What's better for weight loss?

Pneeleysmom

Carido or Strength Training? I am so confused. When I get to the gym, I do 20 minutes on the Treadmill 3.2 mpg and 10 minutes on the Elliptical (I'm still working my way up on that thing, MAN, it's killer!) . Then I do legs and arms. Low weight, high reps. Not sure if this is what I should be doing as it's not working. Should I do more Cardio to lose the weight? I am only able to make it to the gym about 3-4 days a week. I am still young (28) so I don't see losing to be impossible.

nutandbutter

The importance goes: Diet, Strength Training then cardio.

You should be lifting heavy and focusing on compound lifts. Bench press, squats, deadlifts, overhead press, rows and pullups/lat pulldowns. You could try New Rules of Lifting for Women or Starting Strength. Both are solid programs.

KellyAFraley

I'll be 28 this year and I mainly do cardio. I do about 45 min on the Elliptical, and then will go to the weight room and use the chest/tricep press machines, and do a whole bunch of bicep curls and crunches some days.. To me I feel that using weights helps tone as you lose weight. Yea know, for the droopy skin that might be an issue. I don't have all the issues. I was actually going to ask my Dr the same Q when I go in on Monday.

jprid88

they are both important. i alternate my days. i do cardio about three times a week and strength training two. ill do anywhere from 30-45 min of cardio and about the same for weights right now i can only do 8 lbs im weak lol

ViSabbi

To lose weight, you need to do strength AND cardio. I used to train with the usual '15 reps X 3' with a break inbetween, and the last set was really hard, if it wasn't, then there was a serious problem with my choice of weights. I've learned recently about another way to do it which is 10 or 15 reps, 5 sec up, 5 sec down with the top weight you can lift and it seems to work really well and take less time.

If I believe what Jillian Michael says, then it's the mix of having your heart pumping and doing strength training at the same time that is what works best for weight loss.

Perhaps you should talk with a personal trainer at the gym or something so he gives you the best advices? My personal trainer had told me that strength was more important than cardio when it comes to losing weight.

UponThisRock

To lose weight, you need to do strength AND cardio.

No I don't.

engineman312

you should read about staci. staci is awesome.

http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

froeschli

What worked for me was 20 min warmup (bike, rowing or elliptical) then strenght (pretty much all major muscle groups, 2 sets @ 15-20 reps), then 30 mins cardio. the person who sold you the membership & gave you the intro to the equipment should really be there for advice

Cardio burns calories (& fat) but the more muscle you have, the more energy it takes to maintain them, so you use up more calories whatever you do... Well, that's how it was explained to me anyways.

rileysowner

Ditch the high reps with the weights. You want to lift heavy 8-10 reps. Also ditch the isolation exercises like curls. Do Squats, Bench Presses, Overhead Presses, Deadlifts, and Bent over Rows. Basically you want to use multiple muscle groups. Isolation exercises may have their place, but unless you need them for a specific reason, they don't do much.

As for losing weight, diet is king. If you are not eating within your calories or even if you are eating too few calories you can stall your weight loss no matter what exercise you do.

bpurc22

High repetitions don't make you "tone" or burn fat more than low repetitions. In fact, compromising the intensity of your workout by using less weight and more reps makes you burn less fat in comparison with muscle (burning fat requires oxygen - aerobic exercise meaning that you have to breathe) and your body will have to use less energy to repair your muscles after you workout.

I'm not sure what's better for "weight loss" as in pounds...but I'm daring to say cardio, simply because you can perform aerobic activity for a longer period of time and therefore burn more calories. But weight lifting allows you to burn fat and build muscle, which are much better qualities for the long term. You may not lose as many pounds, but you will look better and chances are, your metabolism will have to increase as well.

monty_williams

You should do both, the answer is not an "or" it's an "and". Cardio will typically burn more calories than resistance training while you are actually working out, unless you are performing an high-intensity weight lifting circuit which most people do not do, but weight lifting will help you beurn more calories overall as you progress. Each lb of lean muscle you add increases your daily energy requirements by about 50 calories. Also, resistance training will help spare muscle loss while you are eating belowyour maintenance calories (dieting) and engaging in hgier than normal amounts of cardio.

You say you are not sure what you should be doing "as it's not working", and that you are doing "legs and arms". It sounds like you may not have a defined weightlifting plan and possibly even goals - other than "weightloss". I would advise you to focus on the core compound lifts - bench press, squats, deadlift, rows, chinups/pullups, and overhead press/military press. These compound lifts work large muscle groups and multiple joints and will provide noticeable benefits in a shorter amount of time than numerous isolation excercises. You will most likely find that focusing on fewer reps with more weight will not only result on noticeable improvements in muscle definition in a shorter period of time, but your workouts themselves will be shorter since you only need 3-4 sets of 2-3 exercises per workout day.

An example would be along the lines of Squat/chinups on Monday, Bench press/over head press on Wednesday, and Deadlifts/rows on Fridays - or whatever days you workout. The only constraint is that you should allow at least 2 days recovery between Squats and Deadlifts in my opinion, the other exercises can be paired up as you like although I like doing press exercises grouped together and pulling exercises grouped together on different days. As a starting point, figure out how much weight you can work with that allows you to do 3 sets of 6-8 reps with good form all the way to your last rep. Keep a log and when you are no longer challenged to maintain form on the last rep of the last set of an exercise, add 5 lbs during your next workout of that exercise and start again.

There are many different lifting protocols, but that one is pretty basic for a beginner that should show noticeable results both in appearance and progress in terms of the amount of work (lbs x reps) you can perform.