Weights are Best-O Manifesto (or why you don't need cardio t

Huffdogg

People tend to focus on the short view instead of the long view when it comes to what they want from their fitness efforts. Even the term most people use, "weight loss," is a symptom of this problem. You don't want to lose weight. Honestly. You want to burn fat. You will likely lose weight by doing this, but it isn't what your goal is. Your goal is to get rid of disgusting blubber. I think we can all agree on this. So let's stop focusing on using a measurement system as a goal. I realize it is the easiest and most commonly used metric for tracking fat burning efforts, but do you really want to do something "cause that's the way everyone does it?" If so, stop reading. Also, go away. And also, stay away.

For those of you who are left, let's take a quick look at what your daily calorie budget looks like. We'll use made up numbers as an example, just to prove a point.

BMR: 1500 kcal--If this person never got out of bed, they would maintain weight consuming 1500 calories
Daily activity estimate: 500 kcal--Let's pretend that whatever our subject does all day consumes about 500 calories
TDEE: 2000 kcal--Total Daily Energy Expenditure is just adding the two together. It's pretty "duh" math.

So, in order to maintain current physical status quo, our subject needs to keep up their 500 kcal daily activity and eat 2k calories of food every day. So...where am I going with all of this?

Your BMR is very likely over 75% of your TDEE. Getting up, getting dressed, going to work, and doing regular stuff in your regular life does not constitute a very sizeable portion of your daily calorie consumption. EXISTING does. And different types of bodily tissue require different calorie amounts in order to simply continue existing. Muscle Needs Moar.

In order to create a deficit, most people look at their TDEE (whether they know it or not, they're looking at it when they get their numbers from MFP) and immediately look to exercise in order to make room for enough food to satisfy their hunger, and/or reduce the amount of calories they eat. This is not the best way to burn fat. Calm down. CALM DOWN!

Ok let's look at the first option: calorie-scorching exercise. Exercise that is performed at a high level of intensity will obviously burn lots of calories. High-intensity exercise also targets carbohydrates for energy supply, first and foremost. Now, that's not to say that if you go out and run for an hour or so that you won't burn enough calories to scorch through available glycogen supplies (carbs, to be simple) and start burning into fat. But it seems like a rather long way 'round to do what you really want to do, doesn't it? So how about low-intensity exercise, you say? Well, sure...but it will take quite a while to get anything done. 15 minutes of walking at 3.5 mph (a pretty brisk clip, just under a jog for most ppl), is only going to burn you about 75-100 cals, maybe even less. You're going to have to do that for quite awhile to create a solid deficit, and you're going to have to keep doing it. Over, and over...and over.

Second option: Eat less. Great. Have fun... Seriously, this is terrible. All you are doing at this point is encouraging your body to atrophy. If you consistently eat a smaller amount of food than your body needs in order to maintain, it is going to look to reduce itself to lower maintenance. And what have we determined burns MOAR CALORIES in your BMR? Yes, that's right. Muscle. So, you diet. You create your big deficit. Maybe you do cardio ALSO, thus increasing your deficit. Swell. Long-duration repetitive motions. Things your body can do over and over. Things that don't challenge your muscles. These things will not save your lean body mass from being consumed by your body in a deficit.

So let's look at another option entirely, shall we? Let's try to increase our BMR. Build muscle. Increase Lean Body Mass. The more muscle you have on your body, the more calories your body burns just continuing to exist. And that's about as low-intensity as you can get. So it's targeting fat. Incidentally, it also makes you stronger and better looking.

Try eating at maintenance and lifting heavy weight. Build some muscle. Get stronger. Get some curves and some nice new lines of definition. If you are really overweight, you can even do this at a deficit (your body can burn fat to build muscle in cases of obesity). Lift things that are very hard for you to lift. You will challenge your muscles, forcing them to divert energy to rebuilding tissue. This is a process that takes around 48 hours. If you lift every other day, full body, you are looking at only 3-4 workouts a week in order to have your body continuously consuming calories in order to keep constructing new muscle tissue.

Check out the New Rules of Lifting books
Look into StrongLifts 5x5 and Starting Strength training programs, which are both amazingly easy to get into.

Eat More
Move Heavy Stuff
Get Sexy
Repeat

secretlobster

I'll never get on a treadmill again. Running is for chumps who can't fight

ninerbuff

While I despise cardio and love to lift, cardiovascular exercise is good to have in your overall training program. I've seen many a bodybuilder who looks great on the "outside", but can't climb a flight of stairs without breathing heavy. Nothing wrong with having some endurance in the lungs and heart.


A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Huffdogg

Yeah the title of the topic got cropped and was supposed to say "to burn fat." I'm not talking about the be-all end-all of health plans here. I'm just talking about fat burning.

MrsAgi

Actually, I want to get fitter, healthier, and looking better would be a bonus too:)

I know plenty of amzingly fit & fatpeople, and even more revoltingly skinny u nhealthy ones. I'd much rather be in Camp A - fat, fit and healthy, than thin and constantly ill.....

Personaly I started this with the intention of getting fitter/gaining stamina so cadio isthe only option for that. Once I'm happy with that side of my health, maybe I'll worry about my vanity and go for the major strength training to build muscle/look great, but I don't know. I might well stick with fit, healthy and slim enough....

