Need advice from weightlifters!!

stv1520

I've been doing a fat-burning, total body, circuit training routine for about 6 weeks now. Along with nutrition, I'm down about 16 lbs. My question is this---I would like to start a strength training routine. Obviously it will be much different from what I'm doing now. I'm wondering though if I'll be burning a good amount of fat with a strength training routine?

jamie1888

Strength training will accelerate your fat loss! The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism = the more calories you burn, even at rest.

binary_jester

In addition, the fat you lose will make your muscles look bigger.

stv1520

Sweet! Great news! Thanks!

erickirb

Circuit training will burn a lot more fat and calories than a regular strength training routine. That being said you can incorporate strength training in a circuit, that is what the P90X program does, this way you finish faster and get your heart rate up while building muscle.

TateFTW

Don't play off how many calories you can burn off and how much fat you can burn doing a strength training routine. Many bodybuilders don't do cardio at all, and most do very little. They combine diet with slight variations in training techniques and short, explosive cardio sessions to get shredded for the show season while maintaining all that crazy mass they develop in the off-season. There are a number of ways to tailor your lifting sessions depending on your goals. You've been doing the version that burns the most fat and builds the least muscle and strength. The opposite would be lifting heavy and resting for longer between sets (some powerlifters rest over 5 minutes between sets). But you don't have to choose one or the other. You can use whatever blend of the two you want. Personally I use diet as my main catalyst for weight and fat loss, and use my lifting sessions for the purpose of retaining muscle mass. Therefore I lift heavy with 2-3 minutes rest in between.

Before you jump in, understand this; It is damn near impossible to gain muscle mass and strength while running a caloric deficit. If you've never lifted hard before, you'll gain at first as your body responds to the stresses of heavier lifting. But wtihout extra calories, mainly from protein, your muscles won't have the materials they need to really grow. That's why bodybuilders use a bulk/cut system, where they eat over maintanence (maintanence is the number of calories you need to stay at your current weight) and lift crazy hard to gain bulk, then eat under maintanence to cut the fat gained during the bulk, hopefully while keeping the muscle built. There have been entire books written on bulking and cutting techniques because ti has been shown over and over that switching back and forth is FAR more efficient for gaining muscle while cutting fat then trying to do both at the same time.

I tell you this so you don't get to dissapointed if you start lifting heavier and don't really show gains.

I would also recomend looking into high-intensity interval training (HIIT) if you're interested in strength and muscle while continuing to cut. This type of cardio will help to avoid the muscle loss that comes with most types of cardiovascular training. Lately I've been doing a 60-100 yard sprint, then I jog back to where I started, then rest for 20-30 seconds. I do this cycle over and over for 12-15 minutes. I jog for a couple minutes before and after as a warmup/cooldown, and the results have been great. My heart is bursting out of my chest the whole time, but my muscles never get tired.

Since we're on the topic, and I love talking about lifting, here's my split;

day 1- legs
2- chest
3- either back/biceps or back/shoulders
4- either shoulders/triceps or arms
5- rest

I might rest a second day if I have stuff to do or my legs are still sore. Rest is imperative in a weight/muscle lifting schedule, as that's when the muscles actually grow. I always do triceps the day before rest, so they have atelast 2 days to recover before chest.

TateFTW

Circuit training will burn a lot more fat and calories than a regular strength training routine. That being said you can incorporate strength training in a circuit, that is what the P90X program does, this way you finish faster and get your heart rate up while building muscle.

circuit training will burn more calories DURING the session in comparison, but heavy lifting sessions have been shown to increase metabolic rates for up to 48 hours afterwards, and larger, stronger muscles use more calories all the time, AND broken down muscles use comsumed protein to rebuild themselves. I'd argue that the benefits of heavy, longer lifting sessions for both fat-loss AND aesthetics over the long term outweigh those of strict circuit style training using a whole-body workout.

stv1520

Thanks for the info guys. Tate, you seem to know your stuff. So-- Ideally, I'm looking to shed fat around the middle, BUT--want to do strength training for my job, and for hockey. Id be happy to look bulkier. But I'm not looking to get ripped like a bodybuilder would. Too old for that anyway! So bearing in mind these things, what do you reccomend?

TateFTW

The reason I tend to use bodybuilders in my examples is because they exemplify what most males want; a perfect balance of big muscle and low fat. That being said, their training is primarily for looks, which makes it different from athletic style training. You're going to need to make some choices about primary and secondary goals before you can really choose the path to take. The goal of gaining real, usable strength for the real world doesn't allign itself very well with the goal of losing fat because like I said earilier, one requires more calories and the other requires less, repectively. Another thing that seperates bodybuilders is that when they go to a show, they don't have to be strong. In fact, come showtime they are dehydrated weak physical wrecks, relatively speaking, because they are trying to look shredded. If you decide that shedding fat is the real goal, then you'll probably have to give up the quest for strength and muscle for now.

There is a middle path where you can move towards both goals of fat loss and strength gain, and even though like I said before it's not the most efficient method, it could very well be the way to go if you are very active and don't feel confortable sacrificing strength.

Another good thing to consider is that you can always change things as you go. Everyone reacts differently to different training methods. So you can start based on what works for most, then shift things as you both learn how you react and possibly change what your primary goals are.

If I were to suggest a program where you were striving for both fat loss and strength gain, then I would have you either at maintanence calories or just below, running up to a 300 calorie deficit. Make sure you're taking in ATLEAST 1 gram of protein for every lb of bodyweight. Chicken breast is your best friend in the whole world. Also, don't be afraid of complex carbs. Carb cutting isn't for people who are active and trying to increase ahtleticism. I'm still cutting hard so I'll stay below 150 on carbs, but going higher on good carbs will NOT get in the way of long-term, slower fat loss goals.

