If you’re trying to lose weight, just doing cardio is not the most effective way. You’ll lose both fat and muscle by doing so. Resistance training should be a part of your workout routine to increase metabolism and gain lean muscle mass. Adding this type of training to your workout is a more effective way to control weight.
Resistance training, or strength training, builds muscles that permanently increases your metabolism and burns calories even when you’re not working out. The calorie burn can continue up to 72 hours after you’re done weight training.
If your goal is to lose weight and you don’t strength train, then you put yourself at a disadvantage. You may think you’re burning more calories with cardio, but the truth is the more muscle mass you have, the greater the number of calories you burn at rest otherwise known as BMR (basal metabolic rate).
Research has shown that your BMR can constitute up to three-quarters of your total daily calorie burn. According to a review in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, “a pound of