MLgarcia3

I've been doing the new rules of lifting and love it.. Haven't been on a treadmill in a while and I do NOT miss it. I also play volleyball so I get a good cardio workout that way ;-)

vanessaleigh818

I get that I need to be doing strength training, but thanks for this. I have been walking 2-4 Miles 5 days a week for about 3 weeks now going on 4 and I have not lost weight. My main incentive for doing cardio, being asthmatic and prone to respiratory infections, is lung capacity and indeed heart health! Would yoga be consider strength training I weigh close to 280 lbs? Or do I have to actually lift weights. (Not currently in a gym)

UponThisRock

Additional muscle mass raises won't rise your BMR that much.

Also, while you don't need cardio on paper, I would say that some people are better of with it, than without it even if their goal is lean mass retention. For example, a 5'2", small-framed woman is probably not going to want to create her deficit entirely through diet and lifting, because she probably won't want to drop her calories down as low as it's going to require. At some point, adequate micronutrient intake becomes an issue, as well as her personal tolerance of restricted carbohydrate (and fat, for that matter).

yoovie

I'll never get on a treadmill again. Running is for chumps who can't fight

unless they are running a marathon cause boxing wasn't cutting it at the moment.

rainbowbow

I only lift and am doing the new rules of lifting plan-

Question for anyone who read the diet part. It made me question the validity of alot of the points inhis plan.

He says for someone under 30 multiply your BMI (no, not BMR) by 7 or something and then by 1.6 because of my age. Essentially consuming 2000 calories a day. (about 500 over my TDEE)

So instead I used the BMR calculation that takes body fat into account and multiply by 1.2 for sedentary. Then I consume all calories burned with exercise. (I have no real desire to lose weight as I want to lose FAT)


Another point I found odd in his books is how much he advocates meal timing.


=\ although I agree whole-heartedly with your post I don't know if his plan is the best to suggest.

nikkijoshua

I strength train 2-5 days per week depending on what I'm doing and how I'm doing things that week. I love lifting weights and challenging myself with heavy weights. I also love how heavy lifting transforms the body and melts fat in all the right places. But, I also love my cardio workouts too. I only do cardio that I enjoy; therefore, cardio doesn't conjure up any feelings of dread for me. I don't like cardio machines, so the chances of me using a treadmill, elliptical (I do own one), or any other cardio equipment are slim to none. What I enjoy most is step aerobics, kickboxing, and heavy bag boxing. I look forward to these workouts and I don't anticipate that I'll ever stop doing them. I also really appreciate how cardio improves your endurance. I understand that cardio is not absolutely necessary to burn fat and that heavy lifting may be the best approach to burning fat, but I think the best fitness program incorporates both cardio and strength training. They both offer overall health benefits as well as fat burning benefits. If you're someone who hates cardio, then this is good news that you don't have to do it to burn fat, but if you're someone like me enjoys cardio, then it's best to keep the cardio while making sure you also do some heavy weight lifting.

almc170

I only lift and am doing the new rules of lifting plan-

Question for anyone who read the diet part. It made me question the validity of alot of the points inhis plan.

He says for someone under 30 multiply your BMI (no, not BMR) by 7 or something and then by 1.6 because of my age. Essentially consuming 2000 calories a day. (about 500 over my TDEE)

So instead I used the BMR calculation that takes body fat into account and multiply by 1.2 for sedentary. Then I consume all calories burned with exercise. (I have no real desire to lose weight as I want to lose FAT)


Another point I found odd in his books is how much he advocates meal timing.


=\ although I agree whole-heartedly with your post I don't know if his plan is the best to suggest.

Yeah, I pretty much ditched the diet plan because of its reliance on BMI. Mine is 25.3, technically "overweight," and the fat loss plan has me eating something like 1325 cals net. If I lose 2lbs, however, I can eat a net of around 1585 (which is pretty much what I was eating before starting NROL4W). Needless to say, I decided to stick with what has been working so far.

ninerbuff

Yeah the title of the topic got cropped and was supposed to say "to burn fat." I'm not talking about the be-all end-all of health plans here. I'm just talking about fat burning.

To burn fat, you can definitely just do strength training and nix the cardio.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Longbowgilly

I am going to get back on the Burn the fat, feed the muscle plan, its by a guy called Tom Venuto a natural body builder, I have the book and it really does work, I have not used it for a few years though so it will be nice to get back to the ease of training and eating clean.

funkycamper

I strength train 2-5 days per week depending on what I'm doing and how I'm doing things that week. I love lifting weights and challenging myself with heavy weights. I also love how heavy lifting transforms the body and melts fat in all the right places. But, I also love my cardio workouts too. I only do cardio that I enjoy; therefore, cardio doesn't conjure up any feelings of dread for me. I don't like cardio machines, so the chances of me using a treadmill, elliptical (I do own one), or any other cardio equipment are slim to none. What I enjoy most is step aerobics, kickboxing, and heavy bag boxing. I look forward to these workouts and I don't anticipate that I'll ever stop doing them. I also really appreciate how cardio improves your endurance. I understand that cardio is not absolutely necessary to burn fat and that heavy lifting may be the best approach to burning fat, but I think the best fitness program incorporates both cardio and strength training. They both offer overall health benefits as well as fat burning benefits. If you're someone who hates cardio, then this is good news that you don't have to do it to burn fat, but if you're someone like me enjoys cardio, then it's best to keep the cardio while making sure you also do some heavy weight lifting.

Well said.