Most people find that between work, family and their social life there isn't much time left for exercise. If you are trying to lose weight and are designing your own weight-loss program, you'll find that you have some decisions to make. Strength training helps to condition essential muscle tissue while running improves your heart and lung health while burning calories. Instead of deciding between a running program and a strength-training program, try to include both activities into your plan.
Strength Training
Strength training is a form of exercise that involves using weight to train your muscles. You can use your own body weight, dumbbells, resistance bands, medicine balls, kettle balls, weighted machines or barbells. Strength training allows you to build more muscle tissue or tone your current muscle mass. Muscle tissue is essential for daily functions like walking or cooking as well as for athletic activities like playing basketball or using the elliptical trainer. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories your body is able to burn during activity and periods of rest.
Running
Running is a form of cardiovascular or aerobic exercise. You engage your entire body when you run, regardless of the speed at which you run. Running allows you to burn calories, shed excess body fat and improve your muscular stamina. Running at a slow pace will help you to conserve energy while burning body fat. Running at a fast speed or performing sprint intervals causes you to use your energy reserves faster, but also enables you to burn more calories than jogging.
Weight Loss
Losing weight is about a complete lifestyle overhaul for most people. You must eat a nutrient-dense diet while also participating in daily exercise. The amount of calories you burn each day must also outweigh the number of calories you eat. To lose 1 lb. you must burn 3,500 calories. A safe, effective way to reach this 3,500-calorie goal is to focus on burning 500 to 1,000 calories per day. At this rate you can lose 1 to 2 lbs. per week.
Potential
Strength training and running are both effective forms of exercise for weight loss. If you have to choose one activity over the other, running is better for weight loss. Running burns calories while toning muscle mass to help improve your body composition. Keep in mind that without strength training you can lose muscle mass and decrease your metabolism. The most beneficial way to lose weight is to perform a variety of cardiovascular exercises and engage in a strength-training program.
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