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By Derrick Inglut.
“What burns fat better?” sounds like a simple question. The trouble starts when we judge a workout only by how hard we are breathing when it ends.
Steady cardio, intervals, and weight training do different jobs. A useful fat-loss plan gives each a purpose instead of declaring one the winner.
Choose the workout you can recover from
Steady cardio is continuous activity at a reasonably consistent effort: walking uphill, cycling, swimming, or using an elliptical. Intervals alternate harder efforts with easier recovery periods. HIIT is the demanding end of interval training; a brisk walk with occasional faster sections is not automatically HIIT.
If you are returning after a long break, start with a pace and duration you can repeat. Being unable to walk comfortably the next day is not a requirement for progress.
Keep strength work in the plan
Resistance training gives your muscles a reason to adapt. During a weight-loss effort, keeping track of strength also gives you information that the bathroom scale cannot provide. A personal trainer for weight loss should be able to explain how your lifting sessions and cardio fit together.
As a planning example for a generally healthy beginner, reserve two nonconsecutive days for full-body strength work. Put manageable walks or other cardio around those sessions. Increase one part of the routine at a time, rather than adding more lifting, longer cardio, and harder intervals in the same week.
That is an example to adapt, not a prescription for every reader. Your starting fitness, health, and available recovery time matter.
Decide what to change next
If you finish every session exhausted, first review the workload. If you barely move between gym visits, consider adding ordinary walking before another punishing workout. If your goal is athletic conditioning, harder intervals may have a place—but that is a different question from whether every fat-loss session needs them.
For a closer look at cardio effort, read how to use the talk test. To evaluate progress beyond one weigh-in, see why your weight fluctuates.
Adapted and updated from “Forcing Fat Off the Body: Cardio or Endurance?,” originally published in The Southwester, April–May 2010, p. 5.
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