The battle has raged on for years, and continues to be fought at this very moment: fat burning versus cardio. If you ask three fitness gurus which is better, you are likely to get five different answers. However, there are real and scientifically measurable differences between the effects various forms of cardio have on the body and its fat burning processes. Traditional cardio, high-intensity interval training and resistance training, or some combination of them all, have been suggested to be the answer for fat burning. It is important to consider your personal goals when deciding to focus on fat burning or cardiovascular exercise. Understanding the way in which the body taps into various fuel sources will help you to choose the right kind of exercise for reaching your personal goals.
Traditional Cardio
Cardio or cardiovascular exercise involves performing some kind of exercise at a rate sufficient to make you breathe heavy. Labored breathing indicates that your heart is fighting to keep oxygen-rich blood pumping to all the tissues and organs of your body. Cardio is usually associated with walking, jogging, riding an exercise bike, swimming or using the stair-stepper or elliptical machine. By elevating your heart rate, you challenge your cardiovascular system, which in turn promotes healthy function and combats heart disease. Traditional cardio typically calls for long-duration, medium-intensity exercise. A good example is the aerobics craze that took, embraced a few decades ago. Central to the philosophy of traditional cardio is the belief that it can help you lose weight and look your best. Much has been learned over the years about how the body functions in response to exercise stimuli. Traditional cardio is great for your heart, but when it comes to fat burning, there may be a better way, according to the "Muscle Nerd" Jeff Anderson.
High-Intensity Interval Training
High-intensity interval training involves performing short intervals of high-intensity cardiovascular exercise, such as sprints, in-between longer-duration intervals of low to medium-intensity training. An example of a high-intensity interval training session would be 15 minutes of jogging with a 30-second sprint every three minutes. The idea is that you can get the same benefit of traditional cardio in a shorter duration, targeted training session. In addition to the cardiovascular element of this form of training, the power-oriented sprints bring an element of anaerobic exercise stimulus to the table. Anaerobic training, such as weight-lifting, involves using power-component muscle fibers, which must work too fast to rely on aerobic respiration. High-intensity interval training was believed to increase fat-burning by several different pathways. One of which, is referred as an "after-burn" phenomenon. This means that the body's metabolic rate stays elevated for many hours after the training session. Meanwhile, traditional cardio only boosts metabolism, or fat-burning during the exercise session.
Resistance Training
What does resistance training have to do with fat burning? Many associate weight or resistance training with "muscle-heads" or gym guys, who grunt and throw heavy weights around. In fact, resistance training is a very important part of the fat burning equation. Not only does resistance training burn fat while you are working out, but it can keep your metabolic rate elevated for 48 to 72 hours afterward. According to "Ironman" magazine contributors Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman, this form of training causes micro-tears in muscle tissue, which take a lot of calories to repair. Traditional cardio certainly cannot do that, and neither can high-intensity interval training. More importantly, resistance training builds muscle, which is metabolically active every hour of every day, even at rest. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn, meaning you can eat more without gaining weight. Resistance training is important to fat burning because it helps you change your body composition or the way your body looks. If you were shaped like a pear, then traditional cardio could make you a smaller pear, but resistance training can change the shape of your body overall.
Fuel Sources
To really understand the difference between cardio and fat burning it is important to grasp the way in which the body uses various fuels for energy. Carbohydrates are the primary source of fuel for our bodies. We store a form of carbohydrate called glycogen in our muscles and liver. In the absence of carbohydrates, the preferred source of fuel, our bodies will turn to stored body fat for energy. In essence, this is what fat burning is: our body being forced to tap into stored fuel for energy. However, our bodies also breakdown muscle protein for energy, also known as muscle catabolism. Losing muscle will make you look smaller, but it is not a long-term solution for improving your body composition. Remember that your precious muscle tissue burns calories even at rest. Different forms of cardio at different intensities will tap into each of these fuel sources in a unique way. Traditional cardio burns a large amount of glycogen and muscle tissue according to the "Muscle Nerd" Jeff Anderson. If your goal is fat burning, then you should use the form of cardio that burns the most fat, while wasting the least amount of muscle.
"Super Cardio"
"Super Cardio" is Jeff Anderson's term for a type of cardiovascular exercise that burns almost pure body fat. A recent study frequently quoted by the "Muscle Nerd," points out that medium and high-intensity forms of cardio burn far too much glycogen and muscle tissue. By comparison, low-intensity cardio burns a much greater quantity of body fat. The traditional philosophy of cardio would have you focus on the number of calories being burned. However, if those calories are coming from muscle and carbohydrate fuel sources, then you may be burning very little fat in reality. "Super Cardio" means doing a low-intensity cardio workout immediately following resistance training exercise. For example, after 60 minutes or less of resistance training, you would walk at a steady state on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Since resistance training exhausts much of our stores of muscle glycogen, our bodies are then able to tap into body fat stores for energy. Moreover, since the cardio is low-intensity, very little muscle tissue will be broken down as an energy source. Whereas other forms of cardio may improve heart health and burn calories, "super cardio" targets fat burning exclusively, according to Jeff Anderson.
References
- X-treme Lean; Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman; Homebody Productions, 2008
- Combat the Fat; Jeff Anderson; CQC LLC, 2009
- The Fat Burning Bible; Mackey Shilstone; John Wiley & Sons Inc,, 2005
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