Strength Training vs Weight Lifting

Huffdogg

I see a lot of people talk here about how, in order to stave off the catabolization of lean muscle, you HAVE to lift weights throughout your weight loss efforts instead of doing simply cardio. Quite simply, this is untrue. What you DO need to do is continue to perform strength training exercises. This is particularly probative if you are an at-home exerciser, as you are much less likely to have access to a weight rack in your spare room. The key is to keep periodically testing the capacity of your muscles to perform more strenuous activity, not simply perform aerobic repetitions of cardio-style actions. This does not mean you need to pile bars full of plates and shove them around.

Push-ups (and their infinite variations), pull-ups (doorway bars are CHEAP and versatile, and allow you to double your value by doing leg raises for abs!), air squats, TGU's, are all excellent strength training activities that not only tend to work multiple muscle groups simultaneously (push-ups provide excellent ancillary benefits to your core strength, for instance), but can be done virtually anywhere, anytime, at no cost. If you are on a completely cardio exercise routine, try working some of these exercises into your daily activities. You will guard against the decay of lean muscle, get an extra boost in calorie burn, and should also start to see some nice toning results fairly quickly.

baisleac

Well said... though frankly, pulling up my current body weight is definately weight "lifting". LOL.

Weight lifting is just one form of strength training. Body weight exercises ROCK!

Huffdogg

Body weight exercises ROCK!

Succinctly and wonderfully said!

ItsCasey

It all depends on how you gained the muscle. If you gained it without lifting heavy weights, then obviously you don't have to lift heavy weights to keep it; but if you built up some impressive quads doing squats and deadlifts, you're not going to keep them by doing bodyweight exercises or by "periodically" testing to see if you can still deadlift 200 lbs. You have to continue eating right and following the same training program you were using; you just don't have to consistently increase the weight or the reps or the sets like you have to do when you're trying to gain muscle.

dieseljay74

Hit the nail on the head there bud....it does have to be challenging however. Going through the motions with light weights will get you nowhere.

marianne_s

Yeah, I agree.... I always wonder why some people (females) are advocating that women only can gain lean muscle from lifting heavy weights.

I'm sure if you start off with adequate strength training, you mmust be able to see improvements - then you increase it as you get leaner & stronger..... just like with any other exercise.

baisleac

Yeah, I agree.... I always wonder why some people (females) are advocating that women only can gain lean muscle from lifting heavy weights.

I'm sure if you start off with adequate strength training, you mmust be able to see improvements - then you increase it as you get leaner & stronger..... just like with any other exercise.

I think a lot of people don't think about the fact that "lifting" your body weight IS lifting heavy.

i.e. Doing a pull up (hand facing you) is the equivalent of curling your body weight. Doing a pushup is the equivalent of pressing a third to half of your bodyweight, depending on style. Those aren't insignificant numbers.