Latest / The Body Recomposition Revolution | Fat Loss and Strength for Women 35+ / Cardio vs Strength After 35: How You Burn More Fat (And What to Do This Week)

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Cardio vs Strength After 35: How You Burn More Fat (And What to Do This Week) · The Body Recomposition Revolution | Fat Loss and Strength for Women 35+

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This is the body recomposition revolution.
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I am a former personal trainer and educator for over a decade
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who is obsessed with teaching women 35 plus how to finally
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drop fat and completely reshape their bodies through science
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backed nutrition and training protocols optimized to meet your
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body's changing hormones. Classes in session.
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Welcome back to the body Recomposition Revolution.
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This is Robin, and today we are covering something that is
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incredibly contentious to some and super confusing to everyone,
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and that is what is better for burning fat, cardio or weight
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training. There are so many opinions on
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this, so we're just going to dive into the science and if you
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have listened before, you know that every single time I start a
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podcast episode, I start with a learning objective.
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I do this because after I was a personal trainer, I was a public
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school educator for upwards of 10 years and I know that it is
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research based and proven that whenever you Start learning
1:18
about something new, to have the learning objective stated
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clearly prior to engaging in the content primes your brain to
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receive all the information that's about to come at you.
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So today our learning objective is by the end of this episode,
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you'll understand which type of exercise, cardio or strength
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training burns more fat for women over the age of 35 and
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exactly why your workouts need to shift as your hormones
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change. To put it concisely, today we
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are going to cover which type of exercise cardio strength burns
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more fat for. Summary Actually, I know the
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reason this topic really gets people heated.
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I have so many runner friends that I admire deeply.
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I they are true athletes. I try to run, I do run here and
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there, but I use cardio strategically.
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I also have many friends who are very opposed to cardio pretty
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much in any form. Everyone has their opinions.
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You know what they say, Everyone has their opinions.
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They have their own goals, their own ideas of what is ideal both
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athletically and aesthetically. But today we are going to dive
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into the research through the lens of a woman post age 35
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whose goal is to drop fat and gain muscle.
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That is the route we are taking in identifying what cardio does
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to our body, how we can do cardio strategically, and how we
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can utilize weight training and cardio together to meet our
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aesthetic goals. And in this podcast, again, that
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is body recomp. We are trying to gain muscle.
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We are trying to drop that. As a former teacher or a forever
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teacher, as I like to think, one of my friends reminded me of
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that recently. I truly believe in the mantra
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that education is power, and it brings me so much joy to empower
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women through education. I love to give you the why
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behind what I'm asking you to do.
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We're going to go through the science today.
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The science behind why this topic matters and the reason why
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cardio versus weight training is so imperative for us to examine
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is most women are taught that fat loss is about burning
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calories. So when they want to lose belly
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fat, they jump straight to doing more cardio, more running, spin
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classes, hours on the elliptical, walking, walking,
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walking, running, running, running, going to never ending
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classes, starving themselves. More, more, more, more, more.
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And the assumption is that more sweat equals more fat loss.
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Everything I just said is the opposite of what you should be
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doing if you want to drop body fat, especially after age 35.
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And I know that that approach might have worked when you were
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2025 thirty. It doesn't work now.
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It does not work because your body is different, your hormones
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are different. It's responding to stimulus
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differently. So when we approach fat loss
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with our first instinct, which it is still my first instinct,
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when I kind of put on a few pounds, I kind of want to tone
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up. It is my first instinct to start
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grinding away on the treadmill. I do it now.
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I have to actively stop myself from overdoing it with cardio
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because it is wired in US. It is wired in us to just see a
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problem that we want to address. The problem being we're gaining
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weight and to do whatever we need to do to get rid of it as
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quickly as possible. We'll get up at 5:00 AM, go on
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the treadmill for two hours, do it again in the afternoon until
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you can burn all of those unwanted calories, burn all that
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fat or just starve yourself. And that, that grin and bear it,
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that that mentality is such a woman thing, you know, like we
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will just do what needs to be done, even if it hurts, even if
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it's not pleasant, because we know we need to do it.
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We push through, we grind, we torture ourselves and it's just
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we are everything to every but ourselves.
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And you need to do this for yourself.
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Listen, learn, embrace how your body is changing and give it
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what it needs to be, everything you want it to be.
