Near goal weight.... excercise or weights?

90210UK

Hi All,

I hope you can help me.

I am nearing my goal weight, a couple of lb's...

I am going abroad on hols in 4 weeks and dunno whether I should cut down on my excercise that I do 3 -5 days a week, (actually didnt do any last week and lost 1lbs) or concentrate on weight/strenght training to tone and make my muscles leaner.

I feel my legs are quite wobbly and not toned and dont want to be skinny fat as I call it.

What do you guys think?

Would stranght trainign be suffiecient?

Thanks xx

fit4mom

Taking off a week doesn't hurt. Especially if you are so close to your goal weight. It won't hurt you and I believe you will be just fine. Last I heard you can't lose any more with weights v.s. cardio. So based on science you would be just fine. Being active is the point. It might even cause you to lose weight if you take a week off or even a couple of days as I have experienced. Be well and have a blast.

sheer_abulous

If you're near your target, go for a 50/50 mix of cardio and strength training, but just target any areas you specifically want to tone for your holiday. just remember strength training will make you weigh more (muscle weighs more than fat) so don't get disheartened if the scales weigh heavier (it doesn't mean you've put on fat) but the more muscle you have, the more efficient your body is at burning up fat so you need both to succeed. Good luck and enjoy your holiday!

sheer_abulous

OOO sorry if the question was in relation to exercising on holiday, don't worry about it, relax and enjoy yourself! I went to Gran Canaria for two weeks in May and I lost 3lbs over there from just swimming leisurely throughout the day. Plus, depending on where you're going on holiday, with the heat you won't feel like eating as much and you'll lose any water weight.

90210UK

Thanks for your advise....

It isnt regarding my excercise routine whilst on holiday, it is for the build up.

I want to tone and loose a bit off my legs but am afraid to cut out cardio if that will make me gain...

I am so confused..

crisanderson27

Definitely relax...your body will appreciate the rest. I took two weeks off my clean eating and exercise...and it broke my six week plateau, I lost 8lbs over that time period!

But, if you feel the need to do SOMETHING over the holiday...this is my bodyweight workout routine:

Another Bodyweight Culture article, this one courtesy Cheesedog at:

http://www.bodyweightculture.com/forum/showthread.php?11058-Bodyweight-Strength-Training

Bodyweight Strength Training

People are always asking about strength training using only bodyweight. This is nothing new or revolutionary. I am borrowing HEAVILY from Rippatoe, Bill Starr, and lots of other great authors and trainers. This is your basic 5 x 5 template. (To clarify, 5x5 is 5 reps x 5 sets. The idea is to work at a difficulty level where you could only do maybe 7-8 reps on the first set, and are struggling to finish 5 reps on the last set). You would do strength training 3 times a week, say Monday-Wednesday-Friday with the weekends off. These are done "lazy circuits" style, with about 1 minute rest between each set.

Workout A
1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Horizontal push - 5 x 5
1C. Horizontal pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - flexion - 3 x 5
2B. Ab - static 3 x 30 seconds

Workout B
1A. Knee dominant - 5 x 5
1B. Vertical push - 5 x 5
1C. Hip dominant - 5 x 5
1D. Vertical pull - 5 x 5
2A. Ab - rotation - 3 x 5
2B. Grip and neck training - 3 x varies

Exercise Progressions - with regular weight training you can just add weight to the bar. With bodyweight progression is mostly about changing your leverage. These are just a few examples, I'm sure we could come up with dozens more if needed. You can always add resistance in the form of a weighted vest or backpack or resistance bands.

1. Knee Dominant -- squats, lunges, step-ups, bulgarian split squats, unilateral bent leg deadlift, partial one leg squat, one leg squat, box or stair pistols, full pistols.
2. Horizontal Push -- pushups, decline pushups, resistance pushups, side to side pushups, stair one arm pushups, negative one arm pushups, full one arm pushups.
3. Horizontal Pull -- body row, resistance body row, negative one hand row, incline one hand row, full one hand row.
4. Ab - flexion -- crunches, situps, resistance or incline situps, reverse situp, resistance or incline reverse situps, hanging knee or leg raise, hanging pikes, rollout from knees, rollout from feet, dragon flag. Also included are oblique moves like side lying crunches with or without resistance and side lying two leg raise.
5. Abs- static -- 4 point prone bridge, 3 point prone bridge, 2 point prone bridge, 4 point supine bridge, 3 point supine bridge.
6. Vertical Push -- pike pushup, hindu pushup, divebomber pushup, decline pike pushup, decline hindu pushup, decline divebomber pushup, one arm pike pushup, negative handstand pushup, handstand pushup with head touching floor, full handstand pushup.
7. Hip Dominant -- supine hip extension, good morning, one leg stiff leg deadlift, split one leg good morning, one leg supine hip extension, hyperextension, one leg hyperextension, natural glute-ham raise.
8. Vertical Pull -- jumping or assisted pullups, pullups, resistance pullups, side to side pullups, negative one hand pullups, one hand pullups. All these can refer to chinups or neutral grip pullups as well.
9. Ab - rotation -- twist crunches or situps, resistance or incline twist crunches or situps, russian twists, lying windshield wipers, standing rope rotations, hanging windshield wipers.
10. Grip and Neck Training -- for grip you can use handgrippers, deadhangs from a pullup bar (especially a fatbar or gripping a towel). For neck nothing beats wrestlers bridges. If you are involved in a striking martial art or sport, finger and fist pushups are very important also.

