One thing’s for sure: Exercise and weight loss are inseparable! You can exercise without losing weight, but losing weight without exercise is way too hard. But we all want to know just what’s the best exercise for weight loss to keep from wasting time and energy.
Here’s the real answer:
The best exercise for weight loss is any physical activity you can see yourself doing 3-6 times a week for a long time!
Of course, you can make the comparison of the amount of calories each different exercise burns and think that’s the best?
But face it: That’s of little consequence if you’re not exercising several times a week because you hate the routine you’ve chosen.
What’s The Best Exercise For Weight Loss?
Basically, you can put all exercises into one of two categories:
- Resistance Training, which includes things like weight lifting, pushups, chin ups, squats, planks. Resistance training just means to work against an opposing force.
- Cardio Exercise (also known as aerobics) which includes any exercise that increases heart rate and breathing. Things like, running, walking, swimming, rowing, jump rope, home cardio machines, etc.
Both resistance training and weight loss cardio workouts burn calories. But, when it comes to burning calories which can get you to a calorie deficit, cardiovascular workouts do a better job than resistance training.
In fact, they are some of the best workouts to lose belly fat.
However, you really need both types of exercise for the best possible results. Why? Because resistance training builds muscle and the more muscle you have, the more calories you can burn. Keep reading to learn more about why both types of exercise can get you to your weight loss goals faster.
Why You Need Both Resistance and Cardio Training to Lose Weight
The first thing that comes to mind with exercise is burning calories, which we naturally associate with fat loss. And that’s right. We need effective exercises for burning fat.
But only a handful of people realize what actually happens to the fat on our body that we’re trying to remove; and that’s important information.
✪ Why Cardio Exercises Are Essential
To get a feel for what’s the best exercise for weight loss you need to think about what happens to the actual fat when “you lose it”. Where does it go?
What happens to fat we lose:
- Of course, some of the fat stored in our body turns to waste material that we excrete mainly through urine and sweat.
- However, the vast majority of the fat stores leave through our respiratory system.
Fat actually converts to carbon dioxide, and we exhale it.
Once you get a grip on that fact, along with the idea that high calorie burning exercises raise your heart rate, which in turn gets you to inhaling and exhaling more than normal; it’s easy to see why Cardio exercises are essential for losing weight.
Stored fat is leaving your body when you exhale while exercising with any routine that raises your heart and breathing rate-cardio!
✪ Why You Need Strength Training for Weight Loss
But wait, if it’s cardio exercise that’s doing the job of removing excess fat stores from my body, why do I need resistance training?
The first thing to know is that you don’t have to be a bodybuilder to use resistance training of any kind.
And depending on your own situation and goals, just a few minutes a couple of times a week may be sufficient. Everybody needs toned muscle to stay mobile and do the things we do during the day.
When we’re asking what’s the best exercise for weight loss, we’re really asking for the fastest method to shed the weight, right?
If that’s you, and you can spare a few minutes most days of the week, the best exercise is not one, but two: Cardio and resistance. Here’s why:
Benefits of Resistance Training for Weight Loss
- The higher the ratio of muscle to fat, the more, easier, and faster the calorie burn
- Resistance training builds muscle to make you stronger
- You can’t tone or firm up fat to look good- but you canfirm up and tone muscle
- As you lose weight it’s important to tone your body to look your best
- Improved muscle strength decreases the risk of injury while doing cardio exercises to burn more calories
Even though resistance exercises won’t burn quite as many calories per workout session, you’ll be happier with the end results when you include these workouts.
How to Use Cardio for Weight Loss?
Short and intense cardio sessions are more effective than long steady-state cardio if you’re fitness level is up to the challenge. These sessions are known as either interval training for fat loss or just HIIT.
Here’s an article about using HIIT for weight loss.
You want to engage in high-intensity cardio sessions that last anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes to see real results.
Anyone can include HIIT exercises into any workout routine whatsoever. And it’s this HIIT routine that turns on your weight loss with cardio!
If you’re fit and into perfection, HIIT is the most intentense and most productive exercise. However, all you really need to do is exercise fast. You don’t need to go overboard, just do your workouts as much faster than normal as possible.
If you do use HIIT, even just a small amount, you will see improvements in weight, muscle tone, and the way you look, very soon.
These sessions will get your heart pumping and create an oxygen deficit because you are exercising all out!
Your body will be in fat-burning mode for 8 to 12 hours after the workout ends.
Overall, you’ll burn more calories and lose more fat. By doing less cardio with more vigor, you have achieve more faster.
To sum things up, watch your diet and engage in short, high-intensity sessions. You’ll find that losing weight becomes a breeze when you focus on the right protocol.
How Often To Do Resistance Training On A Diet?
To get the most out of resistance training you’ll need a good workout routine of at least two sessions a week.
For the best results, work in 3 cardio workouts and 2 days of weight training each week.
The main thing to remember is that cardio and resistance days are both important tools for the same goal. Remember, when it comes to what’s the best exercise for weight loss, it’s both cardio and resistance.
You can even include both on the same day.
Just do 1/2 hour of some form of resistance training first and then add about 20 minutes of cardio.
It’s important to do the cardio first. It’s easy to do the weight training first, and then run out of energy for cardio.
Another way to get both workouts on the same day is to do your resistance training at high-intensity levels.
Doing them as fast as possible for short durations turns into cardio.
HIIT exercises are a highly effective method to burn fat and lose weight in a short time. Not only will you lose weight with HIIT, but you will also tone your body.
There’s a lot of choices when it comes to resistance training
You will find a wide variety of resistance training methods. There is the traditional weight lifting, using your own body weight, resistance bands, TRX cables, and plenty more.
You’ll find unique benefits of each, and some you will like, and others not so much. The main thing is to get started and explore different techniques.
Should You Exercise for Weight Loss At All?
The key to successful weight loss is understanding that all exercise is a tool that’s meant to boost your metabolism to keep your body burning calories.
When you exercise, you get fitter and stronger and your body burns calories at an accelerated rate. That’s the role of exercise when it comes to weight loss.
Exercise is a means to an end and NOT an end in itself.
Successful weight loss comes from watching your diet like a hawk.
You will see much faster results by following a sinsible diet plan with a few cardio sessions at home each week than 7 HIIT sessions and neglecting your diet.
You cannot out-exercise a bad eating habit.
Remember – exercise is a tool. Your body is a machine and the food you eat is the fuel.
Most people are more concerned about the type of fuel they put in their car than the food that they put in their bodies.
It’s absolutely essential to eat right if you expect to lose weight. Everything else is secondary.
Conclusion
When it comes to answering the question for you “What’s the best exercise for weight loss?” I can’t.
First of all, there’s no best exercise for weight loss. If you can’t stand doing a particular exercise several times a week, or if you’r fitness level isn’t up to it, it won’t matter if it’s the best or not.
That means “the best” is going to be something you can do without giving up before you lose the weight.
However, for the best results, or the fastest results, you really must incorporate both resistance and cardio training into your routine because what’s the best exercise for weight includes both of them.