One of the perks of exercise is it helps with weight loss and weight control. Not to mention the benefits for health and longevity! But even if you work out most days of the week, you can’t ignore what you put on your plate. Nutrition and diet play a key role in weight control.
In fact, studies find nutrition is even more important than exercise for weight loss. Still, exercise gives you an edge when it comes to getting lean and has the added benefit of improving your body composition. Ideally, we want more muscle and less fat. Exercise can help you accomplish that and improve your health at the same time.
You may have heard fitness professionals say one form of exercise is better for weight loss than another. One might say you don’t need aerobics if you strength train since weight training increases the amount of muscle in your body, and that subtly boosts your resting metabolic rate.
Strength training also increases the after-burn, the extra calories your body burns after a workout for recovery. Others point out that aerobic exercise burns more calories while you’re doing it than resistance training does. Therefore, it’s the best choice for losing weight. Confused yet?
Aerobic Exercise or Strength Training for Weight Loss
Intuitively, it would seem that aerobic exercise is your ticket to weight control since it burns more calories, but don’t neglect strength training. Researchers at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine found that working muscles against resistance stimulates the release of factors that boost fat burning.
Other studies reveal similar findings. Based on research in mice, loading a muscle causes the muscle cell to release particles that tell fat cells to enter fat-burning mode. The researchers concluded that resistance training causes fat tissue to undergo metabolic adaptations favorable for fat loss.
Strength training also helps preserve body composition when you’re trying to lose weight. When you restrict calories or do only aerobic exercise, you drop fat tissue and muscle tissue. The latter you don’t want to lose. So, strength training helps improve body composition by helping you build and retain muscle. Adding more muscle to your frame will also boost your metabolic rate, although the effect is subtle.
You Need Both
A randomized, controlled trial of adults over 65, involving obese men and women, found that a combination of strength training and aerobic exercise was the most effective for enhancing physical function. The subjects were divided into four groups – resistance training only, aerobic exercise only, a combination of both forms of training, and no exercise. All three exercise groups lost around 9% of their body mass, except for the control group who did not exercise. Despite no differences in weight loss, the study found that combination training:
- Enhanced physical function the most
- Preserved muscle mass more than aerobic exercise alone.
- Preserved bone density better
In another study, participants did either aerobic training, resistance training, or both. The participants who did either aerobic training or combination training lost more weight than those who did resistance training alone. The resistance training only group gained some weight, but it was muscle. So, the best plan, if you’re trying to get leaner, might be to do some of both. Aerobic training is a calorie burner and will help you lose body fat but won’t preserve muscle or improve whole-body functionality.
Resistance exercise will improve physical function, but not give you the same calorie-burning advantage that aerobic exercise does. But if you lift heavy, you will get an after-burn effect that boosts calorie burning after your workout is over. Plus, aerobic exercise improves your aerobic capacity and has cardiovascular benefits. Weight training also has heart health benefits. For example, it improves insulin sensitivity, but the cardiovascular benefits are better established for aerobic exercise, and aerobic training improves the efficiency of your cardiovascular system.
The Bottom Line
For weight control and optimal body composition, a combination of strength training and aerobic exercise is best. By doing both, you’ll maximize the cardiovascular benefits, improve whole-body functionality, and preserve muscle and bone mass while losing weight. Keep an eye on what you put on your plate. You can’t out-exercise a crappy diet. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep and managing stress too. A holistic approach to weight loss will serve you better than focusing on only a single lifestyle habit. Be consistent, be patient, and you’ll have a high likelihood of success.
References:
- Villareal DT, Aguirre L, Gurney AB, Waters DL, Sinacore DR, Colombo E, Armamento-Villareal R, Qualls C. Aerobic or Resistance Exercise, or Both, in Dieting Obese Older Adults. N Engl J Med. 2017 May 18;376(20):1943-1955. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1616338. PMID: 28514618; PMCID: PMC5552187.
- H. Willis, C. A. Slentz, L. A. Bateman, A. T. Shields, L. W. Piner, C. W. Bales, J. A. Houmard, W. E. Kraus. Effects of aerobic and/or resistance training on body mass and fat mass in overweight or obese adults. Journal of Applied Physiology, 2012; 113 (12): 1831 DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.01370.2011
- New York Times. “Combining Aerobics and Weights Tied to Optimal Weight Control”
- Villareal DT, Aguirre L, Gurney AB, et al. Aerobic or Resistance Exercise, or Both, in Dieting Obese Older Adults. N Engl J Med. 2017;376(20):1943-1955. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1616338.
- Ho SS, Dhaliwal SS, Hills AP, Pal S. The effect of 12 weeks of aerobic, resistance or combination exercise training on cardiovascular risk factors in the overweight and obese in a randomized trial. BMC Public Health. 2012 Aug 28;12:704. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-704. PMID: 23006411; PMCID: PMC3487794.
- psu.edu. “Strength Training versus Aerobic Training: Which Is Better for My Health?”
- Willis LH, Slentz CA, Bateman LA, et al. Effects of aerobic and/or resistance training on body mass and fat mass in overweight or obese adults. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2012;113(12):1831-1837. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.01370.2011.
- Ivan J. Vechetti, Bailey D. Peck, Yuan Wen, R. Grace Walton, Taylor R. Valentino, Alexander P. Alimov, Cory M. Dungan, Douglas W. Van Pelt, Ferdinand Walden, Björn Alkner, Charlotte A. Peterson, John J. McCarthy. Mechanical overload‐induced muscle‐derived extracellular vesicles promote adipose tissue lipolysis. The FASEB Journal, 2021; 35 (6) DOI: 10.1096/fj.202100242R.
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