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You deserve to have that body you work so hard to obtain, and
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you deserve to do it in a way that is not going to damage your
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metabolism, damage your joints, tear your body down to nothing,
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and then it'll just come back bigger because you have no
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metabolism to support the weight loss.
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Your metabolism went in the tank, you literally ran it away.
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So do this for yourself. Listen, learn.
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Learn how to embrace how your body is changing and give it
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what it needs. The methods we're going to go
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over today are science backed. They are research based and they
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are all about giving your body the fuel and recovery that it
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needs to accomplish the aesthetic and athletic goals you
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want to see. Because you deserve that.
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Your body deserves to be taken care of and not crumpled outside
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at 5:00 AM running away to nothing.
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Because as women, you carry a lot on your shoulders and some
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of you carry it loudly, some of you carry it quietly, some of
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you carry it with the support of others.
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And unfortunately, some of you carry it all alone.
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And I have such a desire. I have such a desire to help
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women understand how to feel confident and strong and how to
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take care of their bodies. To reflect that.
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I want every woman to feel comfortable taking up space,
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filling her plate, feeling at peace in their body, whatever
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that looks like, and to just make it happen by teaching you
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how to strengthen that vessel that you are in.
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Because I have been there. I have been all different shapes
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and sizes. I have gone from 120 lbs to
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almost £200. I know the emotional turmoil, I
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know the heaviness that comes with being uncomfortable in your
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body and it's reflected in every action.
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Every thought, every interaction you have with anybody in your
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day comes down to if you are feeling at peace in yourself.
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So today we are going to go over how most women accidentally
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start sabotaging their fat loss while they think they're doing
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the right thing. And I am one of those women.
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I am one of those women. I still do it to this day.
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But after age 35, as your estrogen shifts, your metabolism
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does slow down and your muscle building pathways change.
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And that old calorie burn model that breaks down?
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Let's start here with this all too common myth.
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And the myth is cardio burns fat.
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Well, this is a surface level truth that often misleads women.
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It misleads me, it misleads my clients.
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And up until the last year, have I really discovered why cardio
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isn't doing the same thing that it used to do to my body when it
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comes to trying to lose fat. So let's start with the truth
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part of the myth that cardio is the best way to burn fat.
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So truth. Yes, cardio burns calories, but
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only during the cardio session itself.
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Now, once you stop moving, the metabolic impact drops off.
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Now, after we hit age 35, our estrogen levels tend to decline
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just a bit with which has a small negative impact on our
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muscle. OK.
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Our muscle is our metabolic engine.
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You need that muscle to continue fueling your metabolism.
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But as that metabolism slows down inevitably with age, we try
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to combat that with excessive cardio.
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I've done it. I see all of my clients doing
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it, doing it. They run, run, run thinking that
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they are going to lose weight by doing that wrong.
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Excessive cardio. And I don't just mean running.
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I'm not coming at runners, love you runners.
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I am coming at everybody who is jumping around in those fitness
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classes five days a week, that's excessive cardio.
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Everybody who's on the stair climber for an hour a day,
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that's excessive cardio. On the treadmill every single
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day, multiple times, that's excessive cardio.
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So these long, arduous, intense running sessions that leads to
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elevated cortisol. What is cortisol?
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Cortisol is a stress hormone and that's stress hormone promotes
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fat storage, especially in the abdominal area.
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OK, rise in cortisol equals rise in belly fat.
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High cortisol, high belly fat running lots of running equals
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high cortisol unless you are combating it with eating enough
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protein. So about one 1.2 grams of
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protein per pound of ideal body weight and heavy strength
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training. That's the only way you can
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integrate running into your measurement because if you're a
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runner, if you love running, by all means, keep running.
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That's what life's about, is doing those things that you find
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enjoyable, right? The things that you have
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community in, friends in. I have clients who run, They're
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amazing, but you want to know what they do now?
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They lift heavy and they eat enough protein, and I watch
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their bodies continue to gain muscle and drop fat and look
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smaller and more toned than they've ever looked before.
