I hear people say that if you're goal is fat loss, that an hour of weight training is better than an hour of cardio. Even though an hour of cardio burns more calories, they say that your metabolism stays high a lot longer after your weight training session is done. How much of a difference does it make and how long does it last? I've been doing weight training and wonder if that hour would be better spent doing cardio. Can someone explain to me exactly how your metabolism is raised by a weight training session? I don't mean the eventual muscle gain. I mean just the exercise where you're lifting weights as opposed to cardio. How does this work and why is it more effective than cardio at burning fat off your body? I need some reassurance that the weight training is a better use of my workout time than cardio given that my goal is fat loss.

Muscle is metabolically active and the lack of it lowers your metabolism. It is best to do weight traing and cardio and do them in somewhat of a balance although, for me, I concentrate on weight training. I would do the weight training first and prioritize that and work the cardio in but don't do too much of it. If you watch your diet and eat correctly then you do not need alot of cardio. Remember the benefits of cardio and for the heart so be aware of that.

FitForLife2000,

I think you misunderstood my question. I know all about how having more muscle in your body raises your metabolism. And my long-term goal is to gain more muscle. But I'm talking about the weight training as a form of exercise, not the end result. People say that an hour of weight training burns less calories than an hour of cardio but the weight training is better not only because it will eventually lead to more muscle, but because immediately after your workout session is done, your metabolism is high and stays that way a lot longer than if you had just done cardio. I'd like someone to explain exactly how that works. Why does my metabolism stay for a longer period of time and is it enough to offset the lower amount of calories burned. Cause it sounds like there's a tradeoff. If you do cardio, you burn more calories but your metabolism doesn't stay for very long afterwards. If you do weight training, you don't burn a lot of calories but your metabolism stays higher longer. Given that tradeoff, which one is better. Forget about the fact that one helps you to gain muscle. I'm just talking about immediate effects on your body.

Also, you say that it's not necessary to do cardio too often. Right now I run on the treadmill every morning for 30 minutes. In the evening, I do an hour of weight training doing a different muscle group each time. I don't feel like this amount of cardio is excessive. I do it to make my heart stronger and to tone my legs which are a little bulkier than I'd like. I eat 5 small meals per day, take in a lot of protein and water, and sleep 8 hours. Would you say this amount of cardio is excessive and if so, how often would you suggest? What are the issues with doing cardio too often? Does it prevent you from building muscle or is there some other reason not to do it too often?

Originally posted by someguyinhis20s:

Also, you say that it's not necessary to do cardio too often. Right now I run on the treadmill every morning for 30 minutes. In the evening, I do an hour of weight training doing a different muscle group each time. I don't feel like this amount of cardio is excessive. I do it to make my heart stronger and to tone my legs which are a little bulkier than I'd like. I eat 5 small meals per day, take in a lot of protein and water, and sleep 8 hours. Would you say this amount of cardio is excessive and if so, how often would you suggest? What are the issues with doing cardio too often? Does it prevent you from building muscle or is there some other reason not to do it too often?Alot of this depends on what EXACTLY you want to do. If you want to build up your legs and want to exclusively build muscle then minimize the cardio because the more cardio you do the tendency to break down more muscle tissue. The advantage to this is that you do burn more calories in that session than if you weight train for that same amount of time. This is because cardio exercise is rhythmic and is sustained for 30 minutes(in your case). What I wouldn't recommend doing is doing alot of cardio after or before a leg workout but if you are working your upper body then it is ook. I wouldn't eliminate the cardio but try and experimenting with different things because we all respond different to exercise. Keep in mind when you weight train you are working anaerobically and are using 2 of the 3 energy systems( phosphagen and lactic acid) and when you do cardio you are working the aerobic system. This is important to know because you get different benefits depending on what energy systems you are working. The aerobic system isutilized when you sustain a pace for a period of time(>15 minutes) whereas the phosphagen and lactic acid systems are used primarily for short durations of exercise(<30 seconds).
However the MOST important to understand is this: it is the total amount of calories that you burn in an exercise session is what counts. Once you know how much you burn and how much you consume and balance the energy nutrients(proteins, fats, carbs)then you will master weight management.