The everlasting division between the treadmill-joggers and bench-pressers in any gym space never seems to come to an end. But which side of the barricade is the right one?
The truth is – neither. Both cardiovascular and resistance training come with an abundance of benefits, and an effective, balanced training plan should ideally consist of a mixture of both. The level of focus on either one will depend on your personal goals, however if adapted correctly both can supplement you in reaching your fitness targets.
Resistance Training
What is resistance training (otherwise known as anaerobic exercise) ? Simply put, it’s a form of physical activity designed to improve muscular fitness by forcing a single or group of muscles to work against external resistance.
Becoming vastly popular over the years, resistance training is widely utilised by many gym-goers on a regular basis. It’s common to see resistance machines, cables and free weights in constant use throughout most gyms. Resistance training is also incorporated by a lot of athletes to help achieve and maintain peak performance by strengthening muscle groups they require for performing specific sports. The main objective of resistance training is to achieve overload through the use of resistance, as a result forcing muscle fibres to break apart to allow them to regenerate and re-grow stronger. Resistance training can focus on specific muscles via the use of isolation exercises, however you can also train multiple muscle groups at a time. The general rule of thumb is aiming to train a specific muscle/groups of muscles per training session, 1 to 3 times per week depending on how much rest and regeneration can take place between sessions. It’s generally not advised to re-train the same muscle groups the next day, as muscular growth and strength takes place during the recovery phase, not during the actual training sessions.
A typical resistance training session would be constructed by completing from 1 to 6 exercises on specific muscle groups, with each exercise being divided into repetitions, sets, breaks in between and load (resistance) used per set. The general aim is to gradually increase the resistance used over time, in turn continuously forcing the muscles to adapt and re-grow stronger to handle higher loads.
The duration of a single resistance exercise set would be from 30 to 90 seconds, with breaks in between of 30 seconds to 3-5 minutes in between depending on the type of training and intensity. Generally, sets would consist of 1 to 12 repetitions to be categorised as a resistance exercise activity.
Resistance training allows us to maintain and grow our muscle mass, in turn with positively affecting bone and joint health as additional resistance continually stimulates and challenges these structures when performing exercise. This is of vital importance especially when approaching later age, as our bodies tend to lose muscle mass quicker and find it harder to maintain it over the course of time.
Cardiovascular Training
To easily define cardiovascular training (otherwise known as aerobic exercise), it’s a form of physical exercise of low or high intensity continued over a prolonged period of time which causes an increase in your heart rate.
Seeming to become a re-born trend over the last year due to limited gym access, cardiovascular training comes in a variety of shapes. We can categorise activities such as cycling, running, swimming, skipping, walking as cardiovascular activities. The main eye-catcher in cardiovascular training for some people is that it can easily be conducted outdoors, and can also be in a more social scenario as local walking/running groups can be found in a lot of areas. This doesn’t mean cardiovascular activity is out of reach for gym-goers – in most cases, gyms tend to be well-equipped with a variety of cardiovascular machines such as treadmills, cross-trainers, bikes, rowers, step machines and other various kit.
There are 3 main components dictating the difficulty and effectiveness of cardiovascular training:
- Type – what type of movement are you going to be performing, i.e. skipping, swimming or cycling. Different types of cardiovascular exercise will work different muscle groups, although all types will work on utilising your cardiovascular system.
- Duration – how long is the exercise being performed for, i.e. a 30 minute walk, or an interval session split into rounds of jogging for 2mins and running for 3mins repeated 5 times.
- Intensity – the difficulty of performed exercise, i.e. minimal intensity such as walking/jogging, or maximal intensity such as sprinting.
All of the above variables can be alternated to construct a type of cardiovascular activity suited to your fitness level. Busier individuals may prefer higher intensity activities over longer, lower intensity ones, to reduce the time spent training for a similar to same end result.
Some benefits of Cardiovascular Exercise include:
- Improved blood flow – your heart is a muscle, and through cardiovascular exercise it becomes better at pumping blood around your body in a similar way that your muscles become stronger from working against heavier loads.
- Decreased risk of heart disease and other related conditions – with improved efficiency, the risk of disease decreases.
- Regulates weight – cardiovascular exercise is an effective weight loss tool, being one of the most common methods of training used by people who are trying to reduce their weight.
In summary, both Resistance and Cardiovascular training come with a bounty of benefits and within moderation, both should be included in your weekly training routine.
Unsure how to get started with incorporating Resistance or Cardiovascular training into your routine? Get in touch and I’ll be more than happy to assist you with adjusting your workout routine accordingly.
Many thanks for taking the time to read my blog, please do get in touch regarding any questions by emailing me on info@firmhands.co.uk.
Written by Filip Kozlowski
Sources Used:
https://www.livestrong.com/article/114986-definition-cardio-exercise/
https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/benefits-of-aerobic-exercise#benefits
