Episode 436: Tara LaFerrara: Why Strength Training Beats Cardio for Women's Long-Term Health

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Okay, what's your opinion? And I know it already, you don't even have to tell me, but I'm going to ask you anyway. Cardio versus strength training for women.
Strength training is always queen in my book. I'm not saying don't do cardio.
I just recorded a podcast recently on this. Do cardio if it feels good, if you like it, if you enjoy it, awesome.
Strength training is so much more valuable for women as we age, and I would highly recommend doing that over cardio. However, is cardio great for your heart health and a multitude of other reasons? Absolutely.
But you can get that without sitting on the Stairmaster for 30 minutes or going out for a run when you don't like it. But the other thing about, well, the thing with me with cardio is I feel better after I do cardio because you sweat more.
Also for my cognitive, for your mental health, for your brain to like, for my brain to like really kind of activate, I need to do cardio. The downside of doing cardio is that I get so hungry and I end up eating triple the calories that I would otherwise not have had because of the amount of calories burned, right? So there's like this like weird balance that you have to do, right? Like you have to constantly balance out.
Like if I do really intense cardio, not just me, when people do really intense cardio, they tend to eat a lot more. So how do you, how do you kind of rectify this problem, right? Like don't do cardio so that you won't eat as much because that's what happens too.
If I don't do my cardio, I definitely won't eat as much. I won't be as hungry.
Yeah. I think this is twofold.
The first thing is with cardio, are you doing it because you truly enjoy it or are you doing it because you're more chasing the sweat? Chasing the sweat. Okay.
Yeah. And like I said, it's also better.
It's better for my brain. Because when I do strength training without doing cardio, I don't sweat very much, like maybe a little bit.
And it doesn't like, my brain doesn't like get activated. Like I'm not as like sharp afterwards.
Like I'll be better than if I didn't do anything. Right.
But to me, the combo of doing cardio plus strength training in the same workout is like the king. If I had, when I have to choose one or the other, even though I know intellectually strength training is better for me in terms of my body composition, if I only have time for one, I'll always go with cardio because I know that I'll make better choices during the day because of it.
A lot of times, I'll eat healthier food because my brain is activated better. My mood is so much better.
My energy levels are so much better. Yes, I'll eat 20 times more, but it'll be healthy food.
But it's more for all the mental health issues with it. Have you ever tried, you don't have to do this, but switching out that high intensity cardio with like a long walk outside? Yes, I do that all the time too.
So I, yes, but like I don't do the high intensity cardio like I used to because I also think it like ruins your adrenals and my cortisol level goes sky high.

So again, it's like everybody's different, but for, and then I end up eating way more.

So for me, moderate cardio, like moderate pace, I should say, works the best.

Yeah.

So again, I'm not telling you not to do cardio.

I just want you to look at it in a way that like, what is better for your longevity?

And it's always going to be strength training.

