Staying fit is a journey you need to embark on for longevity, but you may make a few mistakes. Improving life expectancy is a priority for people. Even after eating wisely and opting for a healthy routine, you may feel that something is missing from your routine. A lot of misconceptions also come alongside your fitness journey. You may adopt the wrong practices that might lead to complications.

Lifestyle and environment play a significant role in keeping you healthy. Adopting healthy habits like maintaining your weight, not smoking, eating balanced foods, etc., help to improve your health. A healthy lifestyle is the only way through which you will age well. Exercising regularly is another critical factor that leads to good health. There has always been a debate on whether to opt for cardio or strength exercises.

What’s The Difference Between Cardio And Strength Training?

Strength training and cardio are different exercises, and our body reacts differently to both these forms of exercise.

Strength training, also known as resistance training or weight training, is a form of anaerobic activity. You exercise using free weights like dumbbells, barbells, and kettlebells. These exercises release energy anaerobically and produce lactic acid in the body. It requires more energy to do these exercises, and this is the reason why muscles start making energy anaerobically.

Cardio, on the other hand, is an aerobic exercise. Walking, running, swimming, aerobics, Zumba, and jogging are part of the cardio bunch that increases your pulse rate and helps strengthen the heart. The body uses oxygen when the heart rate increases during such exercises.

Why Opt For Cardio?

Cardio exercises help to improve heart health and body endurance. While doing a cardio workout, the heart pounds faster, and the body tries to get more oxygen to provide the desired energy to the body. This is the reason you start inhaling deeply, as the body is involved in oxygen exchange.

You burn a lot of calories while doing a cardio workout which helps in rapid weight loss. These exercises boost the aerobic capacity of the body and allow your lungs and heart to work more efficiently. In comparison to strength training, cardio burns more fat and results in faster weight loss.

Why Opt For Strength Training?

Weight or strength training is the best if you wish to build muscles and still burn calories in the process. Cardio was considered more effective when the aim was weight loss, but a few new researches have found strength training to be equally beneficial. People opting for a strength or resistance training program saw a significant increase in their lean muscle mass and started to get ripped.

The most important point is that a cardio workout helps you burn calories within that hour while you perform the exercises. In contrast, a strength training schedule enables you to burn those calories all through the day as the muscles recover from the impact of the schedule.

This is because of the muscles you’re building while performing strength training. It enhances the resting metabolism or the ability to burn calories even while you are resting. Your strength workout thus keeps doing the work even after the training schedule is over. It improves your metabolism to a great level.

Lifting weights while training will help you increase your bone density and, as a result, strengthen your bones. Lifting dumbbells makes your bones stronger and prevent diseases like osteoporosis in later stages of life. Stronger muscles also improve your joints’ health by supporting them and reducing the risk of shoulder and knee injuries.

Why Choose Between The Two When You Go For Both?

Regular exercise will keep you energetic all through the day. It will improve your metabolism and bone health. Exercising is a great stress buster leading and gets you a good sleep. Regular exercise refrains you from getting a heart attack, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and osteoporosis. It gives strength to the muscles and bones. A sedentary lifestyle leads to health risks. Start with moderate exercise daily. Regular exercise will also slow down aging.

By combining cardio and strength training, you get the benefits of both worlds. It leads to a faster fat loss and helps in quick muscle gain. Though it may take some time to start both the schedules, the time spent on these exercises will result in a healthy and fit life.You must incorporate both strength training and cardio in your exercise routine to get the best results.