Cardio vs. Weights

SkierElle

Hi! So I have been doing cardio AND weights off and on for quite some time, but I've recently decided to join MFP and get really serious about this. For cardio, I usually run, bike ride, and go on the elliptical. For weights, I use the machines in the gym. abs, triceps, biceps, glutes, etc... But i never really seem to notice a difference whether I have been doing weights for awhile or not. I am naturally more muscular than most females, and don't really feel like I NEED to lift weights as I feel like my cardio exercises do enough for my muscles alone.

I am trying to lose about 20lbs and was wondering if I should really be doing both cardio and weights. I really don't any more muscle but I don't want it to go away either. I am thinking that I will do a lot of cardio until I lose those 20 lbs, then do both, to get more toned if I need to. I have heard that doing weights is a great way to bump up metabolism and maintain weight loss, so I think I will do it after I lose 20 lbs. Any thoughts or experiences on this?

rmccully

keep doing both, they work together.

JodiS75

Yes, do both. Also, my trainer has me do cardio AFTER weights (I always did the opposite). She said the weights get your body into fat burning mode so your cardio will be that much more effective!

starkiss100

Yeah keep doing both. More muscle mass helps burn more calories and you need cardio as well.

Sharonbed4d

Don't give up weights. Try changing it up using dumbbells with low weights and higher reps. Also circuit training is great a few days so you can combine weights and cardio to challenge yourself.

CarterGrt

I am no fitness expert, but I would say to continue to do both. Having more muscle burns more calories. When you drop weight very quickly, the risk is that you are dropping muscle weight, which, down the road, will make very easy to gain the weight back.

In order to avoid putting on muscle mass, I would suggest going down on your weights and doing more repititions. 6-8 reps at high weight will build mass quickly while 12-15 reps at lower weight will hopefully give you the muscle without the mass.

Another thought, and this might be me projecting a bit, is that you might consider an inexpensive heart rate monitor. This can help you ensure that you are training optimally for weight loss. This is next on my purchase list.

Good luck!!!

carl1738

I would keep doing both the cardio and the weight training. While cardio burns more calories while you're exercising, weight training actually burns more in the long run by increasing your metabolism for up to 48 hours afterward. Plus, if you stick with just cardio, you will be losing muscle along with the fat, which will make losing weight more difficult. Keep your reps in the 12-15 range, and you shouldn't have to worry too much about "bulking up".

modernfemme

My rule of thumb with strength changing is if you feel like you are so tired you can't do anymore, do like 10 more. Sometimes you have to push yourself a bit or you don't make progress.

CarolynInSC

I just finished my first personal training certification class, so I'm going to tell you what I just learned about resistance training (weights) and cardio. You may not be noticing any difference because your body has "adjusted" to your routine or plateaued. Our bodies will find a way to adapt to anything to make it easier. You need to do a continual progression in your weight training--increased load. You can also change up your workout with something called pryamid training as well as different velocities in your repetitions. Do you have personal training available to you?

If you choose to stop resistance training, you will begin what is called detraining and you start to lose some of that muscle you have already built. Yes, weight training does bump up your metabolism so you continue to burn fat when you are finished.

Two other issues might be keeping you from seeing a stagnation in losing those last 20 pounds. You might not be consuming enough calories--your body will go into "starvation mode" and hang on to what you have. Or, you could be overtraining. How often do you do cardio and weights? My trainer is constantly after me to get enough rest and take some time off to do nothing (like a day or two). I'm so afraid of losing the ground I've gained that sometimes I border on the overtraining aspect.

Those are just a couple of things off the top of my head. I have quite a ways to go until I get to my last 20 pounds--perhaps when I'm there, my eyes will be even further opened to that tough spot. Congrats on joining MFP!

dwazy

I agree. I do both but the strength training I do has a cardio base to it. It is Body Pump and it is a Les Mills program. I do use a lot of weight for my size and I can tell you that even though I have lost weight (about 10 lbs) I have lost a lot in inches. People don't believe that I have only lost 10 lbs. I think if you continue to do the weights you will find that it gives you that metabolism boost you need to lose your weight. I have also found that I didn't start seeing a differnce in weight and inches until I ate more on the days that I work out. I stick to the 1200/day number but if I burn 500 calories from a form of exercise I eat about 200 of those calories. That ratio works for me so yours may be different. People use to tell me to do this but I could never justify it and thought I didn't want to use up any of the calories that I burned. But I'm doing it and now I get it. Plus I get to eat more :happy: Good luck to you and you will find MFP addicting!!!!

