Cardio has the best effect on the cardiovascular system. In this regard, you don’t even have to choose between cardio or strength training, the benefits of the former for health promotion have long been proven. But the effect of burning fat cardio gives only under certain conditions. For example, a ten-minute warm-up on an elliptical before a power workout is not exactly enough to get rid of excess fat reserves.
Aerobic exercise should be prolonged (from 30 minutes) and done at a moderate pace with a heart rate of about 120-140 beats per minute (about 60-70% of the maximum heart rate for each age). As a result, the body uses up excess carbohydrates, and once these reserves are depleted, it begins to burn fat.
High-intensity interval training is the most effective, but it requires physical fitness and is not always suitable for people who are overweight.
More often than not, pure cardio is not enough for significant weight loss. With this weight loss regimen, you need to watch your diet carefully. On the one hand, the task is to reduce calories, on the other hand – not to drive the body into starvation stress, in which instead of burning fat it will begin to accumulate and destroy muscle.
Although the calorie loss in one full session of cardio can be higher than during a strength training session, at the end of the class the process stops. This is the main difference between cardio and strength training in terms of their effectiveness for weight loss.