Running and weight training – which is best for weight loss?
Running and weight training can both be used to lose weight. Learn why each is an effective form of exercise to lose weight and how you can determine for yourself whether you should weight train or run more.
Running and weight training to burn calories
The secret to losing weight is simple: Burn more calories than you consume.
Where burning calories is concerned, if you weigh approximate 150 pounds (68 kg) and do some form of resistance training for 45 minutes, you’ll burn approximately 261 calories. Running will help you burn about 414 calories.
From the preceding we can conclude that running is one of the best exercises for weight loss and getting into shape.
To increase the amount of calories you burn on a daily basis, you must look for ways to increase your BMR while at rest. Here is where weight training might be more beneficial than running.
One way to increase your BMR is to pack muscle onto your body. And a quick way to pack muscle onto your body is by training large muscle groups.
Muscles targeted by running and weight training
Weight training allows you to target more muscle groups and body parts than running does. Running primarily trains your core muscles (the muscles around your spinal cord, your abdominals, and hips) in addition to the muscles of your legs. The quadriceps (quads) and hamstrings (hams) of your legs are large body parts, so contribute greatly to your BMR.
But weight training allows you to do additional exercises for your latissimus dorsi (lats), chest, and delts – muscles that are not targeted by running, but which can contribute to increasing the amount of muscle mass you carry on your body.
Deciding between running and weight training
So what’s the consensus? Combine both weight training and running if you want to lose weight.
Both burn calories, both target large muscles, and both contribute to increasing your BMR while you’re at rest. By combining weight training and running (or an equivalent type of cardio), you’ll accelerate your weight loss progress, although you do have to be careful not to overtrain.
While there are people who might come out and tell you that you should weight train if you want to lose weight, that’s only part of the equation. There aren’t many bodybuilders or fitness competitors out there who have gotten in shape just by lifting weights. Unless blessed with a super-fast metabolism, bodybuilders and fitness competitors have to include cardio in their exercise routine to be able to get into shape for competition. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise or convince you otherwise. Weight training is not everything.
The only time I’d suggest doing more weight training than running is if your body fat percentage is high. A high body fat percentage means a lower percentage of muscle mass, which in turn means a lower BMR.
So to switch on your fat burning furnace, you’d have to add muscle on your body. And the best way to do this would to be to engage in weight training. Therefore, if you know what your body composition is, you can use this information to decide whether you should run more or weight train more.
