Which will Burn More Fat: Toning or Cardio?

Do you ever just go into the gym and think to yourself? What should I do today? Cardio or Toning? What is going to make me have better results? Well here is a friendly little reminder article for us all ....

Which will Burn More Fat: Toning or Cardio?

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By Carly Young, Special to LifeScript

Monday, September 24, 2007

If you’re trying to lose weight, should you spend all your time on the treadmill or pumping extra iron? To look fabulous and toned, you need to do both. After all, you can run on the treadmill for hours, but you’ll never build sexy muscles unless you lift weights. Alternately, you can crunch yourself into oblivion, but you won’t be able to see your abs if they’re buried under a layer of excess fat. Surprisingly, building muscle can actually help increase your metabolism. A pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat, even if you’re just sitting still. Also, strengthening your muscles will help you perform better when you’re exercising, which means you’ll be able to work out harder and blast more fat. And if you work on your muscles and stick with your cardio program, you’ll begin to see sexy definition as you lose more weight. Cardio activities, like running, swimming and biking melt fat from all over your body, which will make the underlying muscles visible. Weight-lifting exercises, such as squats and push ups, are perfect for toning problem areas. You can have separate workouts for cardio and toning, but if you want to save time, perform a routine that provides both cardio and strength-training benefits, like a super circuit. Even though it sounds like you have to do double the work to get the body you want, there’s no way your fat can survive the two-pronged attack of cardio and weight training!