CW Allied Health Department Tips

Combining Aerobic and Weight-Training Exercises Are the Key to Weight Loss

Combined with a sensible diet, a well designed exercise routine can contribute significantly to a weight loss program. The most effective exercise program to help achieve weight loss includes a combination of aerobic and weight training exercise. While either one can help contribute to your weight loss goal, the combination of aerobic and weight training exercise will work much more quickly and can help ensure that you'll lose fat while preserving muscle mass.

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise includes those activities which increase your heart and respiratory rate and are fueled by metabolic pathways that require oxygen. Aerobic exercise includes running, swimming, cycling, cardio-kickboxing and participating in sports like tennis, racquetball and basketball and will help in your weight loss program by burning additional calories. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that you participate in aerobic exercise activities at least three to five times each week and that your exercise last for at least 20 minutes.

Weight Training Exercise

Weight training exercises, also known as resistance exercise, require you to contract your muscles against a resistance that forces them to perform at a higher workload and will help increase your muscle mass, strength and endurance. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that weight training exercise be performed two to three times per week working all of your major muscle groups. Building muscle strength without the use of weights through isometric exercise has also been shown to have a noticeable effect on weight loss and should be considered part of your weight loss program.

Diet Modification

Modifying your diet by reducing refined carbohydrates, saturated fat and total calories should be an important part of any weight loss program. While your exercise activities will increase your total daily caloric expenditure, a simultaneous reduction in the number of calories you consume can help speed your weight loss. 

A Balanced Weight Loss Program

Weight training exercises will help you build muscle mass and, along with aerobic exercise and diet modification, can increase your percentage of lean body mass. Since lean body tissues are more metabolically active than fat, increasing your lean muscle mass will raise your overall daily metabolic rate and help you both achieve and maintain your weight loss goals.

References

• ClevelandClinic.org; Exercise and Weight Control [http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/prevention/exercise/ex_wtcontrol.aspx]
• Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise; Quantity and Quality of Exercise for Developing and Maintaining Cardiorespiratory, Musculoskeletal, and Neuromotor Fitness in Apparently Healthy Adults: Guidance for Prescribing Exercise; C.E. Garber, et. al.; July 2011 [http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2011/07000/Quantity_and_Quality_of_Exercise_for_Developing.26.aspx]
• Journal of Applied Research; Muscle Strength Training and Weight Loss From a Combined Isometric Exercise and Dietary Program; Jerrold Petrofsky, et. al.; 2007 [http://www.jarcet.com/articles/Vol7Iss1/Petrofsky.pdf]
  

Warren Rosenberg, PhD

Dr. Rosenberg is a professor of Allied Health and serves as Provost & Vice President of Academic Affairs at The College of Westchester. He is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine, had served as NY State Coordinator for the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition’s Demonstration School Program and is co-author of the textbook, Exercise Science.