Cardio vs Strength After 35: How You Burn More Fat (And What to Do This Week)

0:05 This is the body recomposition revolution. I am a former personal trainer and educator for over a decade who is obsessed with teaching women 35 plus how to finally drop fat and completely reshape their bodies through science backed nutrition and training protocols optimized to meet your body's changing hormones. Classes in session.

0:31 Welcome back to the body Recomposition Revolution. This is Robin, and today we are covering something that is incredibly contentious to some and super confusing to everyone, and that is what is better for burning fat, cardio or weight training. There are so many opinions on this, so we're just going to dive into the science and if you have listened before, you know that every single time I start a podcast episode, I start with a learning objective. I do this because after I was a personal trainer, I was a public school educator for upwards of 10 years and I know that it is research based and proven that whenever you Start learning about something new, to have the learning objective stated clearly prior to engaging in the content primes your brain to receive all the information that's about to come at you.

1:29 So today our learning objective is by the end of this episode, you'll understand which type of exercise, cardio or strength training burns more fat for women over the age of 35 and exactly why your workouts need to shift as your hormones change. To put it concisely, today we are going to cover which type of exercise cardio strength burns more fat for. Summary Actually, I know the reason this topic really gets people heated. I have so many runner friends that I admire deeply. I they are true athletes.

2:09 I try to run, I do run here and there, but I use cardio strategically. I also have many friends who are very opposed to cardio pretty much in any form. Everyone has their opinions. You know what they say, Everyone has their opinions. They have their own goals, their own ideas of what is ideal both athletically and aesthetically. But today we are going to dive into the research through the lens of a woman post age 35 whose goal is to drop fat and gain muscle. That is the route we are taking in identifying what cardio does to our body, how we can do cardio strategically, and how we can utilize weight training and cardio together to meet our aesthetic goals.

2:58 And in this podcast, again, that is body recomp. We are trying to gain muscle. We are trying to drop that. As a former teacher or a forever teacher, as I like to think, one of my friends reminded me of that recently. I truly believe in the mantra that education is power, and it brings me so much joy to empower women through education. I love to give you the why behind what I'm asking you to do. We're going to go through the science today. The science behind why this topic matters and the reason why cardio versus weight training is so imperative for us to examine is most women are taught that fat loss is about burning calories.

3:44 So when they want to lose belly fat, they jump straight to doing more cardio, more running, spin classes, hours on the elliptical, walking, walking, walking, running, running, running, going to never ending classes, starving themselves. More, more, more, more, more. And the assumption is that more sweat equals more fat loss. Everything I just said is the opposite of what you should be doing if you want to drop body fat, especially after age 35. And I know that that approach might have worked when you were 2025 thirty.

4:23 It doesn't work now. It does not work because your body is different, your hormones are different. It's responding to stimulus differently. So when we approach fat loss with our first instinct, which it is still my first instinct, when I kind of put on a few pounds, I kind of want to tone up. It is my first instinct to start grinding away on the treadmill. I do it now. I have to actively stop myself from overdoing it with cardio because it is wired in US. It is wired in us to just see a problem that we want to address.

4:59 The problem being we're gaining weight and to do whatever we need to do to get rid of it as quickly as possible. We'll get up at 5:00 AM, go on the treadmill for two hours, do it again in the afternoon until you can burn all of those unwanted calories, burn all that fat or just starve yourself. And that, that grin and bear it, that that mentality is such a woman thing, you know, like we will just do what needs to be done, even if it hurts, even if it's not pleasant, because we know we need to do it.

5:29 We push through, we grind, we torture ourselves and it's just we are everything to every but ourselves. And you need to do this for yourself. Listen, learn, embrace how your body is changing and give it what it needs to be, everything you want it to be. You deserve to have that body you work so hard to obtain, and you deserve to do it in a way that is not going to damage your metabolism, damage your joints, tear your body down to nothing, and then it'll just come back bigger because you have no metabolism to support the weight loss.

6:03 Your metabolism went in the tank, you literally ran it away. So do this for yourself. Listen, learn. Learn how to embrace how your body is changing and give it what it needs. The methods we're going to go over today are science backed. They are research based and they are all about giving your body the fuel and recovery that it needs to accomplish the aesthetic and athletic goals you want to see. Because you deserve that. Your body deserves to be taken care of and not crumpled outside at 5:00 AM running away to nothing.

6:43 Because as women, you carry a lot on your shoulders and some of you carry it loudly, some of you carry it quietly, some of you carry it with the support of others. And unfortunately, some of you carry it all alone. And I have such a desire. I have such a desire to help women understand how to feel confident and strong and how to take care of their bodies. To reflect that. I want every woman to feel comfortable taking up space, filling her plate, feeling at peace in their body, whatever that looks like, and to just make it happen by teaching you how to strengthen that vessel that you are in.

