Fitness goals vary – and they should! – and at Freestyle, we offer three types of classes to mix it up. Some of classes are back to back and some are offered at the same time. So how do you choose between resistance training in Total Body and sixty minutes of sweet, sweet burn in cardio kickboxing? It all comes down to your personal goals (and sometimes your mood).

If your goal is to lose weight, period, cardio is your best friend. Based on time alone, you’ll burn more calories sweating it out in a sixty-minute kickboxing class than you will strength training. Cardio is an amazing stress release too. It’s not only great for your heart and lungs, it’s one of the best ways to clear your head and release some endorphins. If you’re an emotional eater, regular cardio training, (ahem, kickboxing three or four days a week) is a brilliant way to keep that bad habit in check.

But here’s the truth. Cardio alone doesn’t do much for your muscles. A university study tracking weight loss revealed that a group of dieters all managed to drop around 20 pounds. One group did it with cardio training and the other with strength training. In the cardio group, six of those lost pounds included muscle. On the lifting side, almost all of that dropped weight came from fat.

The benefit of that is this – for every three pounds of muscle you carry, you’ll burn roughly 120 additional calories during the day, without doing anything at all. Awesome, right? So let’s talk about resistance training. Our Total Body classes aren’t traditional strength training workouts – you’re not pumping iron at the gym here. Resistance training is the focus, and you’ll use everything from bands to balls to bags to your own body weight, but there’s a serious cardio element in these classes too.

Here’s your best bet. If you’re strapped for time, get in and out with a HIIT (high intensity interval training) workout in our MMA-style class Fighter Physique. It’s designed to help you burn fat, build muscle, increase endurance and get it all done in thirty-minute  workouts. If you can hit back-to-back classes, double up with Fighters and cardio kickboxing (offered in the early morning and in the evenings a few days a week). That’s an ideal scenario. Weight training before cardio has been shown to boost fat loss by burning off glycogen stores for energy, which means you’ll be burning more fat by the time you get to kickboxing.

If you have a choice between kickboxing and resistance training, keep in mind that our Total Body classes will make you sweat. And remember that variety is the spice of life. Keep your bands and gloves handy so you can switch it up from week to week. You’ll challenge your body and your mind, and you’ll be keeping yourself strong and healthy while you’re doing it.

Read more about the benefits of strength training for weight loss and remember, first week of all our fitness classes is always free. If you’re already a member and you want to give a new class a go, stop by the front desk and we’ll get you set up with a free trial.