One of the most controversial topics in fitness is, aerobic exercise (cardio) vs. anaerobic exercise (resistance training). Which is better? Is one better than the other? In general, when people say weights, they think males. For the most part, you could argue that guys like to lift because they want to add muscle mass. But a lot of women don't see that they too should incorporate weight lifting. At least here at school, many focus on running on the treadmill or hitting the stair-stepper each day. This is because the fitness industry constantly associates women with cardio, and weight training with men. They illustrate that cardio is what will make women look skinny, lean, and "toned". There is a lot more to it than that. The truth is, weight training and adding muscle mass to your frame is superior and will be far more beneficial for longevity.
Not to say there isn't a place for cardio. But, just think of cardio as manually burning calories while resistance training is automatically burning calories. A lot of people go to the gym with a goal just to burn x amount of calories. This should not be your goal. If you do that, chances are you have an unhealthy relationship with exercise. Though weight lifting doesn't burn as many calories on a minute to minute basis as cardio, the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories your body will need to support itself daily. That is, the more muscle mass you build, the more calories body will ultimately burn at rest. I mean seriously, who doesn't want to be able to eat more every day?
If you're constantly doing cardio, all you're doing is burning calories. Like I said, a lot of people like this idea. More calories out means can eat more, right? Not necessarily. When you're doing cardio every single day, your body and heart start to become very efficient at that form of exercise. This is because our bodies are built to adapt. If you give your body the same thing every day, over time, whether you like it or not, your body figures it out. For example, your every day running on the treadmill will start to use less and less calories to perform because your heart has adapted to pumping that much blood and your legs are used to the stress/patterns. If you are going to do this; try changing the incline or alternate between a fast pace and a slow/walking pace. To translate this, here is why in the weight room, people try to get stronger, because if you force your muscles to handle more weight, they will realize that they need to grow to in order to adapt to the stress. When they're told to grow, your body will put those calories you eat to use. Cardio on the other hand will just be burning them off. There's not much of a long-term advantage here. When muscle is added to your frame, your metabolism will fire up and your daily calorie needs will go up.
I personally like cardio... on occasion. I use it strategically to keep myself balanced. I don't do it to burn x calories extra so I can eat x amount more. Although a lot of people may not admit it, this is the underlying reason why they exercise. They don't do it because they want long-term health benefit; but rather to balance out a poor diet or to make them feel comfortable eating. This is a problem that I myself used to face. Then I realized how much more beneficial it is to add lean mass and my mindset shifted dramatically. A couple times a week I will do 10-15 min of light cardio. For example; walking lunges, walking at an incline, stair-stepper, etc. I'm not implying that this is what you have to do by any means. However, I have done a lot of experimenting on myself and have read/listened to a lot of content on this particular issue. I realized that consistently beating yourself up with intense cardio isn't doing much but burning you out, and leading you to dread exercise as a whole.
As a main takeaway, I want everyone to understand that this wasn't to bash any specific type of training. Exercise is exercise, it's good for you. I understand different people prefer different things. Some people don't have access to weights, others do. But if you are serious about exercising for long-term health, I would recommend incorporating resistance training, if you haven't already. If you only hit the weights, I would also say, add in some cardio every once in a while. It will have good carryover to your weight training. Exercise isn't about beating yourself up like you deserve to be punished or something. It's all about exposing your body to different factors and adapting over time for longevity. You have to realize that progress in exercise takes time. It's a jog not a sprint. You can't "get in shape" two weeks before an event. It just doesn't work like that. Adopting it into your life gradually will be the most beneficial over time, trust me.
