Cardio vs. Weight Training

april21401

So I'm about 5 weeks into this. I have a LOT to lose and I've barely started to scratch the surface (15 lbs so far). Doc says cardio only until I hit my goal weight -- and then work weight training in after I've hit my goal weight. Has anyone else been told this? Or are you/have you done both throughout the entire process? Thanks.

seif0068

So I'm about 5 weeks into this. I have a LOT to lose and I've barely started to scratch the surface (15 lbs so far). Doc says cardio only until I hit my goal weight -- and then work weight training in after I've hit my goal weight. Has anyone else been told this? Or are you/have you done both throughout the entire process? Thanks.

Unless there are underlying medical factors not mentioned here, your doctor is wrong. Incorporating strength now will help you preserve muscle mass while you are doing cardio, and will actually help you burn calories/fat more quickly.

P.S. - Fifteen pounds is great!

Sashoi

We have about the same goal n I'm doing a little of both right now. You don't want to be a mess of loose skin when you get to your goal so I think it's good if u do a balance of the two.

deksgrl

You don't want to wait until you are at goal weight.

Edit: spelling

leebesstoad

Did your doctor give you a medical reason for this otherwise horrible advice? Because strength training will certainly minimize muscle loss which will support weight loss. Because unles their is a valid medical reason, this is absolutely the worst idea and he has no idea what in the world he is talking about.

april21401

Thanks everyone for the responses! No, I don't have any medical reason not to weight train. I originally just assumed it was because the scale can go up when you weight train and I'm trying to lose... I wanted to ask because I hear so many people say that they swear by weight training...

leebesstoad

Thanks April -- well it's horrid advice. We're not talking about you squatting hundreds of pounds, bench pressing a Cadillac. But moderate weight training which will help mainintain lean muscle mass, which will burn more calories which will promote weight loss. Absent any medical issues (I had to be careful about what I did for lower body exercises during rehab for a knee replacement) there is simply no valid reason not to include some weight training to at least minimize loss of lean muscle mass which will occur during weight loss.

init2fitit

The scale will go up when you weight train, mostly from water being stored in your muscles.
But it will drop eventually.

ironanimal

Thanks everyone for the responses! No, I don't have any medical reason not to weight train. I originally just assumed it was because the scale can go up when you weight train and I'm trying to lose... I wanted to ask because I hear so many people say that they swear by weight training...

Any scale increase from weight training will be water retention to help facilitate repair, so it's nothing to worry about - falling bodyfat and a shrinking waistline are better indicators.

april21401

Okay, thanks -- sounds like I need to incoporate this into my routine. Thanks all!

harlanJEN

STRENGTH TRAINING.

Seriously.

3 x week strength training
2 x week HIIT cardio

You will be sooooooooo glad you did !

That is how I rolled. I primarily lift and walk now ... emphasis on strength training for specific body comp goals at this point in time.

leebesstoad

And the goal isn't weight loss. It's fat loss. This week is the Mr. Olympia contest. Anybody want to go to Las Vegas and tell those guys that they need to lose weight and stop lifting and only do cardio until they drop down to some doctor's pre-determined ideal weight for them?

If your weight did go up, but it was because of muscle gain, would that be such a bad thing? Because that muscle would be burning more fat. Such backwards thinking on that doctor's part.

kinmad4it

If I was in your position I'd go see the Doctor again and ask why he told you to only do cardio. There could be a reason he's not told you about. Just to be on the safe side, after all, you'd like to think that after gaining a medical degree, he'd know wtf he was talking about.

cdahl383

Outside of any medical reason not given here, I would say most definitely do some weight training along with your cardio. You can add a little muscle, tighten things up on your body, and when you shed the remaining fat you'll have some muscles to display instead of just looking thin. Like the others have said, dont try benching 400 lbs or doing 50 pushups right off the bat, start off light and gradually increase. I would recommend a log so that you can map your progress and increase your weight/reps as time progresses. It will be motivating to see that you started out barely being able to do 30 lb dumbbell presses and you're now up to 60 lbs or something like that.

Cardio is definitely the most important thing for losing fat, but weight training will help retain your muscles in the process.