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So excessive cardio is not going to help you keep or build
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muscle. The only thing that's going to
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help you keep and build muscle is eating enough protein and
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lifting heavy. And you need that muscle to keep
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dropping fat. You need that muscle to build
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underneath the skin to give you that toned look that you're
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looking for. Without the muscle that you get
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from lifting and eating enough protein, you're going to look
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skinny fat. Even if you run away all your
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body fat, your skin's going to be sitting on top of your bones
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with no muscle underneath it. So you're still going to look
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skinny fat. You want the toned look to get
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that, you need muscle. Running's not going to get you
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that. So All in all, remember when you
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are running without doing those two things I just mentioned,
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protein and lifting, you are burning calories at the cost of
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your metabolism. Yes, you're going to burn 200
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calories during that run, but your metabolism is now going to
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crank down efficiency. It's not going to run like a
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Buick. We want it to just be taking in
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a ton of gas. Have it be this premium loaded
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car, run smooth, looks good, but instead you're running like a
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hybrid Kia of so I don't even know what you're doing, but
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you're you're going nowhere fast.
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Let's cover the science. So the science shift what
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actually is happening inside your body after 35.
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Now this doesn't happen to everybody after age 35.
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I honestly haven't experienced much of this, but I have so many
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friends and family who have that it has totally rocked my world
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in terms of what women need to have that body they are working
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so hard for in the gym. So after age 35, your estrogen
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naturally it starts to decline a bit and that makes it harder to
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build and maintain. And with that estrogen decrease
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comes a cortisol sensitivity increase as well as your
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insulin's sensitivity. That changes, and then your
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muscle protein synthesis becomes harder to trigger, and all that
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means is it's just harder to build muscle.
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Now, I know you cardio Queens are feeling the same way I did
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when I was learning that cardio isn't really doing me much good.
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But there's a way to strategically integrate cardio
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into your life where you can still have that chill time on
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the treadmill, the stair climber outside, running in your class,
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doing whatever you want to do because you enjoy it.
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And that is as long as you are pairing it with weightlifting.
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And let's talk on the timing with that.
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So weightlifting needs to come before your cardio session if
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you're doing them on the same day.
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Weightlifting before cardio is so much more effective because
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after age 35, we need to polarize.
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Our training doctor, Stacey Sims always uses that word polarize.
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And when you think of polarize, think of loud, shocking,
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intense. We want to shock for
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neuromuscular system. We want strong, intense
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neuromuscular signaling in our lifting sessions, and we get the
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strongest signals when our body is fresh.
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That's why sleep is so imperative, but that's also why
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we don't do cardio before we lift our heavy weights.
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Do your 5-10 minute warm up on the whatever you want, but we're
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talking about a full blown high intensity interval session
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lasting like 20 minutes or more or some zone 2, maybe around 45
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minutes. We will not be doing that before
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weightlifting. We will be doing that after
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weightlifting because if you are fatigued from your cardio
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session, which you will be whether you feel it or not, that
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dampens the signals we're sending to our nervous system.
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And remember, we want to polarize those signals that we
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are enforcing on our neuro system.
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We need sharp, clear commands enough to generate force and
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intensity while lifting to have that polarizing effect on our
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muscles. We want that intense effect on
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our muscles. We want to tear and RIP them.
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But if we're doing our cardio first, our lifting sessions,
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they're just, they're not going to be as potent.
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I want to go back to the objective we have for this
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episode. And that objective is By the end
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of this episode, you'll understand which type of
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exercise, cardio or strength training, which just means
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lifting weights, burns more fat for women over the age of 35 and
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why you need to shift your workouts as your hormones begin
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to change, which happens after age 35.
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O. Here is the truth.
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Strength training builds muscle. Building muscle raises your
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resting metabolic rate. Muscle is metabolically active
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tissue muscle or lean mass that supports hormone health, insulin
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sensitivity, and continuous fat loss.
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And I can speak to this because back when I used to be a cardio
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queen and the times that I've shifted into cardio queen mode,
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I have to eat way less at all times just to stay lean and to
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look skinny fat. Now that I have a solid
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structure under my skin of muscle, I can eat almost twice
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as much as I used to eat, and I still stay small, smaller, a
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smaller pant size than I did when I was doing 10 times as
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much cardio. That's nuts.
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But it's because of the muscle I have that is a metabolically
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active tissue that enables me to eat, to eat what my body needs.
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So the more muscle that you have, the more fat you burn
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around the clock, not just during your workouts.
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With cardio, you're just burning calories.
