You’ve decided that you are going to participate in a pageant.  However, you feel you need to “tighten” up your body before the big pageant competition.   You may be asking yourself, “Should you do cardio?”, “Should you lift?”, Or is it both? These are questions that I am asked on a daily basis from individuals looking to lose weight and keep it off as well as several woman who already are lean, but want to get leaner.

Benefits of Cardio in Pageant Training

Most individual have a hard time getting into a gym let alone making the time to lift, stretch, do cardio, etc.  That being said are limited with time what should you do when you do make it in?  If your goal is immediate weight loss cardio is your best bet.  You will burn more calories in a cardio session then you will during a resistance training workout.  A 155 lb individual can burn over 1100 calories running in an hour while vigorous weightlifting for an hour will burn 422 calories.  Comparing the numbers one can easily see that if you need to drop weight soon cardio along with healthy eating is the way to go.

Now if we are talking about a lifestyle change and what is best to keep weight off the winner is weight lifting with aerobic activity incorporated throughout the workout.  Cardio is great for the cardiovascular system and burning calories while doing the particular activity.  However the metabolism will not stay elevated for days to come once you are done.  Lifting however builds lean mass and the more lean muscle you have you the more calories you burn.

Fat Burning Workout Tips

1 lb of fat burns approximately 8 calories a day.  A pound of muscle burns 20-100 calories a day.  By placing greater stress on the body then it is accustomed to by adding resistance training the body must adapt and build more lean muscle.  So if you want the weight to come off and stay off and you can only lift or do cardio, I recommend you to lift weights and throughout the workout incorporate cardio as active recovery to help keep the heart rate elevated.   This can be done by doing jumping jacks, jump rope, getting on a piece of cardio equipment, etc…

Pageant Fat Burning Workout

I recommend weight training with cardio throughout the workout (this helps keep the heart rate elevated and weights build lean muscle that burn more calories).  The ideal situation is to lift for ½ hour to 45 minutes and then do ½ hour to 45 minutes of cardio along with a sound nutrition plan.  Even better would be to do cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach then lift later in the day.  The most important thing one can do is, something!  At least move and be active.  Watch what you eat and find something you enjoy doing.  If you don’t enjoy it, you will not stick to it.

I do recommend you consult with your physician before starting any type of exercise program.  If you are new to exercise we suggest you invest in a certified personal trainer for at least a couple sessions to assure you are on the right program for your goals and you are familiar with the movements you will need to perform.

This is a guest article written by Scott of Scott’s Training Systems. Scott has an online weight training program for girls who are located out of state. Contact Scott for a consultation: scott@scottstrainingsystems.com or via phone (480) 820-0835. Let him know that you read this article and the consultation is FREE!