Is Weight Training Better than Cardio? Study Has THIS to Say and It’s Related to Heart Health

Weight lifting is often considered by many as a dangerous activity that can lead to injury. However, if performed correctly with proper form and technique, it could become a boon for your overall health and fitness. There are numerous benefits associated with weightlifting like burning fat, developing lean muscle mass and many more. However, one of the best reasons to lift weight is that it improves heart health and is proven to be better than cardio in this matter as per a recent study. 10 Benefits of Strength Training: Overview of Muscle Development Techniques.

How Weight Lifting Can Strengthen up Our Heart?

Basic weight training exercise like a bench press in a day can keep the cardiologist away. A research was done at the Center of Inflammation and Metabolism, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark, which showed that weight lifting exercise burns fat at a faster rate than cardio.

A total of 50 people were taken into the sample for this study. Randomly they were assigned a 12-week program, where one group was said to perform resistance training or aerobic exercise and the other group was told to do weight lifting. Both groups trained three times a week for 45 minutes. WORST Exercises and Workout Mistakes That Will RUIN Your Fitness Goals.

The result of the study was declared on the basis of two types of fat pericardial adipose tissue mass (fats surrounding the heart) and epicardial adipose tissue mass (fats found in the heart muscle tissue). After the end of the 12-week study, it was found that pericardial adipose fat got reduced by 31 percent in people who perform weight lifting. While aerobic training only helped to reduce adipose fat by 32 percent and had no impact on pericardial fat. Since the fat surrounding the heart can cause cardiac dysfunction, it is very necessary to get rid of it.

Apart from making your heart strong, weight training can help reduce visceral fat, which surrounds the internal organs. With regular weight training, you will have less belly fat and more lean muscle mass. Weight lifting also improves the quality of sleep and enables good growth of muscles when the body is at rest. There is a common saying in bodybuilding, "If you think lifting weights is dangerous, try being weak. Being weak is more dangerous". Therefore, go for weightlifting but only under the guidance of a professional fitness trainer.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 18, 2019 06:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).