7:19 Because I have been there. I have been all different shapes and sizes. I have gone from 120 lbs to almost £200. I know the emotional turmoil, I know the heaviness that comes with being uncomfortable in your body and it's reflected in every action. Every thought, every interaction you have with anybody in your day comes down to if you are feeling at peace in yourself. So today we are going to go over how most women accidentally start sabotaging their fat loss while they think they're doing the right thing.

7:56 And I am one of those women. I am one of those women. I still do it to this day. But after age 35, as your estrogen shifts, your metabolism does slow down and your muscle building pathways change. And that old calorie burn model that breaks down? Let's start here with this all too common myth. And the myth is cardio burns fat. Well, this is a surface level truth that often misleads women. It misleads me, it misleads my clients. And up until the last year, have I really discovered why cardio isn't doing the same thing that it used to do to my body when it comes to trying to lose fat.

8:40 So let's start with the truth part of the myth that cardio is the best way to burn fat. So truth. Yes, cardio burns calories, but only during the cardio session itself. Now, once you stop moving, the metabolic impact drops off. Now, after we hit age 35, our estrogen levels tend to decline just a bit with which has a small negative impact on our muscle. OK. Our muscle is our metabolic engine. You need that muscle to continue fueling your metabolism. But as that metabolism slows down inevitably with age, we try to combat that with excessive cardio.

9:20 I've done it. I see all of my clients doing it, doing it. They run, run, run thinking that they are going to lose weight by doing that wrong. Excessive cardio. And I don't just mean running. I'm not coming at runners, love you runners. I am coming at everybody who is jumping around in those fitness classes five days a week, that's excessive cardio. Everybody who's on the stair climber for an hour a day, that's excessive cardio. On the treadmill every single day, multiple times, that's excessive cardio.

9:47 So these long, arduous, intense running sessions that leads to elevated cortisol. What is cortisol? Cortisol is a stress hormone and that's stress hormone promotes fat storage, especially in the abdominal area. OK, rise in cortisol equals rise in belly fat. High cortisol, high belly fat running lots of running equals high cortisol unless you are combating it with eating enough protein. So about one 1.2 grams of protein per pound of ideal body weight and heavy strength training. That's the only way you can integrate running into your measurement because if you're a runner, if you love running, by all means, keep running.

10:33 That's what life's about, is doing those things that you find enjoyable, right? The things that you have community in, friends in. I have clients who run, They're amazing, but you want to know what they do now? They lift heavy and they eat enough protein, and I watch their bodies continue to gain muscle and drop fat and look smaller and more toned than they've ever looked before. So excessive cardio is not going to help you keep or build muscle. The only thing that's going to help you keep and build muscle is eating enough protein and lifting heavy.

11:07 And you need that muscle to keep dropping fat. You need that muscle to build underneath the skin to give you that toned look that you're looking for. Without the muscle that you get from lifting and eating enough protein, you're going to look skinny fat. Even if you run away all your body fat, your skin's going to be sitting on top of your bones with no muscle underneath it. So you're still going to look skinny fat. You want the toned look to get that, you need muscle. Running's not going to get you that.

11:36 So All in all, remember when you are running without doing those two things I just mentioned, protein and lifting, you are burning calories at the cost of your metabolism. Yes, you're going to burn 200 calories during that run, but your metabolism is now going to crank down efficiency. It's not going to run like a Buick. We want it to just be taking in a ton of gas. Have it be this premium loaded car, run smooth, looks good, but instead you're running like a hybrid Kia of so I don't even know what you're doing, but you're you're going nowhere fast.

12:14 Let's cover the science. So the science shift what actually is happening inside your body after 35. Now this doesn't happen to everybody after age 35. I honestly haven't experienced much of this, but I have so many friends and family who have that it has totally rocked my world in terms of what women need to have that body they are working so hard for in the gym. So after age 35, your estrogen naturally it starts to decline a bit and that makes it harder to build and maintain. And with that estrogen decrease comes a cortisol sensitivity increase as well as your insulin's sensitivity.

12:56 That changes, and then your muscle protein synthesis becomes harder to trigger, and all that means is it's just harder to build muscle. Now, I know you cardio Queens are feeling the same way I did when I was learning that cardio isn't really doing me much good. But there's a way to strategically integrate cardio into your life where you can still have that chill time on the treadmill, the stair climber outside, running in your class, doing whatever you want to do because you enjoy it. And that is as long as you are pairing it with weightlifting.

