Light Weights Daily?

LAWoman72

I am really frustrated with my weight loss efforts - see my diary I'd you want to see what I'm doing.

I am doing up to 8 lbs. (each hand) 3X/week, 30-45 minute workouts. That probably sounds like nothing but as a beginner I definitely get to exhaustion of the muscle this way. So *for me* it is strength training.

Anyway, I am skipping days because I heard you are supposed to have a rest day to repair the muscle. But I wish I could go more, like maybe 5X/week.

Anybody do this? I am trying to lose fat/mass and gain muscle/shape.

Lean59man

Exercise for health.

Count calories to lose weight.

musicfan68

You need the day of rest for your muscles to repair, so 3x a week is fine. So what you are doing is fine. But if you want to get stronger, you will need to increase your weights. I increase weights every week.

Also, lifting weights doesn't burn that many calories, so really, it won't help with weight loss. It will help in overall fitness and the way you look though. You need to watch your calories.

LAWoman72

Thanks.

I understand the deficit principle...have lost 50 lbs. I am now doing Eat More 2 Weigh Less. Unfortunately the group really is not active.

And no, exercise for health isn't the full story. Exercise can indeed change the way a person looks. I don't want to be dismissive but the question was specific to rest between working out...I suppose I shouldn't have mentioned weight loss as it is a very long story.

Thanks again.

LAWoman72

Ugh, that all sounded snotty. I should just say...thank you for the replies.

DancingMoosie

I wouldn't do the same muscle groups everyday. If you are rotating exercises, 5x per week may be ok. See how your body feels.

DopeItUp

You didn't actually mention what you were doing. You said 30-45 minutes with hand weights so I assume you're doing some sort of circuit training/cardio with weights? In that case it doesn't really matter how often you do it, it's not really going to stress your body to any major degree so if you feel fine doing it more often then go for it. Listen to your body.

If you want to get into real strength training then that's another whole story. Most people in fact only train 3-4x a week for a good reason.

SonyaCele

If you want to use weight lifting to shape your body, the best way is to just follow an appropriate weight lifting program geared towards your goals, it will have the appropriate rest days built in.

Sambo_fitness

Have a balance between weights and cardio! A great suggestion I have learned is 2 days cardio, 2 days weights (upper and lower body), and 2 days recovery (low impact, yoga, pilates, stretching etc.)

Also - with your lifting workouts, push yourself! Go higher in the weights! If you can only do 5 reps for instance of 15 pounds, that is still okay! Put those down and go lighter, do more reps, etc. Your body will get used to doing the same moves after a certain point, which is why we train them by adding weight or changing the moves.

LAWoman72

DopeItUp wrote: »

You didn't actually mention what you were doing. You said 30-45 minutes with hand weights so I assume you're doing some sort of circuit training/cardio with weights? In that case it doesn't really matter how often you do it, it's not really going to stress your body to any major degree so if you feel fine doing it more often then go for it. Listen to your body.

If you want to get into real strength training then that's another whole story. Most people in fact only train 3-4x a week for a good reason.

Oh, fantastic. Yes, circuit training with squats, curls and the like.

LAWoman72

sammyeuph wrote: »

Have a balance between weights and cardio! A great suggestion I have learned is 2 days cardio, 2 days weights (upper and lower body), and 2 days recovery (low impact, yoga, pilates, stretching etc.)

Also - with your lifting workouts, push yourself! Go higher in the weights! If you can only do 5 reps for instance of 15 pounds, that is still okay! Put those down and go lighter, do more reps, etc. Your body will get used to doing the same moves after a certain point, which is why we train them by adding weight or changing the moves.

Thank you so much. Yes, believe it or not - this is so embarrassing to admit, I started with just five pounds per hand and as soon as that got easier I went up to 8. 8 are my heaviest so I am going to need to get heavier ones. I also have bands coming in for Christmas, supposedly can go up to 40 pounds resistance or something like that? If so then I can graduate upward with those too.