Many women cling to myths that the only way to reduce extra pounds is to sweat them off, notes Bodybuilding.com writer and personal trainer Christine Hardy, and that weight training leads to bulky muscles. But weight training and cardio go together for women like toned delts go with trim legs: They complement each other perfectly and help create a female figure that is sleek and strong and low in body fat that looks great in jeans and boosts confidence.
Benefits
Both cardio and weight training burn calories, with weight training requiring eight to 10 calories a minute, compared with 10 to 12 calories per minute for cardio, such as running or cycling, Wayne Westcott, director of research at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts, told Women's Health magazine. However, lifting weights keeps your metabolism burning for an hour after the workout, and the resulting muscle burns an extra 120 calories a day.
Effects
For best results in losing fat, combine cardio, diet and weight training. These lead to greater losses of body fat than diet on its own or diet and cardio, notes the ChangingShape online fitness program. You can weight-train three days a week, do aerobic exercises on two or three other days per week and eat a healthy diet to get results.
Expert Insight
Alwyn Cosgrove, a gym owner in Santa Clarita, California, and one of the authors of "The New Rules of Lifting For Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess," also recommends weight training three times a week combined on alternate days with high-intensity work on a bicycle or running. He prefers free weights to weight machines. "You can sit on a machine and do a leg extension, or you can spend a minute doing squats, working many more muscles and being much more time effective," he told Katherine Hobson of U.S. News and World Report.
Considerations
Women who mainly want to combat anxiety can try 15-minute cardio workouts three to five days a week. Cardio elevates brain serotonin levels and combats fatigue, according to Madhukar Trivedi, director of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Mood Disorders Research Program and Clinic.
Warning
Injury-prone athletes put their joints, ligaments, muscles and tendons at risk performing repetitive motions of cardio, Liz Plosser writes in Women's Health magazine. She gives weight training the edge in injury prevention. Choose moves that work your core and improve balance and bending, such as rows, squats, presses and lunges.
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