Weight Loss and Cardio: Is Weight Training or HIIT Better for You?

Written by Vijay Tucker

Over the past few years, diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer have become alarming due to changes in our lifestyles such as rising disposable incomes, convenience consumption, processed food habits and sedentary lifestyles. is increasing. Excess weight and weight gain are strongly associated with the development of these diseases. Also, in today’s fast-paced and fiercely competitive world, it becomes increasingly difficult to overcome the work and personal stressors in life.

Lack of exercise, poor diet, and lack of sleep contribute to today’s weight gain problem. But research shows that regular exercise is associated with less stress, building better eating habits, and better sleep through increased release of happy hormones known as endorphins. Become healthy and help you lose weight. But finding 2 hours a day and he burns over 1000 calories, it’s hard to lose weight and keep it off for the rest of his life.

Thus, our quest for effective weight loss regimens has introduced a variety of training techniques and exercise routines. and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Both methods have their own advantages. But which one will help you lose weight more effectively?In this article, we explore the differences between weight training and his HIIT to help you make an informed decision on the best way to shed that extra pounds. increase.

weight training

Weight training, also known as strength training or resistance training, includes exercises that use resistance to build strength and muscle mass. Activity resistance is usually provided by the machine, kettlebell, dumbbell, or barbell of choice. You can also use your body weight for weight training with burpees, pull-ups, push-ups, and resistance bands while traveling or moving.

Benefits of weight training:

1) Improving muscle mass: Weight training stimulates the growth of skeletal muscles, the muscles around your joints such as the muscles in your arms, chest, back, and legs, to help you work against gravity, get stronger, and move without hurting your joints. Helps. Skeletal muscle also helps improve your energy expenditure throughout the day, known as your basal metabolic rate or metabolism. Increasing your metabolic rate will help you burn more calories and lose fat faster.

2) Improved body composition: Our bodies are made up of two distinct masses: body fat and lean mass. Lean body mass is primarily composed of vitamins and minerals such as protein, water, and muscle mass. Fat masses, on the other hand, especially have fatty deposits. Weight training helps improve body composition by increasing lean body mass, primarily muscle mass, and decreasing body fat. This configuration improvement improves your overall health and gives you a slimmer, chiseled look.

3) Improved metabolic rate: Weight training causes microscopic damage to muscle tissue, also known as eustress. This youth stress in the muscle promotes an influx of nutrients and oxygen into the area, initiating the recovery process and supercompensation by improving muscle strength and size so that the same amount of exercise does not cause damage again. As a result of this growth, after resistance training, individuals experience an increase in metabolic rate, also known as post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), for up to 48 hours after exercise.

4) Improved bone density: By increasing bone density, weight training reduces the risk of diseases such as osteoporosis and protects bones from fatal and life-threatening fractures.

HIIT

This is a type of cardiovascular activity that encourages you to alternate short bursts of vigorous exercise with intermittent recovery periods by slowing your pace. Alternating between sprinting for 2 seconds and brisk walking for 2 minutes, then continuing the cycle is called HIIT.

The energy your muscles use to do any activity is adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Under anaerobic conditions, such as sprinting, the muscle’s energy demand exceeds the oxygen supply to the muscle cells to generate enough energy for strenuous activity. The higher the intensity of activity, the more ATP is required. Muscles rely on the anaerobic ATP production pathway during high-intensity activity to meet energy supply deficits.

Increased energy demand during high-intensity activity is bridged by anaerobic respiration and technically made available by the phosphagen pathway and anaerobic glycolysis. The phosphagen pathway refers to the recycling of ATP already available in the muscle in order to use the creatine stores in the muscle to produce more energy. It is the rapid production of ATP by burning or fermenting the stored glucose. Both energy pathways run in the absence of oxygen. However, these two pathways can only dominate energy production for up to 30 seconds of vigorous activity. The production of lactic acid is a by-product of glucose fermentation within muscle cells and causes muscle burning, slowing or stopping activity.

Therefore, due to its intense nature, HIIT workouts typically last 20-30 minutes and you can decide on an intensity cycle based on your fitness level.

Benefits of HIIT:

1) Save time: HIIT workouts are shorter than traditional steady-state cardio workouts, making them an ideal choice for those with busy schedules. HIIT can burn as many calories as or more than steady-state moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, albeit for a shorter duration.

2) Enhanced Calorie Burn: HIIT has been shown to improve your metabolism and burn more calories after exercise. This metabolic increase is due to the intense bouts of HIIT, which elicit higher EPOC effects than traditional steady-state aerobic exercise, resulting in improved calorie burn up to 24 hours post-exercise.

3) Enhanced Cardiovascular Health: Cardiovascular endurance is improved by HIIT with a wide range of workout intensities applied during prolonged and continuous training from 60% up to 90% of your maximum heart rate. This method acclimates the heart and lungs over time and increases oxygen supply to working muscles. Working muscles then respond and adapt to HIIT stress by increasing their ability to utilize oxygen and improving cardiovascular health. This ability of muscles to increase maximal oxygen utilization during activity is known as improved VO2 max. It is measured in ml of oxygen used per kilogram of body weight per minute.

4) Improves insulin sensitivity. HIIT workouts have been shown to lower diabetes-causing insulin resistance, improve blood sugar control, and reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Weight Training vs HIIT: Who Wins Weight Loss?

Weight training and HIIT can help you lose weight, but they do so through different mechanisms. Weight training basically causes growth in muscle size and strength, while HIIT is primarily focused on burning calories and improving cardiovascular endurance.

So which method is more effective for weight loss? Consistency is essential for weight loss, so it all depends on what fits your lifestyle and what you can consistently adhere to. Mix modalities and divide your week into 2-3 days of 45 minutes of weight training and 1-2 days of 30 minutes of HIIT training for best results. Combining both modalities with a sound nutritional plan and adequate sleep, rest and recovery will help you lose weight and improve your body composition and cardio endurance.

Finally, we recommend that you do not begin HIIT or weight training training without your doctor’s consent. It should also be done after passing a stress test under the supervision of a healthcare professional.