When it comes to losing weight, what’s the best exercise-aerobic, such as walking, running and swimming, or resistance training, which includes weight lifting?
Despite recent reports that have suggested weight training can shed the pounds, aerobic exercise seems to be by far the best weight-losing exercise.
In fact, you can do less aerobic exercise than weight training and still lose weight quicker, as one study from Duke University has discovered. Overweight people who did 133 minutes of aerobic exercise a week-which amounted to 12 miles of walking, running or swimming-lost weight, while those who did 180 minutes of resistance training didn’t lose a pound. In fact, some who did weight training actually increased their weight as they built muscle mass.
Strangely, those who did double the amount of exercise-133 minutes of aerobics and 180 of resistance training every week-didn’t lose any more weight than those who just did aerobics.
The Duke study puts one myth to bed: resistance training doesn’t alter the resting metabolic rate in a way that helps you lose weight.
* Aerobics is good for your mind, too. Older people who do regular aerobic exercise also maintain better working memory, attention and an ability to switch easily between tasks.
(Sources: aerobics vs resistance training: Journal of Applied Physiology, 2012; 113: 1831; brain functioning: Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2012: doi: 10.3758/s13423-012-0345-4).
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