Cardio -- resistance vs speed

Is it better to do cardio with a high resistance (resulting in slower movement but more muscle involvement) or low resistance but faster movement?

Is it better for what?

Weight loss

Original Post by salas0148:

Weight loss

What difference would it make for weight loss?  You have to look at calories in vs. calories out.

I actually just started experimenting with this 2 days ago so I have no results yet.  I'm doing it more to try and increase strength in my legs as well as get my cardio in.  I started using the elliptical at my school's gym on a high incline with a very high resistance.  I can only go about 100 rpm but my heart rate stays between 160-170 bpm the whole time.  I used to do half of the resistance at 150rpm with the same heart rate.  The ONLY problem I've noticed so far is that the higher resistance wears you out much quicker so you can't work out as long unless you lower the resistance for a few minutes.  I can usually only do it for 25-30 minutes as opposed to 45-60 minutes.  In terms of weight loss, I'm not too sure which one burns more calories if you do it based on those different times.

So I decided to lessen the resistance on the elliptical during my workouts and go back to my old habits.  I found that my legs would be so sore the day after that it was affecting my workouts for the next few days, and I could go for even less time.  However, I do still use the elliptical (it's a precor) on an incline of 5, resistance of 9, and go for 45 minutes.  I find that every 2 weeks or so I am able to increase the resistance by one more.  So I know that I am still building muscle (I do leg-training with weights once a week) but am able to go for much longer durations of time, still maintaining a high heart rate.

In principle, increasing the incline starts moving toward resistance workout and slowly away from pure cardio.  So in response to the OP, there really is no "better" in a workout if the goal is something so generic as "losing weight."

Both weight-training and cardio will eventually lead to weight loss if you do either (or both) in combination with a good, balanced and calculated diet (as referenced by trhawley).

Running two miles then scarfing on a couple of bacon double-cheeseburgers and an extra-large Diet Coke isn't the way to go :)