Hova1914

i'm no health expert or anything, and this is COMPLETELY contrary to what most people are going to tell you, but this is what i decided to do for my workout and weight loss and speaking from experience it's worked very well for me. my plan was to slim down and bulk up. i figure i gained muscle mass easily and the hard part would be slimming down, so i decided to do that first. i decided to focus ONLY on cardio and weightloss because since muscle weights more than fat, the fat to muscle conversion of weight lifting would only mess up my weight loss (ie i wouldnt see the results i wanted on the scale). so once i slimmed down to 170, THEN i would change my mfp to maintain the weight i'm at (giving me like 2000 calories extra a day) and then just focus on weight lifting.

here i am 25 pounds lighter and my fiancee says she can definitely see more tone and definition throughout my entire body and i still have 10 pounds to go before i reach my goal weight. and so far all i have done is cardio.

with that said, i completely agree with your assessment, if you feel you're already muscular enough and are focusing on slimming down, then cardio will help you see those results AND maintain the definition and tone you already have. plus you'll see the weight loss results faster because since you're not focusing on adding muscle, your weight wont be skewed by fat to muscle conversions.

Amimiza

Try heavy weights with few repititions - make it so heavy you can only do 8-10 repitions (if you feel you could do more, or if you reach 10, increase weight). You only need one set of each exercise, and only two or three times a week. This'll take you like, 15 minutes, and you could do 15 min cardio, for example. Add warm up and streaching, then you'll have a good workout.
The more muscle you have, the more fat you'll burn. Don't stop doing strenght training, but don't overdo it - always rest one or two days between the workouts. You can do cardio the other days too. (Of course, by rest I mean don't do heavy training, not stay in bed all day)

SkierElle

Thanks for your input, everyone. I think I will do what you guys say, more reps but not too much weight, and increase it graduatlly.

Well I've lost 2.5 lbs so far on MFP so something must be going right I just meant that in the past lifting weights I haven't seen many results, but maybe I just need to stick with it longer.

I was studying in New Zealand and had the chance to do Body Pump. it was amazing, and I lost 3kg in 6 weeks while doign that along with the spin class, but now im back in Colorado... we have a gym with Les mills, but I already go to my university rec centre for free (well its in student fees) so it kind of defeats the purpose to go to another gym. I think Im going to try a class that they have which is similar to body pump and see how i like it

cutmd

This study shows why you should do both:

http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/abstract/18/2/115

Basically, they put people on low calorie diets and had them do resistance vs cardio training. The resistance group maintained their muscle while losing fat, while the cardio group lost muscle and suffered a decrease in metabolism.

Cardio is great for burning calories, but resistance work says, "hey, I'm using the muscle, so get the calories from somewhere else", ie the fat. If I were to chose one, it would be resistance, but cardio gives me room to eat more.

SkierElle

Thanks for the link, that sure explains a lot! Its not so good to lose lean body weight Also I am doing Eat Stop Eat and they recommend doing resistance training, so guess i should just keep at it!

leighclayton

I think keeping up with your strength training is key as it is a great way to boost metabolism and burn fat. I am currently reading Rachel Cosgrove's The Female Body Breakthrough and she has some really good pointers on strength training in there.

Natural

i would say do both. if your body is bored, change your strength training exercises.

ganesha303

Just wanted to echo an earlier comment on weight progression. If you are performing a particular exercise comfortably at your target reps. The next time you do them, add the next level of weight and see how many you can do. You may find you are able to do the same #. once you master that new weight at the total desired reps, move it up again the next time. I also suggest doing at least 2 - 3 sets of each weight exercise each workout and never work the same muscles two days in a row with weights.

SkierElle

Ok, I think i've decided that I am going to do 3 days of strength training per week but mix it up a little. I have a video that I do which is a combo - resistance training and cardio, then the machines at the gym and maybe the 3rd will be a class or some hand weights. Then 5 days a week I will do about 45 mins of cardio. I'll take it from there but I think this will work best!

RunHardBeStrong

I think keeping up with your strength training is key as it is a great way to boost metabolism and burn fat. I am currently reading Rachel Cosgrove's The Female Body Breakthrough and she has some really good pointers on strength training in there.

Absolutely reccommend this book!! I lost 60 lbs following this program and am in the better shape in my 30's after 3 babies then I ever have been!!! Even if you don't follow the plan there is a ton of useful info.