"No one who does only cardio looks good"

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  • muddyventures
    muddyventures Posts: 360 Member
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    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Might be cliche, but damn it, its true!

    This! It depends on what someone is looking for...before gaining weight I ran, and swam and I loved my body. Currenlty losing weight, and I'm running and swimming. I do think i will do a little lifting, but honestly I don't enjoy it...I enjoy running. Do what works to get you the results you want.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    Me personally... I would really rather be on the skinnier side with great cardiac and respiratory capacity for living life VS. being a ripped Jersey Shore wannabe getting shortness of breath when I get up off the couch to the bathroom.
    This mirrors my attitude exactly. I am going to start adding weights into my regimen. However, I'm doing it for toning and lean muscle mass maintenance, not to look like a body builder. If given the choice of being skinny with a superior heart and lungs and buff with little to know cardio endurance, I'll choose the former every time.

    Agreed. Just because you lift weights doesn't mean you should neglect fitness.

    No good being able to lift 500lbs if you get puffed walking up a flight of stairs.

    No good being able to run a gazillion kms if you can't lift at you're own bodyweight.
  • harlanJEN
    harlanJEN Posts: 1,089 Member
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    I agree. I have lost 80 lbs. I am in a size 12 jeans but still at 200 lbs. I HAVE NEVER in my life been in a size 12 jeans at this weight. I am usually in a 16 at this weight. The difference is the strength training.
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    You GOT IT sister! I've had the same experience with weight training - it changes your body composition. I'm in size 10 now (down from a tight 16) - the last time I was in a 10, I weighed 25 pounds less than I do now. Weights - the game changer! When I'm finished honing my body the way I want it, I will def be in an 8 (unheard of for me) @ 20% body fat I"m aiming , but will be in that size at a much higher weight than I would have been in the past - but I will be LEANER and Stronger and look waaaayyy better than I did in my 20s.

    And yes - I now do heavy lifting with cardio sprinkled in - instead of the other way around. And I rest. And I eat well. BALANCE. 4 legs of the table - takes all those to make it stand.
  • Candi8099
    Candi8099 Posts: 178 Member
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    I would refer you to this link:

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

    At least go down to the pictures, see her at 117, 132, and 147. Decide for yourself what "looks best"

    But I will mention that if you google the benefits of strength training, specifically for women, there is a reduction in chances for specific cancers and osteoporosis. Strength training doesn't have to involve weights, you can do body weight exercises.

    LOVE THIS ARTICLE! READ IT BEGINNING TO END!
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
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    I'm not sure anyone would argue that you can have a great physique doing a lot of cardio...as long as you do some weight work.. and that guy definately spends some time with the iron.... I thought that the debate was over wether you could look as good (admittedly subjective) doing cardio only as you could doing cardio/weights or just weights. Most marathoners I see look nothing like that guy....

    This was the general arguement.
    I never said you couldn't do cardio. The person in the original thread was asking if they had to pick, which route to go.
    marathon runners look like death.
    cardio and weights would be the ideal route.
    but if you only had time for one, weightlifting would be much better in terms of body composition, and i'm willing to say, overall health.
  • myak623
    myak623 Posts: 616 Member
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    Honestly there is no easy answer.

    If a person were to do all strength and no cardio on a Physiologic level they are hardly more healthy than someone who sits on the couch. A "healthy" person needs cardio in their routine as well as strength training.

    The "skinny fat" people that everyone looks down upon aren't the healthiest around. The "toned and breathless" are not much better.

    Me personally... I would really rather be on the skinnier side with great cardiac and respiratory capacity for living life VS. being a ripped Jersey Shore wannabe getting shortness of breath when I get up off the couch to the bathroom.

    While I agree there needs to be a mix of the two. You are slightly off base with your reference to weight lifters as couch potatoes because they don't do cardio.

