The verbal battle between the cardio hounds and the muscle heads has been brewing for years. Each claims that one method of exercise is better than the other. Diet gurus say that for weight loss, cardio is the best way to go for burning hundreds of calories in a thirty minute workout. Others claim that if you strength train in a proper manner, you don’t need cardio exercise, which they find boring, to achieve fitness and weight loss. Can you lose fat without cardio exercise?

Ya, Franz loves to increase ze pumpitude, but also likes to spend time on his bicycle too. I would not say that running is my favorite thing to do but occasionally it adds to variety for my workouts. Cardiovascular exercise has always been the way to strengthen your heart by giving it a good workout. Running however is tough on the knees and other joints. There are other cardio exercises that are less stressful on the joints, but either way you are looking at a thirty minute commitment five days a week to see the results you are looking for when you want to lose fat with cardio exercise.

But can you really lose fat without cardio exercise? Can you just strength train and achieve two things at once? Franz says yes you can, if you workout properly. You don’t have to be a seasoned body builder to workout and get the benefits of this kind of exercise. Just workout your body’s major muscle groups. Muscle builders say that the more pounds of muscle your body has, the higher your metabolism and the more calories that are burned on a consistent basis. Cardio exercise gives you a quick jolt, but once you stop the body returns to its pre-exercise level, and calorie burning ceases.

Now if you strength train, whether with weights or body weight, you can also achieve a cardio workout if you go through your muscle group workouts one after another. Do not rest in between sets. Go from one muscle group to the next in rapid fashion, thereby keeping your heart rate at an elevated level and giving your body a great cardio workout while achieving a strength training workout. That is how you can lose fat without cardio exercise.

For new strength trainers, a great way to start is with body weight exercises. One is less likely to hurt themselves if just using body weight to work out the major muscle groups. Push ups, dips, chin ups, squats, lunges, and crunches are all great ways to achieve a good workout. Try doing a few sets of push ups, jump rope, do some squats, all in rapid succession and I bet you will find that your heart rate is up in the range that is suitable enough to be considered as a cardio workout. Just don’t take breaks between your sets and you will be able to lose fat without cardio exercise.