Weights or Running to Burn More Fat?

Sharon Rekieta, Fitness and Wellness Director - 3rd August 2012

A quick quiz to end your week... True or false? Weight training burns more calories than running.

The answer is "true" although it is a bit of a trick question.

When weight training and running are compared minute to minute as calorie burners, running is the winner.

However, the "truth" of weight workouts as a major calorie burner comes from the cumulative effect of regular sessions.

Consistently working out with weights or performing any kind of resistance training builds lean muscle tissue that burns more calories (even at rest) than other types of tissue. So as your body acquires lean muscle tissue from resistance workouts, you become more of a "fat-burning" machine.

Think of this effect in terms of paraphrasing a popular parable:

Give a person a fish and you feed the person for a day. Teach a person to fish and you feed the person for a lifetime.

Perform a cardio workout, and you burn fat and calories during that session. Perform weight workouts on a regular basis and you will eventually transform your body so it is burning fat and calories all the time.

Bottom line: weight workouts and cardio workouts are fantastic forms of exercise and both burn calories. And since each has numerous health benefits, both should be included in your fitness program.