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During your workouts with muscle, you are burning calories
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around the clock. Now, don't fret if you are a
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cardio queen. There is a time, there is a
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place, and there is a strategy to integrate cardio into your
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regimen in a way that won't leave you with all the bad side
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effects that I was rambling on about in this episode.
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Because cardio is. It's a support role.
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It's not the primary driver for fat loss.
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It's not. It is a tool we use to help our
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bodies lose fat along with muscle and protein intake, but
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it's not the primary cause of fat loss.
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OK, so here it is. Here is your clear research
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backed breakdown of how cardio needs to change for you if
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you're above the age of 35, especially if you're in
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perimenopause or post menopause. Because at this point we need
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intelligent, strategic cardio instead of those chronic long
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sessions, those chronic hours you spend on the treadmill or
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outside. We don't want to do that
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anymore. We need to be strategic #1 high
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intensity interval training, HIIT and Sprint interval
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training, SIT. Those are the acronyms and I was
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getting them mixed up. I recently had to just dive into
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this and what is the difference here?
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And there is a difference. So hit high intensity interval
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training and SIT Sprint interval training.
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These are time efficient, so they're fast and they are
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hormone supportive and they are great for fat loss and muscle
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preservation. They're going to to enable you
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to keep the muscle that you're building when you're lifting
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weights and eating enough protein.
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So HIT is short bursts anywhere from like 30 to 90 seconds at
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around 80 to 95% of your Max heart rate.
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And then it's a short recovery. Now sit is even shorter and even
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higher intensity at those peak intervals for only about 10 to
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30 seconds. So for me, when I'm doing sit,
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I'm almost at 180. My heart rate is almost at 180
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for that 10 to 30 seconds. And then I need to wait a full 2
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to 4 minutes so that I can completely recover so that I'm
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back to baseline around like 1/21/10.
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And that is the that is what Doctor Sims refers to when she
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says polarized. Because that big discrepancy
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between your Max all out intensity for 10 to 30 seconds
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compounded with that going back to baseline, that's giving your
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body huge shocks. Now you don't want to do that
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for like 1/2 hour, no. So for your HIT, your high
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intensity interval trainings, that is still intense, but just
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a bit less intense than sit. If you're new to this, maybe
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start with HIT and that's going to be 80 to 90% of your maximum
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heart rate. So the total duration of your
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HIT workout, 20 to 30 minutes, that's it.
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And the working intervals, they're going to be about 30 to
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90 seconds at 80 to 90% of your effort.
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So when I say my Max effort, I'm going at about 172, that's
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around 80 to 95, 90% of my Max heart rate.
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OK, so I'm at around 172 for 30 to 90 seconds and then my
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recovery is around 60 seconds. So the recovery ratio is 1 to
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one, one minute of really high intensity and one minute off or
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one to two, one minute of really high intensity and two minutes
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off. Now you're going to do this HIT
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workout for six to 10 rounds and then the frequency one to two
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times per week. HIT is more moderate than sit.
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It's still intense, but it allows a.
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Bit more volume than sit still. It's best that you keep it short
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to avoid big hormone disruptions and then sit Sprint interval
20:19
training, which is what I've been really into lately.
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I love it It's only 12 to 20 minutes.
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It's the high intensity 90 to 100% where I'm almost at 180 for
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my heart rate that's only 10 to 30 seconds.
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Anybody can do that recovery, 2 to 4 minutes.
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I'm hanging out, I'm looking at my phone, I'm chit chatting with
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my friend, 2 to 4 minutes, and then I'm back at it for 10 to 30
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seconds. And you only have to do that
20:43
four to six times Max, 4 to 6 times Max.
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The whole workout takes, as I said, 12 to 20 minutes, and you
20:50
want to do that one to two times per week.
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So the reason why these workouts are short, these are
20:55
neurologically and hormonally demanding.
20:58
They are polarizing. So more than 20 minutes of sit,
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there's no increased benefit to that.
21:05
It's just increased stress, which is the opposite of what we
21:08
want to do. Longer does not equal better at
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this point in our life. It's just not it.
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More is not more. When hormones are fluctuating.
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The goal is stimulus, not stressed.
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You should feel energized afterward and not completely
21:22
wrecked the way you are when you drop into an Orangetheory class
21:25
or when you're in some crazy fitness class where you're in
21:28
kind of like a 160 or like a zone 3 heart rate where you're
21:32
you're really busting the whole time and when you're done,
21:34
you're cashed. It was 45 minutes of absolute
21:38
torture. You're done.
