When it comes to working out, most of us either gravitate more towards cardio or more towards strength training, but in this post I talk about how important it is to do both!
Let’s go over the differences between each. Cardio is an activity that increases your heart rate and involves repetitive movement for a certain period of time. Cardio can be walking, running, swimming, or HIIT! It’s great for improving your cardiovascular health and fitness, strengthening the heart, and burning calories. Strength training involves lifting or using some resistance, whether its body weight exercises or lifting dumbbells or using bands. This is great for increasing and maintaining muscle mass, increasing strength and stability, and burning calories. If both burn calories, why should you do both?
Many people I know turn to cardio to burn calories and “lose fat.” Here’s how I think of both activities when it comes to burning calories. Think of cardio as an hourly job. You get paid for each hour you work. Once you’re done working, you’re not getting paid anymore. Similar to cardio, you burn a lot of calories in that session, but once that session is over, you’re not burning anymore calories. As for strength training, I look at this like investing. You might not make much money as quickly, but over time you build wealth. Similar to strength training, you might not burn many calories in that session, but as you build muscle and increase your metabolism, you burn more calories over time and even outside of that session.
Both cardio and strength work the body differently, with cardio working our heart and strength working our muscles. It’s important to incorporate both for overall health and fitness. You want to be strong, but you also don’t want to be winded walking up the stairs. It’s all about balance!
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