If we're not not to do cardio. I just want you to look at it in a way that like, what is better for your longevity? And it's always going to be strength training.
If we think about eating or just calories alone, the more muscle you have, the more you are burning calories at rest. So I am always going to be burning a shit ton more calories at rest because I have so much muscle.
And if you're looking at it from that perspective, I'm like, oh, I can actually eat more because my BMR is higher because I have more muscle mass. So if you want to just even like shift that perspective.
It's so hard though, right? Like we, I think a lot of us know, a lot of women know this already, right? Like people have been talking about the muscle is like the, it's how you stay healthy for as long as possible. Strike training is the king.
We all know it intellectually. How do you and how do we switch our brains to actually basically execute on that and kind of like steer away from the cardio? When was the last time you had to make a big change? Today.
What did you do? I switched from one type of recording system to another for my podcast. I mean, and I hated it.
And it's like very uncomfortable. It's annoying.
It's uncomfortable. It makes you angry.
You hate it. It sucks.
But guess what? In a month or two or three or four, you're going to feel so much better that you switched to something else. I hope so.
And that's the thing I think that's so hard when you're switching that mindset or change. Mindset is something that's ingrained in us.
There is a story that was told to us. Someone said something.
Society tells us this thing for decades of our life. And you can't expect to just make that switch overnight.
So if you are someone that's like, gosh, yeah, I know it. I know it.
I have to change it. But how am I going to change that? That is the basic difference of growth versus fixed mindset.
I know it. I think I can change it, but I can't change it.
So if you don't have that growth mindset in mind in three three months down the road, you're still going to feel crummy about the situation. But if you know you can stick in the crumminess or like, God, this is hard.
It's not working. I'm not seeing the sweat.
Nothing's changing for three months and then step out of it and be like, oh, I have more energy. I feel better about my body.
I can work out less because I'm strength training. That is going to be how you actually make that shift.
It's not going to happen overnight. Were you a cardio queen before? Oh, yeah.
I used to do HIIT training six to seven days a week all the time, all through my 20s, every day. And then what happened? Why did you make the...
Did you just shift it because you knew better or that you learned more? You got more educated? What was the reason? Yeah. Great question.
Now I work out four times a week, strength training. I maybe do a cardio session here and there, but it's more just to be around people and in a class.
But I got into it because I had more education behind it. I saw my strength increase and I saw how much HIIT was hindering every other part of my life, HIIT and cardio training.
So I noticed my sleep was better when I didn't do it as much. I noticed my skin was clearing up.
I had more energy. I wasn't going for coffee at 3 p.m.
every day. It was like a constant even keel.
My memory was better, and I didn't have to work nearly as hard. So I had this like seven-day-a-week of cardio and then slowly start to peel back.
But it was really like COVID 2020 time where I was like, why did I do that for so long? I know. People say that to me all the time.
And I've seen it. I've seen results where the cardio body versus the weight training body, so different.
Like the cardio body is like kind of like flabby and like skinny soft. And the person who just does weights and kind of stays away from cardio, honestly, is like really like toned and fit looking and athletic looking.
Just in terms of just like, if we're just talking vanity, it just is so much better. Yeah.
I mean, the aesthetics is huge, obviously. And that's a lot of reason why people like get into fitness, right? They want to look better.
But for me personally, like I never got into strength training to change my body. It was just solely about feeling better and not having to work as hard in the gym.
Yeah. That's a great reason, by the way.
Yeah. Do you take supplements? Do you believe in supplements? Which ones do you, if you do, which ones are you? Yeah.
I really only take protein and creatine. I think that there's a lot of supplements on the market that are mostly BS and they just want your money and it's a billion dollar industry and they're going to sell you in market.
Yeah. Yeah.
And it's not going to go away anytime soon. So I always take supplements that, you know, feel best for me.
I'm going to try things, but I just feel like most of the things that we can get in our food, we can stay away from with supplements. So creatine is an interesting one, right? Because creatine, everyone knows creatine as like kind of like a male supplement, but it's the most researched supplement on the planet.
And the research I've seen is incredible for your cognitive benefits that you're getting with creatine. But women are still very frightened of taking it.
And the truth is, it kind of could bloat you if you take too much because that's one of the complaints. Do you not find that happens with you? Not me personally.
And I will say if somebody is feeling that way, they can go back to a prescribed is three to five grams daily. I personally have always taken five just because it has sat well for me.
Also, it depends on the label, depends on where you're getting the creatine from. You want like the purest form of monohydrate.
Some of them have some sort of sugars or other natural flavorings to make it taste better. But if you know you're someone that, you know, gets some bloating with it, I would just go for like the most basic kind and you'll be fine.
But I would say, yeah, start lower. Start at three grams instead of five grams daily.
And what have you seen the benefits of creatine? Have you taken creatine? The recovery is night and day difference. I'm barely sore anymore at all.
I do feel like it's helped the memory and cognition and then sleep. I mean,

sleep's been a huge thing for me recently over the past couple of years to just get that locked down. And there's been a couple other things that I've done that have helped that, but I do feel

like creatine is a big piece of that as well. Really? How about magnesium for sleep?

I personally don't need it. I'm thankful enough where I sleep well without it, but I do feel like that could be a great supplement to try if you are someone that might need a little sleep aid.
So in terms of protein, are you a protein shake person or are you more of an animal protein? What's your take on that? Yeah. So I do take a protein powder once a day typically, maybe sometimes twice a day if I need extra.
But I usually put

it first thing in the morning in a smoothie, overnight oats or yogurt, just so I know I'm

getting an extra 25 or 30 grams there. I do eat meat though.
So I get a lot of my protein source