Probably a dumb question but is lifting weights a good cardio/fat burning exercise? I'm lifting right now and my heart is just going!
Is weight lifting good cardio?
It isn't really "cardio" as you're not really working your heart long for a long enough period of time.
However, it is a good fat burning exercise. You burn a lot of calories with the effort, and bigger muscles need more calories to maintain - the more muscle you build, the faster you'll burn calories = lower body fat levels.
Also, lifting heavy weights gives you a big boost in testosterone. Testosterone helps to build muscle and lower body fat.
If your goal is to get big and ripped you don't need cardio - in fact long distance cardio can be counter-productive as it lowers your testosterone levels. If you must do cardio, you'remuch better off doing high intensity interval training e. g. sprints. Look at the difference between a marathon runner's body and a sprinter's body.
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Kinda. You would have to use a workout tailored to cardio though, if you want to use weightlifting. Otherwise weightlifting isn't that great for cardio purposes.
But weightlifting TOTALLY has amazing benefits, don't be fooled. You get stronger and can (notice the can) build a lot of muscle mass. Either way you're burning calories, but more muscle mass means more calories to be burned, so you burn off fat, although gradually. Weightlifting basically is giving yourself potential to do better at all other forms of exercise though.
The best cardio/fat burner there is are sprints, if that is you're ultimate goal.
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No cardio and weights are two different things. Cardio helps burn of fat and weighlifting just causes microscopic tares in your muscles which need to rest in order for them to grow. Weights just tone you right up and your heart rate is going up because you are making an effort.
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I personally don't think it is... but that's because I suck at lifting and don't actually work at it like I should haha.
My friend is a body builder (girl) and she says something like weight lifting builds muscle which speeds up the metabolism which burns fat.
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- 511 opinions shared on Health & Fitness topic.
You'd have to make the workout tailor to cardio for it to be so. "Circuit training" is ideal for this where you setup back to back exercises with little to no rest in between sets and exercises and just keep going. Heavy weight not recommended due to injury issues and the need to have long sets.
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Not necessarily. Weight lifting prioritizes blood flow in specific regions, while running gets your whole body shaking and sending blood everywhere, therefore being more impacting on your heart. Weight lifting may get your heart racing, but it's not the same. From running, blood flow will circulate your body better.
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Weights can be performed as a cardio workout when done in a circuit training format. Also, fat burning and cardio are not necessarily the same thing as fat burning is entirely a result of calorie deficit.
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Not very good as cardio but building muscle will burn a lot of calories when you're at rest. It is best if you can combine cardio with strength training because cardio helps your heart and lungs.
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If your heart is going that fast while doing just weight lifting, I'd hate to see how you'd fair when doing actual cardio exercise.
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haha not at all, my cardio sucks and i workout 5 days a week but im hard breathing after 5 minutes of runing
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I don't think that is cardio! That is strength training.
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