Most people nowadays are of the opinion that you should first try out aerobics to lose the fat before going to weight training. This is however a great misconception which most people tend to believe. For any training program weight lifting is usually the core factor to developing great strength and muscles. The only thing you can achieve through dieting and aerobics is developing a poor muscle to fat ratio.
However it is good to note that during the early stages of a work out program, the increase in muscle mass may be more than the decrease in fat. Therefore for a significant loss in fat an individual needs to acquire great tolerance which should involves lifting weights with great intensity and duration. Very few people actually know that lifting weights can be a very effective way of losing weight.
Weight training and aerobics is one and the same thing. Therefore both of them lead to burning carbohydrates. For this process to take place however oxygen is quite vital. Cardio training activities such as jogging, cycling and step classes are aerobics and will lead to the burning of fat. It will therefore seem quite normal for an individual to concentrate only on aerobics as a way of losing fat.
Although the two processes may lead to burning of fat, something very peculiar happens when you lift weights. Training involving the lifting of weights increases a person's lean body mass. However this is not the situation when it comes to aerobics. When you follow a low calorie dieting program and perform aerobics without adding weight training, you lose more muscles and might actually make you grow fat. This is because the loss in lean body mass has a subsequent effect of slowing down the body metabolism process.
When your body metabolism process is slow it automatically leads to increase in fat. On the other hand an increase in lean body mass will have the opposite effect. An increase in lean body mass leads to a subsequent increase in the metabolic rate. The faster your metabolic rate the more fat your body will lose when you're both awake and even when you are taking a nap. This is actually the main reason why weight lifters who have a very high muscle to fat ratio, are able to stay lean all through the year without necessarily going for aerobics.
For best results it is better to combine lifting weights, cardiovascular exercise and nutrition. This is because when you combine the three, they create a synergy between them leading to the magnification of the results. The result is a definite lean muscular body coupled with a very efficient metabolic process. Your metabolic process is made efficient through the caloric effect of nutrition, it is increased for several hours after each cardio session and it's also elevated with every ounce of lean body mass you gain.
The best you can hope for when you combine diet and aerobics only is to become a 'scrawny fat person". You will actually lose weight from dieting and sticking to your aerobics program. Much of the weight lose however will be muscles and not fat, this will in turn elevate your fat to muscle ratio.
Thus if your time is quite limited and your main agenda is to lose fat ,it is strongly recommended you undergo a brief weight lifting program and most of your remaining should be spent on cardiovascular exercises. Note however that you should never neglect the weight totally but devote an equal amount of time to each if possible.
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