You’ve identified your fitness goals, whether it’s enhancing your performance, losing weight, building muscle or toning your physique. Now you just need to decide how to reach those goals. So which is better: working out on a cardio machine or doing a strength training session?
Cardio vs strength training: it’s an age-old question, and one that has a different answer depending on who is asking.
In this guide we’ll take a look at each of the fitness goals mentioned above, and see which form of exercise will help you to reach your objectives sooner.
The differences between cardio and strength training
First, let’s understand how cardio and strength training differ.
Cardio training
- Purpose: To improve cardiovascular health, endurance and overall aerobic fitness.
- Exercises: Running, cycling, swimming, aerobics.
- Benefits: Cardio enhances heart and lung function, efficiently burns calories to help with weight loss and weight management, and improves stamina and endurance.
Strength training
- Purpose: To build and tone muscles and improve strength, power and endurance.
- Exercises: Weight lifting, bodyweight exercises, resistance bands, kettlebells.
- Benefits: Strength training can be used to increase muscle mass, tone muscles, improve metabolism and enhance joint function and mobility.
These short descriptions already offer insight into the goals that each type of workout can help you reach, but let’s dig a little deeper into which you should choose for specific fitness aspirations.
Cardio versus strength training for reaching fitness goals
Which type of training should you choose? Here’s how they compare for different fitness goals.
Cardio vs strength training for weight loss
There’s an obvious winner in the battle of cardio vs strength training for fat loss. The most efficient and effective way to lose weight is with cardio, as this exercise is all about burning calories.
Losing weight is as much about diet as exercise, so it’s important to note that you need to run a calorie deficit in order to drop those kilos, i.e. you need to burn more calories than you ingest. A calorie counting app can help you to get this balance right.
Cardio vs strength training for fitness and conditioning
While there’s an obvious answer for cardio vs strength for weight loss, fitness and conditioning is a slightly murkier topic, because ‘fitness and conditioning’ can mean a few different things.
If you are looking to increase your cardiovascular fitness and endurance – to run, swim or cycle faster for longer – cardio training is best. If you’re looking to increase your strength, power and muscle endurance, strength training is best.
Cardio vs strength training for gaining muscle
If bulking season has arrived, there’s no better activity than strength training, and more specifically weight lifting.
Free weight exercises involving dumbbells and barbells are ideal for building muscle in the arms, chest and back, while strength training equipment like leg presses, ab crunchers and lat pulldown machines can target more specific muscle groups.
Cardio vs strength training for toning muscle
What is the best way to build that summer beach bod? Strength training is best for toning muscle, and given the goal is more to sculpt muscle than build it, you may not need much equipment to do it: resistance bands and bodyweight exercises can prove very effective at toning your body.
You shouldn’t forget the importance of cardio though, as even the most toned muscles can be hard to see when you’re carrying extra weight.
What is the best cardio and strength training equipment?
What machines should you be looking for in the gym? What equipment should you invest in at home? Let’s take a look at some of the most popular and effective cardio and strength training equipment.
Cardio machines and equipment
- Treadmills: The most popular gym machine in the world, treadmills bring the joy of jogging indoors. Allowing you to run whatever the weather.
- Exercise bikes: A high intensity, low impact exercise, you can choose from a range of different bikes including spin, upright, assault and recumbent.
- Rowing machines: These machines offer a full-body cardio workout that can help you build strength and power too.
- Cross trainers: Perhaps the most comfortable of all cardio exercises, cross-trainers work your arms and legs and offer a great way to get into fitness.
- Step machines: Step machines serve up a never-ending flight of stairs to get your heart pumping.
- Boxing gear: Boxing is a deeply satisfying activity that offers a unique combination of cardio and strength training.
- Training ropes: Between skipping ropes, battle ropes, climbing ropes; choose your braided flavour.
- Training balls: Medicine balls, slam balls and wall balls get you puffing while also sharpening your coordination.
Strength training equipment
- Weight sets: There’s a reason barbells and dumbbells remain popular to this day – they are perhaps the most effective way to build strength and muscle.
- Hand weights: Kettlebells, weighted balls and weighted sandbags each offer a unique lifting challenge.
- Lifting racks and machines: Add variety to your lifting with squat racks, power racks and half racks, cable machines and smith machines.
- Workout stations: Precisely target muscle groups with the help of power towers, weight benches and leg machines.
- Bodyweight bars: Pull-up, chin-up and dip bars make use of your own body weight to help you build strength.
GymQuip: cardio and strength training specialists
At GymQuip we’ve spent 30 years supplying the finest strength training equipment and cardio machines to happy customers. Our Canberra store is home to Australia’s largest fitness showroom, where we stock a complete range of products, from exercise accessories to high-end gym machines like the Matrix Fitness range.
We can help you to fit out your home or commercial gym, we deliver online purchases Australia-wide, and we offer a price beat guarantee: if you find one of our products cheaper elsewhere, we’ll beat that price.
Ready to reach your fitness goals? Get in touch with our friendly team today.