Losing 15 lbs already is awesome too! Good job!

bcattoes

Did you discuss this advice with your doctor? Did s/he give a reason for the advice? Normally there should be no reason NOT to do strength training, so I wonder if the advice was more about not skipping cardio in favor of strength. But if you haven't already I would discuss the advice with your doctor. There could be a reason of which you are not aware for the advice.

leebesstoad

If I was in your position I'd go see the Doctor again and ask why he told you to only do cardio. There could be a reason he's not told you about. Just to be on the safe side, after all, you'd like to think that after gaining a medical degree, he'd know wtf he was talking about.

I don't disagree with the advice. Or the thoughts. Unfortunately, it isn't always the case. With what most doctors know about exercise and nutrition, you are more likely to get solid advice from them about your fantasy football team than you are about exercise and nutrition. Sad but true.

cdahl383

If I was in your position I'd go see the Doctor again and ask why he told you to only do cardio. There could be a reason he's not told you about. Just to be on the safe side, after all, you'd like to think that after gaining a medical degree, he'd know wtf he was talking about.

^ I agree. Doctors generally aren't stupid people, so you sort of wonder what the reason was for that statement. Maybe you can ask him why you can't do some light weight training along with the cardio.

kinmad4it

Edited because of double post

NeverCatchYourBreath

Thanks everyone for the responses! No, I don't have any medical reason not to weight train. I originally just assumed it was because the scale can go up when you weight train and I'm trying to lose... I wanted to ask because I hear so many people say that they swear by weight training...

When weight training you are right that the scale may vary a lot more but let's be honest, the scale will vary no matter what you do. It will go up and down.

So what you need to do is take measurements of your neck, bust, waist, hips and anything else you want to take measurements of. Get someone to take your body fat percentage if you feel comfortable or there are some body fat calculators (like the army body fat calculator) you can use with your measurements to get a rough estimate of body fat percentage. I would suggest only getting on the scale once a week and do not get upset when it goes up as there are all SORTS of reasons for it going up other than an actual gain of FAT.

So.... pick a good balance of weight training and cardio and prepare for great results! Be patient as everything takes time and commit to a healthier you! You got this!

bcattoes

If I was in your position I'd go see the Doctor again and ask why he told you to only do cardio. There could be a reason he's not told you about. Just to be on the safe side, after all, you'd like to think that after gaining a medical degree, he'd know wtf he was talking about.

I don't disagree with the advice. Or the thoughts. Unfortunately, it isn't always the case. With what most doctors know about exercise and nutrition, you are more likely to get solid advice from them about your fantasy football team than you are about exercise and nutrition. Sad but true.

Source of this information? What percentage is "most"?

abickford82

I've lost 109lbs. to date, and lost most of it within 2 years. I'm 4.5 years into my weight loss journey now. I wish I had started sooner. I gained a little back and I actually look way better now that I lift 5-6 days a week and cardio 1-2x a week vs when I never lifted, and did cardio 6 days a week.

I highly recommend lifting heavy, too. You'll see some amazing changes in your body!

Sarah0866

Thanks everyone for the responses! No, I don't have any medical reason not to weight train. I originally just assumed it was because the scale can go up when you weight train and I'm trying to lose... I wanted to ask because I hear so many people say that they swear by weight training...

When weight training you are right that the scale may vary a lot more but let's be honest, the scale will vary no matter what you do. It will go up and down.

So what you need to do is take measurements of your neck, bust, waist, hips and anything else you want to take measurements of. Get someone to take your body fat percentage if you feel comfortable or there are some body fat calculators (like the army body fat calculator) you can use with your measurements to get a rough estimate of body fat percentage. I would suggest only getting on the scale once a week and do not get upset when it goes up as there are all SORTS of reasons for it going up other than an actual gain of FAT.

So.... pick a good balance of weight training and cardio and prepare for great results! Be patient as everything takes time and commit to a healthier you! You got this!

Couldn't agree more! Balance is key, and I will never advocate a cardio only approach, namely because strength training has done wonders for me, a former cardio junkie with zero muscle tone.

Salt_Sand_Sun

I think you may need a second opinion. Incorporating stength training now will be immensely beneficial to you!! Cardio will bring bigger immediate burns while weight traininig will help with a longer after burn. Meaning the more lean muscle you have the more calories you burn after your workout is complete.

