Q: I’m short on time, can I just combine my weights training with some cardio
A: Whilst it can be tempting to combine cardio training and weights training in order to fit more in less time and to also ‘mix things up a bit’, it’s important to understand what this will actually do to your body… and therefore your health and fat-loss results.
As you are probably aware, weight training is incredibly important as it helps to prevent age-related muscle wastage as well as helping us to build new muscle tissue. This ensures we keep our daily metabolic rate elevated, assisting with fat burning throughout the entire day.
During a weight training session, your body releases a chemical messenger (scientifically known as mTOR) which tells your muscles to repair and grow, therefore elevating your metabolism.
Cardio exercise, on the other hand, stimulates the release of AMPk which unfortunately has a dulling effect on mTOR. This results in less than optimal muscle recovery, repair and building which in turn leads to a suppressed metabolism. And if you have a suppressed metabolism, yep, less fat-burning!
So, whilst you may think that doing cardio and weights in the one session is just being efficient and even a bit ’hard-core’, the science tells us otherwise. Keep your weights and cardio separate and ideally do them on different days to ensure there is no cross over effect at all.