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That's not how you're going to feel after your high intensity
21:41
intervals. You're going to be like, that
21:43
was awesome on to the next part of my day.
21:46
Now, if you are a running girly or a biking girly or just
21:49
somebody who likes that chronic long duration steady state
21:53
cardio, OK, that's OK. It's not ideal because it
21:58
elevates your cortisol for too long, which promotes fat storage
22:01
and then it breaks down your muscle, it decreases your
22:03
metabolism. It really does, even though it
22:06
doesn't feel like it because you're working.
22:08
But if it's something that is enabling you to have a sense of
22:11
community and something you really enjoy doing, have that,
22:15
just have it like once a week, twice a week Max.
22:18
I have 3-4 clients that are runners.
22:21
They're amazing. They have been body recomping
22:23
for the whole year. They now have visible stomach
22:26
muscles. They do 1 temple run per week
22:29
and then one just like 1 long run, you know, at their pace.
22:33
So, so unless you really, really enjoy long distance running and
22:38
it helps with your mental health and just don't even worry about
22:42
doing it, you can still do your zone 2.
22:44
So zone 2 cardio. I'll have a whole episode of
22:47
that. I do that a couple times a week.
22:49
It's great. It's when I do a lot of work.
22:50
Just listen to podcasts, have my moment and then you're neat,
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NEAT. Your non exercise activity
22:59
thermogenesis. That is where the most of the
23:02
majority of your calories are being burned during the day.
23:05
It's when you're walking around, you're doing light chores,
23:07
you're doing the dishes, you're vacuuming, you're getting to the
23:10
park, you're getting through the parking lot, your whatever, just
23:13
your natural movement. And if you just keep kind of
23:17
moving throughout the day, that does a world of difference in
23:21
terms of your calorie burn on a daily basis.
23:24
Here's a tip for you. If you, you have an Apple Watch
23:26
or a phone, which you do set a timer for every hour on the
23:31
hour. And when that timer goes off,
23:33
you know you need to get up and move for 5 minutes, do some air
23:36
squats, walk around the house, go put your laundry away, walk
23:41
out to the mailbox. Sometimes if, if I'm sitting for
23:45
a long period of time working on this podcast or what have you, I
23:49
have my timer on my watch. It will buzz and I will stand
23:52
up. I'll go downstairs, I'll take
23:54
the garbage out. There's always, it's a bag of
23:55
garbage. I know it needs to go out.
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That's what I do. I get up and I move.
24:00
I like to have a strong meat because I don't like to do a lot
24:03
of cardio. OK, let's wrap this up.
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So our hierarchy for women and what they're going to do for
24:09
cardio, so it's strategically working with you to drop fat
24:13
while keeping your muscle is Sprint intervals, sit or hit.
24:18
Do those one to two times a week.
24:20
OK #2 walking or low intensity movement.
24:24
That's like a zone two walk. Or maybe that's your long run
24:27
that you like to do. Done.
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Do that one time a week, 2 * a week if you'd like.
24:33
Now, if you're a chronic jogger, stop doing that.
24:36
You can't do that anymore. You can only do it once or twice
24:38
a week. That's how you're going to keep
24:39
your metabolism up. That's how you're going to keep
24:41
your lean muscle. Be a runner, do your thing, have
24:45
your community, just don't do it more than twice a week.
24:47
And if you are that runner, I love, honor, respect you, but
24:51
make sure you are lifting. Make sure you are eating enough
24:54
protein. That's the only way that you can
24:57
keep the fat off and build the muscle at the same time as being
25:00
a runner. That loss after 35 is not about
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working harder or doing more cardio.
25:08
It is all about working smarter with your hormones, with your
25:11
muscle, with your metabolism. And I have to tell myself that
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every day. Actually, I have people who tell
25:16
me that a lot. I had one tell me that at the
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gym today. You need to work with your body
25:20
and not against it. And that's exactly why I do what
25:23
I do because I love educating women and myself at the same
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time on how to fuel, how to train and how to treat our body
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in a way that is honoring them where they are now because they
25:37
are different now. And our strategies have to
25:39
reflect that. So thank you for tuning in.
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You will hear from me in a couple weeks.