Cardio is great and will help you get the weight down. But do not toss weight training aside. Try 2x a week and start building that muscle. I'm told and have read here that weight training sooner can help with loose skin as well.

And also - be proud!! 15lbs is awesome - congrats!!

Stage14

First, I don't think there are, to my knowledge, any nutrition or sports med/kinesiology classes required for a GP medical degree. Yes, we'd all like to think that our doctors are smarter than the average bear, but they aren't any more likely to be experts on nutrition and exercise any more than your auto mechanic is likely to be an expert electrician.

Just a random guess, but I'm thinking the doctor probably said that because cardio helps drop weight faster, and if he's wanting OP to drop weight as quickly as possible, then that is more likely to happen with straight cardio than half cardio and half strength training. Now, that being said, I would definitely ask about the reasoning behind this advice, and if it doesn't include a medical issue, I would go ahead and start strength training now.

april21401

Thanks everyone! These have been really helpful to read through! One thing I haven't done is measure myself to track progress that way. I've been solely relying on the scale... I will definitely read up on the best ways to incorporate weight training and I'll start measuring the inches too. Thanks again!

exmsde

Doctors often operate from their experiences dealing with hundreds to thousands of patients. Your doctor may have observed:

- More injuries amongst his overweight/obese patients when they do weight training
- More patients giving up on a fitness routine over a dislike of weight training than over cardio
- More rapid improvement in key cardiac measures such as blood pressure and cholesterol from his patients who focus on cardio over those who focus on weight training
- Difficulty getting patients to do both. Generally on the days you do weight training you tend to do little to light cardio (or if you do heavy cardio then it detracts from the quality of weight training).

Thus in your doctors eyes the most successful course of action would be to tell patients to concentrate on cardio first and add weight training later. He may have oversimplified the message in terms of saying to wait until you reach goal before adding weight training, but that could easily be clarified in a discussion.

jlapey

With strength training you may SEE your goal SIZE before reaching your goal WEIGHT.

leebesstoad

If I was in your position I'd go see the Doctor again and ask why he told you to only do cardio. There could be a reason he's not told you about. Just to be on the safe side, after all, you'd like to think that after gaining a medical degree, he'd know wtf he was talking about.

I don't disagree with the advice. Or the thoughts. Unfortunately, it isn't always the case. With what most doctors know about exercise and nutrition, you are more likely to get solid advice from them about your fantasy football team than you are about exercise and nutrition. Sad but true.

Source of this information? What percentage is "most"?

Knowing how much is (or to be specific, isn't) taught in medical school and how much is (or isn't) covered in medical specialty board tests. Knowing that any doctor worth their salt will refer a patient for diet question to a registered dietician. Even the speciality that probably needs diet knowledge the most, endocrinology, relies heavily on RDs for their expertise on diet and nutrition. There is too much information that is constantly evolving to worry about in the rest of the field of medicine. Nutrition, diet and exercise are miniscule parts at best.

Lemongrab1

You can't use any one person as the final say, even your doctor. A lot of doctors suck. It's the scary truth.
In this particular case, your doctor belongs to that sucky statistic.
You need to do strength training to maintain muscle mass seeing as losing weight causes you to also lose muscle.

ndj1979

First, get a new Dr...

Second - I would recommend a combination of weight training and cardio ...Familiarize yourself with compound lifts - squats, deadlifts, pull ups/chin ups, over head press, bench press etc, and then incorporate these into a total body workout where you hit weights three days a week and do cardio two to three days a week with at least one full rest day a week.

once you hit your goal weight you can look at further backing off cardio and maybe going to more advanced weight routine of like an upper/lower split or something...

NYCNika

I had used cardio to drop the first 25lb. On the last 9 it has been a combo of cardio and strength training with a personal trainer.

1) Being in great cardio shape has helped me with training in general.

2) The thing is -- you really see the most dramatic results from weight training AFTER you drop the weight. (by results I mean ABS and toning on your body that really looks cool). It was not visible under fat. And when you pay that kind of money you really want to see this kind of effect.

3). Weight training helped me lose about 2 sizes while my weight kept stable. (there is not much weight I can lose anymore, so this was a great boost to keep getting smaller while remaining at stable weight).