None of these lists have to end here. If you get strong enough you can always add resistance to your full range of motion one limb exercise. Or if you can do more than 5 one hand pushups do decline one hand pushups, or start working on one hand hindu and then eventually one hand dive bombers, and so on.

The nice thing about this routine is it scales dramatically depending on your fitness level. If you can't do even ONE regular pull up, you can scale it down and do assisted pull ups (legs on a chair), or ballistic pullups (where you jump to provide the initial momentum). It's actually easier to do properly when you're very unfit...because once you're healthy and strong...you're going to be searching for challenging enough exercises to only allow you 5 reps max by the finish of the 5 sets.

Cris

Trust me...it is exclusively (except for one week of P90x) what took me from the first picture in my signature...to the second =D.

Twice...the second time being in the course of three short months, 6wks of which I was on a plateau!

Cris

crisanderson27

Thanks for your advise....

It isnt regarding my excercise routine whilst on holiday, it is for the build up.

I want to tone and loose a bit off my legs but am afraid to cut out cardio if that will make me gain...

I am so confused..

I'd cut the standard cardio completely, and skip to interval based cardio using weights.

Read this:

http://members.rachelcosgrove.com/public/The_Final_Nail_in_the_Cardio_Coffin.cfm

=D

xjlishey1

Correctoin muslce does not weigh more than fat...a pound is a pound. Muscle is more dense than fat. Fat is like a cotton ball and takes a lot to fill a space where as muscle is like a brick and takes little space. The thing about strength training is your muscle retains water while healing. Keep up the good work...I've been training for years:happy:

xjlishey1

Don't cut your cardio out that is something you never want to do... try 2 days of strengthing and 3 days of cardio..or you can break it up 30 minutes of cardio/30 minutes of strength training. But don't do one or the other you need both.

crisanderson27

Don't cut your cardio out that is something you never want to do... try 2 days of strengthing and 3 days of cardio..or you can break it up 30 minutes of cardio/30 minutes of strength training. But don't do one or the other you need both.

Did you read the link I posted? For the record, my statement didn't mean to cut out 'cardio'. It meant to cut out 'standard' cardio and replace it with a different format...i.e intervals.

I don't do steady state cardio. Ever. All of my cardio is in burst interval format (sprints, heavy bag, hell even jumping jacks and plyo). I have lost nearly 30lbs in what amounts to two months.

fit4mom

I totaly forgot! Interval training is really good. It changes things up and it keeps you from getting bored. I do it every day on the treadmill.

fit4mom

Oh and guys you forget, she is a girl and girls are different from guys in hormones and estrogen. The tips are great though.:happy:

melaniecheeks

I'd choose strength over cardio, personally.

crisanderson27

Oh and guys you forget, she is a girl and girls are different from guys in hormones and estrogen. The tips are great though.:happy:

I didn't forget...that's one reason I'm telling her heavy strength training (and intervals as you suggested!).

Girls don't have the testosterone necessary to heavily bulk...and to gain even the physique of a lithe, muscular male takes some pretty serious exercise and bulking diet effort.

90210UK

thanks for all your help guys, I am going to try and mix my routine up, perhaps strenght train 4 x a week and then 3 days perhaps 30DS, jogging or walking/sprint...

I REALLY dont want to bulk up...in fat my egs are too bulky now...I was to have lean long muscles in my legs and tummy...I have a weights bench at home just nervous on how to start...

Should I do reps of heavy weight or lighter weights in order NOT to bulk?

L xx

melaniecheeks

Seriously, you are NOT going to bulk up.

I'd go heavy.

12by311

You aren't going to bulk up by lifting heavy. Unless you are taking steroids...

crisanderson27

You aren't going to bulk up by lifting heavy. Unless you are taking steroids...

This.

You don't have the testosterone necessary to bulk up. If you're truly scared of weights...do the bodyweight only routine that I listed above 3x a week. You can fit your other workouts on the in between days (30D Shred etc).. and REST on Sunday! I see you're working 7 days a week. You need to give your body some rest!

Cris

tangiesharp

bump

beduffbrickie

Hello,

I would personally do some interval training on the tredmil, couple of times a week, push your self though, and if you have a bench and that at home, try a couple of sessions on the weights, lifting heavy and explosive as your female you do not have enough testosterone to bulk up, so it aint gona happen, include some squats,deadlifts, etc basically full compound movements.

are you in the uk?