loss journey actually turns out to be.
Not to mention what you actually look like when you lose the weight.
So, even though exercise itself isn’t the main driver of fat loss, it still plays a big role in more indirect ways.
That is exactly what we’re going to cover in the next few sections of this article.
Why You Need To Be Lifting Weights And Doing Cardio
Before we actually dive into whether cardio or weights is better for weight loss, I want to get into the health benefits of both weight lifting and cardio.
And don’t worry.
I’m not going to drag out this part of the article too long.
Because I know you’re reading this to find out if cardio or weights is better for weight loss specifically.
But I think it’s important to provide a bit of context as to why everybody should be doing at least a little bit of both for their overall health.
Because, in their own unique ways, both contribute to living a long, healthy life.
Benefits of Weight Lifting
One of the main health benefits of weight lifting that often gets overlooked is how “functional” it is for your day to day life, especially as you get older.
Not only does it allow you to get stronger, build muscle, and just look better overall.
But lifting weights consistently when you’re in your 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s actually makes your life easier when you get into your 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s.
Do you know one of the main reasons why people have to go into an assisted living homes when they get older?
It’s because they don’t have the strength or the mobility to stand up from the toilet on their own.
Seriously.
Had that person done just three full body 35-45 minute weight lifting workouts each week consistently throughout their life, they would’ve had a better chance of being independent and mobile once they got into their later years.
That’s the power of strength training.
It makes your muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, joints, and your body as a whole more resilient over time which improves your quality of life as you get older.
And in a world of bodybuilders and Instagram models, that aspect of weight lifting just doesn’t get talked about enough.
Benefits of Cardio
I don’t think I need to sit here and harp on the benefits of cardio too much.
Obviously cardio is super important, but I’m guessing you already knew that.
But what you might not know is what the best type of cardio is to implement into your routine.
I’ll discuss that more in detail later on, but I want to briefly explain why lower intensity forms of cardio are so beneficial to your overall heart health.
Most people gravitate towards high intensity forms of cardio (HIIT workouts, workout classes, etc).
And while these high intensity cardio sessions are great for strengthening the heart muscle itself, weight lifting actually provides a very similar benefit to the heart.
So, if you’re already lifting weights say 3-5 days a week, you don’t need to be doing tons of high intensity cardio sessions on top of that.
1-2 high intensity cardio workouts a week would be more than enough if you want to include those types of workouts, but it’s by no means necessary.
What is necessary for improving your heart health beyond just what weight lifting can do is incorporating a lot more low intensity cardio into your routine.
Again, we’ll get into the specifics of exactly how to do that later on.
But for now, just know that lower intensity forms of cardio are great for lowering your resting heart rate and making your heart much more efficient.
The Million Dollar Question: Is Cardio Or Weights Better For Weight Loss?
Before I dive into whether cardio or weights is better for weight loss, I need to hammer home an important point.
You should never just be doing one or the other.
In the years that I’ve been a personal trainer and an online coach, I’ve found that the fitness industry tends to work on extremes.
On the one hand, you have people telling you that you should only be lifting weights and that cardio is pointless for weight loss.
On the other hand, you have people saying that cardio is the key to “torching belly fat” and that weight lifting is only for people trying to build muscle.
Candidly, both people are wrong.
And, like with most things in life, the answer really does lie somewhere in the middle.
Here’s something that you should always remember.
If anyone is guiding you to one extreme of the industry, they’re probably just trying to sell you something.
But I digress.
Now that you know that you need to be doing both cardio and weights fro weight loss, let’s discuss where you should be spending most of your time.
Weight Lifting Should Be Prioritized
While you should be doing both weight lifting and cardio (especially for your overall health), here is why weight lifting should be at the center of your routine if weight loss is your goal.
If you want to lose weight, what you’re really saying is that you want to lose body fat while retaining lean muscle mass.
Because no one wants to be skin and bones.
You probably want that toned and defined look as you lose weight.
Well, guess what?
The only way to achieve that look is through lifting heavy.
Shocker, I know.
But I want to explain why that’s the case.
When you lift weights and focus on getting progressively stronger while using good form, you’re sending a signal to your body that it needs to hold onto and even build some lean muscle.
And don’t worry, you’re not going to get bulky from doing this.
In fact, if you want to read more on specifically how to lift weights to get that toned and defined look, you can read an entire article that I wrote on that HERE.
By sending that signal to your body that it needs to hold onto muscle, you end up looking better as you lower your body fat percentage.
Because there’s actually muscle underneath the fat that you lost once you get down to your goal weight.
And that muscle is what makes you look toned and defined.
That’s why weight lifting needs to be your priority when losing weight.
