If someone told you right now which is the best exercise to lose weight,… would you do it? You may when you read this article.
The best exercise for weight loss is “any exercise,” says Timothy Church, MD, MPH, PhD, a professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Two main reasons that prevent people from losing weight with exercise are boredom or injury. The truth is, weight loss is about using more calories than you take in (in other words, burning more calories than you eat). So, they say, while running at a pace of 8 minutes per mile can be a great calorie burner, if you don’t, it won’t help you. Instead, start with something you can do, like walking or exercising on an elliptical machine or stationary bike.
Strength training by itself won’t lead to any appreciable amount of weight loss because it simply doesn’t burn enough calories. To lose calories you must do a lot of cardiovascular (aerobic) exercise. But what about all the talk that more muscle mass equals more calories burned, even when you’re at rest? This is just a myth, it will never happen. The only successful studies that showed a significant calorie burn after a weightlifting workout (post-burn) were done with serious professional lifters, training 60-90 minutes at a time and lifting as much as they could on each set . In fact, gaining a pound of muscle will help you burn an extra 5 to 10 calories a day. You could do it by chewing gum, so it’s not worth doing weight training if your goal is to lose weight. That’s not to say that strength training isn’t important to your body’s overall health. But when it comes to burning the most calories, opt for cardio. And vary the intensity. Do aerobic workouts to strengthen your core, where you alternate between moderate and high intensity, either within the same workout or on alternate days.
Doing a variety of different activities during your workouts is also a good way. Not only does this help keep you from getting bored, but it’s better for your body. Doing different activities targets different muscle groups. You’re also less likely to develop an injury, since doing the same thing day after day creates wear patterns on your joints.
Be creative, for example if you are a golfer ditch the cart and walk around with your clubs. You will do what you like and burn more calories doing it.