13:28 And let's talk on the timing with that. So weightlifting needs to come before your cardio session if you're doing them on the same day. Weightlifting before cardio is so much more effective because after age 35, we need to polarize. Our training doctor, Stacey Sims always uses that word polarize. And when you think of polarize, think of loud, shocking, intense. We want to shock for neuromuscular system. We want strong, intense neuromuscular signaling in our lifting sessions, and we get the strongest signals when our body is fresh.

14:06 That's why sleep is so imperative, but that's also why we don't do cardio before we lift our heavy weights. Do your 5-10 minute warm up on the whatever you want, but we're talking about a full blown high intensity interval session lasting like 20 minutes or more or some zone 2, maybe around 45 minutes. We will not be doing that before weightlifting. We will be doing that after weightlifting because if you are fatigued from your cardio session, which you will be whether you feel it or not, that dampens the signals we're sending to our nervous system.

14:41 And remember, we want to polarize those signals that we are enforcing on our neuro system. We need sharp, clear commands enough to generate force and intensity while lifting to have that polarizing effect on our muscles. We want that intense effect on our muscles. We want to tear and RIP them. But if we're doing our cardio first, our lifting sessions, they're just, they're not going to be as potent. I want to go back to the objective we have for this episode. And that objective is By the end of this episode, you'll understand which type of exercise, cardio or strength training, which just means lifting weights, burns more fat for women over the age of 35 and why you need to shift your workouts as your hormones begin to change, which happens after age 35.

15:29 O. Here is the truth. Strength training builds muscle. Building muscle raises your resting metabolic rate. Muscle is metabolically active tissue muscle or lean mass that supports hormone health, insulin sensitivity, and continuous fat loss. And I can speak to this because back when I used to be a cardio queen and the times that I've shifted into cardio queen mode, I have to eat way less at all times just to stay lean and to look skinny fat. Now that I have a solid structure under my skin of muscle, I can eat almost twice as much as I used to eat, and I still stay small, smaller, a smaller pant size than I did when I was doing 10 times as much cardio.

16:15 That's nuts. But it's because of the muscle I have that is a metabolically active tissue that enables me to eat, to eat what my body needs. So the more muscle that you have, the more fat you burn around the clock, not just during your workouts. With cardio, you're just burning calories. During your workouts with muscle, you are burning calories around the clock. Now, don't fret if you are a cardio queen. There is a time, there is a place, and there is a strategy to integrate cardio into your regimen in a way that won't leave you with all the bad side effects that I was rambling on about in this episode.

16:52 Because cardio is. It's a support role. It's not the primary driver for fat loss. It's not. It is a tool we use to help our bodies lose fat along with muscle and protein intake, but it's not the primary cause of fat loss. OK, so here it is. Here is your clear research backed breakdown of how cardio needs to change for you if you're above the age of 35, especially if you're in perimenopause or post menopause. Because at this point we need intelligent, strategic cardio instead of those chronic long sessions, those chronic hours you spend on the treadmill or outside.

17:31 We don't want to do that anymore. We need to be strategic #1 high intensity interval training, HIIT and Sprint interval training, SIT. Those are the acronyms and I was getting them mixed up. I recently had to just dive into this and what is the difference here? And there is a difference. So hit high intensity interval training and SIT Sprint interval training. These are time efficient, so they're fast and they are hormone supportive and they are great for fat loss and muscle preservation. They're going to to enable you to keep the muscle that you're building when you're lifting weights and eating enough protein.

18:09 So HIT is short bursts anywhere from like 30 to 90 seconds at around 80 to 95% of your Max heart rate. And then it's a short recovery. Now sit is even shorter and even higher intensity at those peak intervals for only about 10 to 30 seconds. So for me, when I'm doing sit, I'm almost at 180. My heart rate is almost at 180 for that 10 to 30 seconds. And then I need to wait a full 2 to 4 minutes so that I can completely recover so that I'm back to baseline around like 1/21/10. And that is the that is what Doctor Sims refers to when she says polarized.

18:52 Because that big discrepancy between your Max all out intensity for 10 to 30 seconds compounded with that going back to baseline, that's giving your body huge shocks. Now you don't want to do that for like 1/2 hour, no. So for your HIT, your high intensity interval trainings, that is still intense, but just a bit less intense than sit. If you're new to this, maybe start with HIT and that's going to be 80 to 90% of your maximum heart rate. So the total duration of your HIT workout, 20 to 30 minutes, that's it.

19:28 And the working intervals, they're going to be about 30 to 90 seconds at 80 to 90% of your effort. So when I say my Max effort, I'm going at about 172, that's around 80 to 95, 90% of my Max heart rate. OK, so I'm at around 172 for 30 to 90 seconds and then my recovery is around 60 seconds. So the recovery ratio is 1 to one, one minute of really high intensity and one minute off or one to two, one minute of really high intensity and two minutes off. Now you're going to do this HIT workout for six to 10 rounds and then the frequency one to two times per week.