If, on the other hand, you want to cut more fat and don't mind giving up a little strength, then maintain your 500+ calorie deficit as prescribed by MFP.

No matter your primary goal, lift heavy and long. If you're active in hockey right now, then you'll probably have to weight quite a while between leg sessions, but once the soreness from the last session is gone, hit it again. As I mentioned, change your rest time based on goals. 30 seconds rest or less has been shown to increase fat burning, while going longer then 2 minutes will let you do set after set, helping with strength and muscle building.

As a hockey player, the HIIT I mentioned is a GREAT thing. In fact, the ice is a great place to get you HIIT done, and a good HIIT session is done in under 20 minutes. Just sprint for 10-20 seconds, then cruise for 10-20, then rest (glide or stop) for 10-30 seconds. Study after study has shown that HIIT is basically the best cardio you can do for ALL of your goals, strength, athletic performance, and fat loss.

stv1520

Sounds great. Couple more questions. Where can I get more info on the HIT routine? And how soon after a training session do I eat? I work out after work, at 230, and I'm home by 4 after a 25-30 minute drive. I have an 8 oz glass of fat free milk with 1 level scoop of whey protein when I get home. What else should I eat with that in mind? BTW-Thanks again for your patience and info.

zcostilla

Lots of good info here. The level-1 protein is a long-chain, meant to be used for the rebuilding phase. You want that before bed (think of it as your dessert) and maybe as part of a meal replacement, as long as you add a little carbs. You can use it for post-workout recovery, but it won't be as effective as a short-chain (i.e. isolate) protein. If you're happy with the Level-1, try the Phormula-1 by the same manufacturer (1st Phorm). It is processed by your body a lot faster so you can make bigger gains.

Just like what has already been said here, if you're lifting for health, it won't be the drastic shreadded look the bodybuilders get. Weightlifting will make the muscles retain water. Some weight lifters enhance this with creatine, which causes a little more water retention. The end of weightlifting result is a larger and somewhat stronger muscle, but that may not translate to a weight loss. However, the higher mteabolism will burn more calories at rest, so it's a healtier body.

Whatever you do, don't buy the gimmicky gadgets. Just train honestly, with form being more important than weight. Bad form will not only make your workouts less effective, it can hurt you. If you keep the proper form, the need to increase the weights will come. Think of the money proverb "if you take care of the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves." And remember that doing sit-ups doesn't burn the fat off your abdomen and doing leg presses and squats won't burn the fat off your legs. Your body removes fat in reverse order from it added it. You'll see it in your face upper arms before you see it at the waist.

Lastly, make sure you weight train for the entire body. Your large muscle groups (legs, chest/triceps) may bulk easier, but don't let them get imbalanced over the smaller groups, and above all, don't neglect the core! It's what keeps everything else working right. I'm writing from experience here, as I now have 5 bulging discs, and I'm now fighting to drop weight without losing a lot of strength to keep my spine healthy. A lot of things led to the back injury. Running on a bad knee (forcing a compensatory posture), focusing too much on my chest and triceps, doing crunches but not strengthening my back, and eating as much as I wanted led to a weight jump from 215 to 234 and it wasn't all muscle. Now I'd like to get back down to 200, and it's taking a looooong time.

TateFTW

Google HIIT (two I's) and you'll get about 29 million results.

There are different arguments about what to eat after a workout. Eating simple carbs is all the rage right now, but new research is showing that taking in these "post-workout carbs" probably isn't the best for muscle gain, as the spike in insulin shuts down natural production of HGH (human growth harmone) which usually spikes after a workout as a harmonal reaction to the stresses of the workout. At the moment I'm experimenting with eating nothing for an hour after a workout. I do this for two reasons; 1. My metabolism is piping hot after a workout, which means it's burning fat. If I give it more food, it'll burn that instead of the fat I want it to burn. This is based on preference for cutting over building muscle. 2. Like I said, studies have shown a spike in natural production of HGH. I just want to let it do it's thing.

Plenty of people believe in the post-workout protein shake, so who am I to argue? When I start bulking I'll probably add in some protein post-workout and see how it works for me.

I've done hours and hours of research on all this stuff lately. I definitely don't mind sharing what I've found and hopefully saving you the time. If there's anything else you think of, please feel free to ask! When I'm curious about something, I also like to type my question in google. With all the weightlifting, bodybuilding, and fitness forums out there, chances are someone else has asked before.

stv1520

Great valid points. I had a herniated disk in my L3-4 region. Same cause--blowing off abs.Plus hockey skating added to the problem. I'm about 6'1 and the constant bending over at the waist and not doing ab work cost me. But--I'm better now and making sure all my large muscle groups are being worked with good form. That's why I'm wanting to go from the fast paced circuit training to trying something different.

TateFTW

I have 2 bad shoulders and a bum knee from football. Sucks, considering I'm 27 years old with joint that just like to pop out of place sometimes. My shoulders are always better when I'm lifting, and lifting hard. People have no clue how much lifting can strengthen not only muscles, but everything else in the body.

I always neglected my abs, but I did P90X this past summer, forcing me to integrate abs into my workouts, and now I'm an ab fiend. Not to mention, now that I'm losing more weight I'm actually starting to see them. I don't do long ab sessions, but I use resistance and train them like everything else, keeping my sets in the 5-15 range.