Fighters Only

Issue 128

May 2015

Resistance training vs. aerobic exercise – which burns maximum body fat in minimum time?

MIKE DOLCE

Two-time World MMA Awards ‘Trainer of the Year’, he’s also the author of The Dolce Diet book series and creator of UFC FIT

Depending on which school you came up in, you will have a very biased opinion on what is the most effective form of exercise to burn body fat, when nutrition is equal. But in my experience, there is one true method that’s most effective, and it’s firmly grounded in science.

Let’s go back to basics. Weight loss is predicated on a negative energy balance. This means we must firstly consume less calories than we burn, and secondly burn more calories than we consume. Pretty simple.

Where this equation becomes complex, however, is in the details. First, let’s level the training field and remove variables. We are going to assume you will only be eating the most nutritionally-dense foods available, sleeping adequately to support your training goals, and living stress-free.

Next, let’s look at the exact form of training stimuli, resistance training or aerobic training. Typically, resistance training is a moderate to intense session of exercise taxing your muscular system with external stimuli through barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, machines and functional bodyweight exercises.

In the opposing corner, aerobic exercise is generally low to moderate intensity exercise performed with the absence of external resistance, and is most often performed through jogging, swimming, cycling, rowing and walking.

Both forms of training have their merit in a complete program, but this article is focused on getting you as lean as possible in the shortest amount of time, while keeping your hard-earned muscle in the process. That last point, about keeping your muscle is, ironically, the most important.

Fat free mass (FFM) is defined as bones, organs and muscle. Since bones and organs will not be altered to a degree worthy of mentioning as a result of resistance training, we will simply be referring to muscle mass with the acronym.

The more FFM you have, the more your resting metabolic rate (RMR) will increase. RMR represents our total energy expenditure while at rest. If we can stimulate our RMR to run at a higher rate while we’re not training, we’ll burn more energy throughout the day and thus, lose more weight.

Too many people focus on how many calories they burn during a typical cardio workout and believe this is the barometer for success. You know those people, “I burned 500 calories on the treadmill, what did you burn?”

Quite frankly, these people are idiots! In fact, it may be true that intense resistance exercise may only burn two-thirds of the calories as would be burned during a bout of intense aerobic exercise.

But the effects of the resistance exercise will increase your RMR much higher and much longer, burning more calories over a 24-hour period, and thus, translating to greater loss of unwanted body fat.

Confused? Don’t worry, here comes the money shot. There is a condition known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). EPOC has been found to increase the RMR for as long as 15 hours post-exercise. In fact, a study was performed with seven male participants in 1993 to determine the effects of resistance exercise on RMR.

Participants performed 90 minutes of intense exercise and the results were measured at two hours and 15 hours post exercise. At each measurement, RMR was found to increase. Even at 15 hours post-exercise RMR was still elevated nearly 10%.

Furthermore, intense resistance exercise has been shown to maintain and/or build FFM while following a very low calorie diet (VLCD). A 1999 study was performed to determine the effects on FFM and RMR while on a VLCD of just 800 calories (far too low for any athlete, but nonetheless, a fascinating study). And 20 participants were randomly put into two groups, aerobic trained or resistance trained for 12 weeks on a VLCD.

The aerobic trained group saw a decrease in FFM during the study, while the resistance trained group was able to maintain FFM. The aerobic group also saw a decrease in RMR, while the resistance group saw an increase in RMR.

Do you smell what I’m cooking here? To hammer this home, let’s add one more layer. In 1993 a study focused on the effects of muscular hypertrophy (building muscle) while on a VLCD of just 800 calories. For this, 14 obese females were randomly placed into two groups.

Group one simply ate the meal plan and did not exercise (G1). Group two ate the exact same meal plan as group one, but performed resistance training exercises (G2). The ladies in both groups lost a similar amount of total bodyweight, however, the resistance trained group (G2) exhibited a notable increase in muscular hypertrophy, while the diet only group (G1) showed no change in muscular hypertrophy.

In my experience, the more muscle an athlete carries the easier it will be for them to burn body fat. We can further enhance this fat-burning process, even in a calorie-deprived state, by maintaining our current level of muscle mass by resistance training, as opposed to aerobic training, which will improve our RMR and burn more calories even while at rest.