The reason that strength training is so good for building lean muscles is that you can put that stress on particular muscles and slowly increase the load over a period of time – without other factors interfering. Running, by comparison, is a lot harder to chart; you can easily increase the weight in a deadlift by going up to the next size dumbbell but unless you’ve got a treadmill, it can be hard to know how and when you’re increasing the intensity of a run.

Peters explains: “Strength training is a far better strategy for increasing your muscle mass as it provides the necessary stimulus for your body to change. Cardiovascular training generally won’t provide the stimulus for building muscle mass. Low-intensity cardio sessions can be used to help increase your body’s ability to recover from hard bouts of training, which in turn, can be used to aid your strength training.” He goes on to say that strength training also helps to maintain current levels of muscle mass if body fat reduction is your goal.

However, Crawley stresses that cardio plays a really crucial role in building fitness and changing body composition. “I wouldn’t say (strength training) is better than cardio – I believe that we should have both in our exercise programmes. Strength training will change your shape, yes, but having a good level of cardio fitness is also key to maintaining that balance we are all looking for. They are different but both equally as important.”

How to change your body composition by building lean muscle mass