Cardio vs. Resistance Training Part I

To all the gym-goers out there, here's a breakdown of the difference between Cardio and Resistance Training that majority of gym-goers don't know, AND should know.

1) Calories Burned

Cardio e.g treadmills are steady-state workouts, and your body eventually adapts fast as you're repeating the same motion.

Calories burned = Energy used during workout

Resistance Training e.g. High intensity training is a workout that constantly shocks your body and forces it to adapt with different movements and workloads. Its an anaerobic activity that has a Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), requiring you to burn more calories post-workout to recover and re-attain Oxygen equilibrium. This effect can last for up to 24-48 hours.

Calories burned = Energy used during workout + Calories burned from EPOC

2) Muscle Mass

Cardio involves steady state motion that trains muscle endurance NOT strength, and mainly works the Type I muscle fibers (slow twitch) which has the LEAST growth capacity.

Resistance Training usually involves heavier and more explosive motion, and involves mainly Type II muscle fibers (Fast twitch) which has MORE growth capacity.

And remember, more muscles = higher metabolism for muscle cell maintenance. THEREFORE, more calories burned by the body's resting metabolism to maintain the additional muscle cells.

PART I CONCLUSION

• Resistance Training overall burns more calories inclusive of energy burned during workout, and post workout from Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC);


• Resistance Training builds more muscles, which equals to higher resting metabolism and burns more calories during rest for additional muscle cell maintenance;


• For Cardio, total calories you burned are all from during your workout. And trains muscle endurance with minimal muscle growth.