I’ve had many people tell me their perception of exercise and most of it can be generalized into this: “If I want to bulk up, lift weights. If I want to slim down, do cardio”. Somehow, the idea that resistance training doesn’t help you lose weight as much as cardio, remains a popularly held belief. Sure, in the span of 30 minutes of equal intensity, you could probably burn more calories running on a treadmill than lifting weights, but resistance training develops lean muscle tissue that promotes a higher metabolism for you to burn calories all day long. When you factor in all the benefits, weight training is equally or even arguably more valuable to your weight loss goals than cardio. And don’t forget you can crank up the intensity in the weight room by doing circuit training, intervals with short rests and long duration exercises such as planks that impact your lungs as much as your muscles.
Blogger and Personal Trainer Ricky Buoncore likes to bust myths when he’s not weight training at WRRFC.