There has always been a debate for decades about whether cardio training or strength training is better for you. The reality is that you need both. Your body will not depend on a single branch of exercise to function. Cardio and strength workouts come with their own set of benefits, each supporting the other and enhancing your overall physical performance. It is suggested that adults get at least 30 minutes of aerobic activity a day and strength training at least twice a week. These recommendations from the American Heart Association are enough for 30 minutes a day, or 150 minutes a week, of related physical activity that can be as easy as jogging around the block and working out in the gym with some weights.
Benefits of strength training
Weight training builds large muscles and helps strengthen your body’s connective tissues, and that goes a long way toward injury prevention. Not only will it help with daily tasks and body aging, but it will also improve your posture, balance, and stability. Weight training helps shape your body and metabolize fat faster. After strength training, your metabolism stays higher for an extended period of time (unlike cardio, which stops as soon as your heart rate drops), in return, you burn more calories after your workout. Also, muscles use more energy to maintain themselves than fat, so in return, you will burn more calories while at rest by adding some muscle to your build.
Benefits of cardiovascular training
Cardiovascular training improves your body’s ability to process and use higher oxygen content, increases the capacity of your lungs, and improves your overall fitness level to help you live longer and have a healthier heart. Even as the best bodybuilders began training, they began to recognize the great importance of adding cardiovascular training to their workouts, helping them increase blood flow to the muscles, as well as speed up the healing process of muscle breakdown and recovery through of the trainings. Cardio training raises your heart rate in the short term, with benefits such as lower blood pressure and a decreased resting heart rate, resulting in less stress on your heart and any future diseases.
A well-designed and comprehensive exercise routine comes with a host of physical and mental benefits. Exercise releases endorphins under stress, which helps relieve stress, tension, and anxiety, as well as increase blood flow to the brain, to help it function at higher levels. Risks for diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and certain types of cancer can be reduced by doing health-related activities. Exercise helps maintain muscle mass and build bone density, both of which decline as we age. Staying active will not only give us a better way of life, but also a longer and healthier one.
