In the battle of Strength or cardio, Strength wins, lets explain.

Research now shows that as we age, strength is the single most important factor in determining our longevity and quality of life.

In most instances, strength training will improve cardiovascular fitness, cardiovascular training will not improve strength.

At best, some types of cardio exercise will improve endurance of muscle tissue. Cardio will not increase the power output of a muscle. Training for power ie sprinting will promote muscle growth and cardio improvements but power really comes under the same umbrella as strength training.

Cardio and the benefits and negatives.

The average person can achieve a good cardio vascular fitness in a relatively short period. Six weeks of cardiovascular exercise at the right amount of intensity, will achieve the desired conditioning for everyday life. There are diminishing returns from repeated bouts of cardio after six weeks.

That’s not to say that you should stop but that a reduction in the frequency will maintain the conditioning that you have achieved while avoiding lean mass breakdown.

If your goal is to compete in an event though, your training has to become specific to that event. Bear in mind, most athletes are not necessarily healthy for everyday life. Athletes train their bodies to the extreme to excel at specific tasks.

In the short term, cardio exercise can have an impact on fat loss in the untrained individual but long term, cardio exercise is not a good way to lose weight.

Especially when the lost weight includes lean body mass as well as fat. The stress, recovery and adaptation cycle of cardio exercise on the body leads the body to treat extra muscle mass as an expensive commodity that it can not afford to carry around.

Muscle mass has a demand on the energy system of the body and the body is being forced to conserve energy because of the demands of the cardio, so muscle begins to break down. This is why long distance runners are extremely thin and not very strong.

Another factor of the loss of lean mass is that the metabolism slows down. This means that the amount of energy (calories) that is needed to function drops, so it becomes harder to maintain a lower body weight.

Strength Training and the benefits and negatives.

As mentioned earlier, strength training will also greatly improve cardiovascular fitness. That alone makes it a better option to spend your workout time.

The stress, recovery and adaptation cycle of strength training will cause the body to view muscle as a priority, to cope with the demands being made on it and this will cause the increase in lean body mass. This in turn will increase metabolic rate.
In the early days of strength training, it is also very likely that fat will be lost due to the increase in metabolism as well as calories burned.

A good strength program will increase muscle, this coupled with fat loss may mean the scale does not change drastically. This should not be feared.
The scale is not always the best indicator of a persons progress, the visual changes may be more apparent.

Another good way to measure progress from a body re-composition standpoint, is body measurement. This could be waist size, chest size and any other body part you wish to monitor.

Unlike fat loss, where once achieved a new strategy or goal has to be planned. Strength training is almost limitless. Strength can be gained for life though admittedly gains slow down over time.

Another benefit of working with weights as opposed to cardio is the reduction of joint impact injuries and deterioration. Strength training increases bone density and strengthens joints and all other connective tissue.

The downside to strength training, like fat loss or maintaining a lower body weight, if you stop doing what got you to where you are, you will lose your results.

Empowerment

The empowerment that strength gives to an individual far outweighs what cardio exercise alone can give. Being stronger makes being healthier and better looking from an aesthetic standpoint, much easier to maintain.

There is the beginning of a paradigm shift now. The belief that we need 30 mins. of cardio 4 or 5 times a week to stay healthy is being challenged. The belief now, is that getting stronger is more beneficial to living a longer and healthier life.
Get lifting!