The Food Medic - S10 Ask Dr Hazel: Does strength training burn more fat than cardio?

Episode Date: October 5, 2023

Our listener question this week is “What is the definition of strength training? I've read some articles saying that strength training is a better way to burn fat than just doing cardio. But I'm not exactly sure what the definition of it is”Thank you to everyone who has sent in questions already and if you would like to submit a question to the podcast, please send your voice recorded question to [e-mail]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome back to Ask Dr Hazel, our mini episodes that drop each week between our main episodes where I answer all your burning questions. Thank you to everyone who's sent in your questions already and if you'd like to submit a question of your own to the podcast on any topic related to health, fitness, nutrition or mindset, please send your voice recorded questions to info at thefoodmedic.co.uk. So let's jump into our first question of the season. Hi Hazel, my name is Melanie Malcolmson and I live in a town just outside of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The question I have is what is the definition of strength training? Recently I've read some articles saying that strength training

is a better way to burn fat than just doing cardio but I'm not exactly sure what is the definition of it. I do do Les Mills body pump and I'm wondering if this is considered strength training. Thanks. Hello Melanie and thank you so much for your question. One of the reasons I love listening to your questions rather than reading them is it's just so nice to hear your voices and hear whereabouts you guys are listening to the podcast from. So this is a really great question. And I think it does cause a lot of confusion because I'm often asked about it. So what's the difference or what's the definition of strength training?

Now, strength training and resistance training are often used interchangeably. And that's not incorrect. By definition, strength training is really any form of movement that increases muscle strength by making the muscles work against a weight or a force. And this could be your own body weight, it could be using free weights, weight machines or even resistance bands. Now some forms of exercise do this anyway and the most obvious would be something like going to the gym or doing crossfit. But other forms of movement like yoga where you're using your body as a resistance also count as strength training. Now I had to look up Les Mills body pump which is what you asked me about and from the class description it says using light to moderate free weights and a barbell. So

yes this would involve strength training but to answer your second part of the question, which was, does it burn more fat than just doing cardio? So let's pick this apart. If you've ever done a pure strength workout in the gym and compared it to 60 minutes on a cardio machine, minute for minute, the cardio workout would use more calories due to the continuous nature of the intensity of the workout. However, this does depend on a few factors and some strength style classes like CrossFit or Body Pump combine both strength and cardio into their classes. So they increase the intensity and calories required. Also, strength training increases your lean muscle mass and also increases your resting metabolic rate. So the amount of calories you're burning at rest and has many other benefits like stronger bones and improved cardiovascular health.

So it has many other benefits in that capacity also. So ideally, we should be including both cardio and strength training as part of our weekly movement goals as both forms offer different benefits. So I hope that answers your question. If you are looking for a structured strength program don't forget that we do offer this as part of the Food Medic membership so for as little as £9.99 per month you can get access to our gym-based strength program, all our recipes and evidence-based articles so you can find out more over on the website www.thefoodmedic.co.uk. That's all from me, see you again next time.