It directly contributes to giving you that look that you’re going for as you stay in a calorie deficit (while eating a high protein diet) to lose fat.
So, What About Cardio?
If weight lifting should be your priority while losing weight, where exactly does cardio come into play?
Let me start off by reiterating a point that I made earlier in the article: the only way to lose fat is to be in a calorie deficit.
So, because of that, cardio is by no means necessary for weight loss.
Again, you still should be doing it for your overall health, but there’s a difference between health and weight loss.
Yes, there’s plenty of overlap between the two.
But they’re not one and the same.
I just wanted to throw that out there because it’s a super important concept to understand.
Now that we have that established, let me explain why cardio can potentially help with weight loss even though it isn’t necessary.
Burning More Calories
Like I mentioned earlier, being in a calorie deficit for fat loss is eating fewer calories than you burn.
But that’s easier said than done.
Because, if you’re like me, you love food.
And it can be difficult to eat less food to ensure you’re in a calorie deficit.
That’s where cardio comes into play.
Well, kind of.
Let me explain.
Cardio doesn’t actually burn as many calories as you might think.
With that being said, there’s no question that it still does burn calories.
And it definitely burns more calories than weight lifting.
So, incorporating some additional cardio into your routine can make it a little bit easier to stay in a calorie deficit, because it essentially gives you a bit more calories to play with.
But, there’s an important point here that I want to make clear.
The saying “you can’t out train a bad diet” is actually true in many ways.
I don’t want you to rely on cardio for weight loss.
Mainly because its impact on your ability to be in a calorie deficit is significantly less than the impact nutrition has.
So, while it can help you burn some additional calories, it most likely won’t make or break things for you.
Think of it like this: If weight loss was a meal, nutrition would be the main entree and cardio would be the side dish.
The Best Workout Routine For Weight Loss
Okay, now that we’ve established that weight lifting should be prioritized over cardio for weight loss (again, cardio should still be done), I want to give you some practical tips on exactly how to set up your workout routine for a successful weight loss journey.
Weight Lifting Routine
This has to be one of the most common questions I get: “How many days a week should I be lifting weights?”
The truth is, there’s no perfect answer here.
It’s not like if you lift five days a week you’ll get amazing results, but if you only lift three days a week you’ll get terrible results.
That’s not the way it works.
On average, I recommend lifting anywhere between 3-5 days a week.
There are many reasons for that, and I could probably write an entire article on that topic alone.
But, here’s one of the main reasons I recommend lifting 3-5 days a week for weight loss.
It allows you to train frequently enough to provide your muscles enough stimulus, while at the same time not lifting too much to where you could run into recovery issues.
In my opinion, that range is really the sweet spot for most people.
Not to mention, it’s actually practical and sustainable.
Because if you tell yourself you need to be in the gym 6-7 days a week, you’re much more likely to burn out and quit.
And if that happens, you’re definitely not going to see results.
Also, by lifting 3-5 days a week, it gives you a few days to focus on cardio.
Let me briefly explain why.
Balancing Lifting And Cardio
One of the main issues that people run into when designing their workout plan for weight loss is struggling to find time to include both lifting and cardio.
This is why lifting 3-5 days a week is so great.
Instead of lifting say six days a week and having to include cardio sessions at the end of those workouts, you can have a few days of just weights and a few days of just cardio.
That way you don’t have to be in the gym for hours on end every time you workout.
A Realistic Routine To Follow
Here’s a practical outline of a workout program that you can follow.
It’s very similar to how I set up training programs for my online coaching clients.
For the weight lifting portion of your program, you can have three workouts a week.
One leg workout, one upper body workout, and one full body workout.
I’d recommend spacing out those sessions to allow for the best recovery.
That can look something like legs on Monday, upper body on Wednesday, and full body on Friday.
Then, on top of those weight lifting workouts, you can do 2-3 low intensity cardio sessions either on those same days, different days, or a combination of the two.
So, if you’re lifting Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, you can do 30-45 minute cardio sessions on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
While designating Sunday as a full rest day.
This allows you to have the best of both worlds: three days a week of high quality weight lifting workouts, and three days a week of low intensity cardio for your heart health and the additional benefit of burning some extra calories.
One Final Point About Cardio
I mentioned earlier that the majority of your cardio should be lower intensity.
One of the main reasons why you shouldn’t rely too much on HIIT workouts is that they’re very taxing on the body and have a high recovery demand.
How does that impact weight loss?
People who overdo it with the high intensity cardio tend to get hungrier more often due to the stress it puts on the body.
And, obviously, the hungrier you are the harder it is to stick to your calories and stay in that calorie deficit.
So, to make sure that’s less of an issue, I highly encourage you to prioritize low intensity cardio over HIIT workouts.
