Forums >Cross Training>Which is the better exercise, weight lifting or running?
not bad for mile 25
Ballroom Dancing.
Ding ding ding. Quickstep with lifts will totally fill the bill.
"run" "2" "eat"
flossing while flossing.
engages body and mind.
i find the sunshine beckons me to open up the gate and dream and dream ~~robbie williams
Exercise is like Religion to many....their outlook, view, philosophy...
What surprises me is how many have it "totally figured out" and aren't open to hearing new facts studies, tests etc...
I think balance and well rounded fitness would be better than to be great at simply 1 type of sport/training.
but to each their own.
it's also part of sport to be the best at 1 discipline, your other sports/disciplines may suffer...
I have a buddy who loves HIIT, but refuses do do any long mild easy cardio...
my view is if you're only training 1 zone of your heart etc... than you're probably missing out on some benefits / well roundness.
The first thing I did when I got back into working out, was climbing, which IMO is similar to lifting/adding muscle, and for me it was probably the easiest quickest way I've ever lost bodyfat and weight and gained muscle...
I don't think you have to hit the weights to had speed and power and muscle though, you could run stadiums....or sprint/speed more, but stuff such as 100m's
I think going from 0 to 1 or 2 days a week of weights could be huge to many.
I also think you could do squats, pull ups, pushups, military presses, complex full body/multiple muscle group type lifts and pretty much lift the entire body and be in and out in 30-45mins.
300m- 37 sec.
Old , Ugly and slow
After age 50 you need both.
i get a lot out of lifting twice a week.
I would like to get back to running 4 days a week
first race sept 1977 last race sept 2007
2019 goals 1000 miles , 190 pounds , deadlift 400 touch my toes
I can confirm this to be the case.
3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)
10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)
* Net downhill course
Last race: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr, 1:15:48
Up next: Runway5, 4 May
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
Oranges are much better than apples.
Trails
I think it depends on the person...I can't run due to an autoimmune condition but I train for and compete in ultramarathons. I've gotten older and now feel the need to add in some strength training as I at this point can't even do a pushup...that's me though...someone else may hate running but likes the bike or elliptical. You have to do what makes you happy. Something is better than nothing.
I think for getting better at lifting weights, lifting weights is better.
I think for getting better at running, running is better.
I think for burning calories, not eating those calories in the first place is better.
I kinda don't understand the question.
Real answer:
Exercise in exactly 4 minutes per day!
http://www.fastexercise.com/
Hey, this has been a field day for flippant responses, and I can't exactly pretend to have taken the high road either. But going back and looking at your exact question, there is a pretty good question at it's core, if i may so.
You ask: "Beck told her that he thinks she will find the lifting to be a much better exercise for burning fat and gaining fitness. "
So the question of which if better is really limited in terms solely of 'fat burning and general conditioning.'
Legitimate question, really.
As you say, resistance training (i.e.: weight lifting) is very effective at burning fat and does so long after the workout is over. But if you do enough cardio, and you do it hard enough, you can burn even more calories - it simply matters how much of each you are doing and it's hard to compare without quantifying each. And for most of us, it's fairly easy to just run more and thereby gain a lot of benefit in all the calories we are burning. I think that to burn a similar amount of calories, one would have to be a fairly serious weight lifter. And frankly, the really serious weight lifters i know also run for the expressed purpose of keeping the extra pounds off. What does that tell you?!
As for gaining fitness, that's a good question. Doesn't it depend on the person, their age, and their lifestyle? For example, for a young, healthy, active twenty-something or teen, maybe building strength would yield them more benefit in that they are already fairly mobile and healthy. And for an aging senior citizen, maybe weight lifting would be more beneficial to strengthen aging muscles, bones, and joints, and protect from injury. But for a middle aged desk worker, maybe running would increase their mobility, flexibility, and burn some calories.
Of course, this is on the premise that you would have to choose one or the other. But in reality, one could do both. And the most serious practitioners of both probably do.
Well...we need to define "better." For me, I have never cared about the exercise modality (weights vs. body weight vs. running vs. cycling vs. kettlebells vs....whatever). Only about the attributes of fitness being focused on and the methods/principles. You can use just about any modality or equipment to train just about any attribute if you know the right methods.
For "burning fat and gaining fitness", if we define "better" as increasing metabolism and burning more calories in a 24hr period and building many attributes of fitness such as total body strength, strength-endurance, anaerobic and aerobic conditioning while exercising for less time, then some form of resistance training if done in the right way would be "better."
A superior method would be something like a mix of free-weight and body weight exercises done in super-sets with minimal rest periods between sets.
Running only builds mostly aerobic endurance and lower body strength-endurance while taking a long time to do it. To be well-rounded fitness wise you still need lower body strength training, upper body strength and strength-endurance as well as anaerobic training.
OTOH, weight training like a typical bodybuilder? I'd rather go for a long run...
Funky Kicks 2019
So many people have no idea what they are doing when they try to lift weight. It’s so easy to have terrible form, to focus on some areas and neglect others, and to try to do more weight than you should because you’re trying to look like a badass. If you have someone to design an intelligent routine, to correct your form, and to mix it all up for you every few weeks so that you don’t stagnate, then weight training combined with steady state cardio (longer distance running) and some HIIT, doing all that five or six times a week in combination with getting enough protein and watching your fat and carbs, that seems to be the ideal routine for me. I think asking which is better is the wrong question, because the answer is neither. You have to do both to achieve optimal fitness.
Leah, mother of dogs
I do both: running 3 times week and home trainings 4 times a week. I use SportMe app to track my progress and to get my training plans and things are going great. From a sedentary person I became a addicted to running, more self confident and less anxious.
Quote from Seattle prattle on 5/8/2019 at 8:44 PM:
Oh, dude! You have no idea, if i could do that! How i long to be able to lift dance partners over my head!
Quote from Seattle prattle on 5/8/2019 at 8:44 PM: Oh, dude! You have no idea, if i could do that! How i long to be able to lift dance partners over my head!
Yep. Oddly enough, I've never had a partner who was keen on me trying lifts with her. Wonder if my spindly limbs have something to do with that.