20:05 HIT is more moderate than sit. It's still intense, but it allows a. Bit more volume than sit still. It's best that you keep it short to avoid big hormone disruptions and then sit Sprint interval training, which is what I've been really into lately. I love it It's only 12 to 20 minutes. It's the high intensity 90 to 100% where I'm almost at 180 for my heart rate that's only 10 to 30 seconds. Anybody can do that recovery, 2 to 4 minutes. I'm hanging out, I'm looking at my phone, I'm chit chatting with my friend, 2 to 4 minutes, and then I'm back at it for 10 to 30 seconds.

20:41 And you only have to do that four to six times Max, 4 to 6 times Max. The whole workout takes, as I said, 12 to 20 minutes, and you want to do that one to two times per week. So the reason why these workouts are short, these are neurologically and hormonally demanding. They are polarizing. So more than 20 minutes of sit, there's no increased benefit to that. It's just increased stress, which is the opposite of what we want to do. Longer does not equal better at this point in our life. It's just not it.

21:14 More is not more. When hormones are fluctuating. The goal is stimulus, not stressed. You should feel energized afterward and not completely wrecked the way you are when you drop into an Orangetheory class or when you're in some crazy fitness class where you're in kind of like a 160 or like a zone 3 heart rate where you're you're really busting the whole time and when you're done, you're cashed. It was 45 minutes of absolute torture. You're done. That's not how you're going to feel after your high intensity intervals.

21:42 You're going to be like, that was awesome on to the next part of my day. Now, if you are a running girly or a biking girly or just somebody who likes that chronic long duration steady state cardio, OK, that's OK. It's not ideal because it elevates your cortisol for too long, which promotes fat storage and then it breaks down your muscle, it decreases your metabolism. It really does, even though it doesn't feel like it because you're working. But if it's something that is enabling you to have a sense of community and something you really enjoy doing, have that, just have it like once a week, twice a week Max.

22:18 I have 3-4 clients that are runners. They're amazing. They have been body recomping for the whole year. They now have visible stomach muscles. They do 1 temple run per week and then one just like 1 long run, you know, at their pace. So, so unless you really, really enjoy long distance running and it helps with your mental health and just don't even worry about doing it, you can still do your zone 2. So zone 2 cardio. I'll have a whole episode of that. I do that a couple times a week. It's great.

22:49 It's when I do a lot of work. Just listen to podcasts, have my moment and then you're neat, NEAT. Your non exercise activity thermogenesis. That is where the most of the majority of your calories are being burned during the day. It's when you're walking around, you're doing light chores, you're doing the dishes, you're vacuuming, you're getting to the park, you're getting through the parking lot, your whatever, just your natural movement. And if you just keep kind of moving throughout the day, that does a world of difference in terms of your calorie burn on a daily basis.

23:24 Here's a tip for you. If you, you have an Apple Watch or a phone, which you do set a timer for every hour on the hour. And when that timer goes off, you know you need to get up and move for 5 minutes, do some air squats, walk around the house, go put your laundry away, walk out to the mailbox. Sometimes if, if I'm sitting for a long period of time working on this podcast or what have you, I have my timer on my watch. It will buzz and I will stand up. I'll go downstairs, I'll take the garbage out.

23:54 There's always, it's a bag of garbage. I know it needs to go out. That's what I do. I get up and I move. I like to have a strong meat because I don't like to do a lot of cardio. OK, let's wrap this up. So our hierarchy for women and what they're going to do for cardio, so it's strategically working with you to drop fat while keeping your muscle is Sprint intervals, sit or hit. Do those one to two times a week. OK #2 walking or low intensity movement. That's like a zone two walk. Or maybe that's your long run that you like to do.

24:29 Done. Do that one time a week, 2 * a week if you'd like. Now, if you're a chronic jogger, stop doing that. You can't do that anymore. You can only do it once or twice a week. That's how you're going to keep your metabolism up. That's how you're going to keep your lean muscle. Be a runner, do your thing, have your community, just don't do it more than twice a week. And if you are that runner, I love, honor, respect you, but make sure you are lifting. Make sure you are eating enough protein. That's the only way that you can keep the fat off and build the muscle at the same time as being a runner.

25:01 That loss after 35 is not about working harder or doing more cardio. It is all about working smarter with your hormones, with your muscle, with your metabolism. And I have to tell myself that every day. Actually, I have people who tell me that a lot. I had one tell me that at the gym today. You need to work with your body and not against it. And that's exactly why I do what I do because I love educating women and myself at the same time on how to fuel, how to train and how to treat our body in a way that is honoring them where they are now because they are different now.

25:38 And our strategies have to reflect that. So thank you for tuning in. You will hear from me in a couple weeks.