    I would love to introduce you to one of my squat or bench workouts and then see if you say the same thing afterwards.
  • HorrorChix89
    HorrorChix89 Posts: 1,229 Member
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    This must be a statement aimed at men and women who want to have that "Look at me, I lift" look to them. Personally I'm fine looking tiny with huge boobs.
  • Raclex
    Raclex Posts: 238
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    Anyone who says this is projecting what they feel looks good or not. So take that with a grain of salt.

    It's the same as saying "my country is the best", or "my religion is the best", or "my opinion is the best".

    It is an opinion.

    If your idea of looking good is ripped muscles then only cardio probably won't be your thing. Some people don't want that look. There are in fact men who aren't out to look like they belong in professional wrestling.

    So yes, "Looks good" is purely in the eye of the beholder.


    ^^This. You couldn't have said it better!
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
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    This must be a statement aimed at men and women who want to have that "Look at me, I lift" look to them. Personally I'm fine looking tiny with huge boobs.

    __The chick with bright red hair__
  • myak623
    myak623 Posts: 616 Member
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    This must be a statement aimed at men and women who want to have that "Look at me, I lift" look to them. Personally I'm fine looking tiny with huge boobs.

    Not true! I know a lot of lifters who lift much more than I do that do not look like it. Remember, just because someone lifts does not mean they are going to be huge. Eating at a calorie deficit will not make muscles bigger. You will burn fat and look leaner and have some control over the loss of lean body mass because of strength training.
  • HorrorChix89
    HorrorChix89 Posts: 1,229 Member
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    This must be a statement aimed at men and women who want to have that "Look at me, I lift" look to them. Personally I'm fine looking tiny with huge boobs.

    __The chick with bright red hair__
    Next week it'll be bright blue...so what's your point?
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
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    Not true! I know a lot of lifters who lift much more than I do that do not look like it. Remember, just because someone lifts does not mean they are going to be huge. Eating at a calorie deficit will not make muscles bigger. You will burn fat and look leaner and have some control over the loss of lean body mass because of strength training.

    very true.
    In clothes, you can't tell I lift weights. Doesn't mean I'd ever stop lifting.
    I don't lift weights to have big arms and have people tell me how good I look.
    I lift weights because I want to be strong, and that's what I'm passionate about.
    Not everyone is a dbag bodybuilder trying to show off and get praise for their muscles.
  • HorrorChix89
    HorrorChix89 Posts: 1,229 Member
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    This must be a statement aimed at men and women who want to have that "Look at me, I lift" look to them. Personally I'm fine looking tiny with huge boobs.

    Not true! I know a lot of lifters who lift much more than I do that do not look like it. Remember, just because someone lifts does not mean they are going to be huge. Eating at a calorie deficit will not make muscles bigger. You will burn fat and look leaner and have some control over the loss of lean body mass because of strength training.
    Okay, still I'm fine playing with the buttons on the treadmill :D I'm too short for half of the weight machines and I be damned if I pick up a dumb bell
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
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  • HorrorChix89
    HorrorChix89 Posts: 1,229 Member
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  • Anomalia
    Anomalia Posts: 506 Member
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    I do not lift weights and I think I look good.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I do not lift weights and I think I look good.

    This may be true, but if you did you would have a lower BF% at the same weight. Which is really the point of strength training (not losing muscle as you lose fat so your BF% is lower at every scale weight)
  • BAMFMeredith
    BAMFMeredith Posts: 2,829 Member
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    I do not lift weights and I think I look good.

    I think you do too. But do you do body weight strength exercises? Honest question...I think people are misunderstanding (in general, not necessarily directed at you) what exactly strength training is. It doesn't have to involve lifting heavy weights or anything, pilates is considered strength training...I mean, google a Herschell Walker workout...

    Strength training is a pretty broad term for anything that's not straight up cardio.

    Anyway, I can't believe this thread is even still going considering it's pretty clear that there is NO right or wrong answer here and it's 100% opinion based.
  • albinogorilla
    albinogorilla Posts: 1,056 Member
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    i think this is true for men, but not for women.....
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    i think this is true for men, but not for women.....

    women are not that different then men, except if they workout just as hard they will not get as big due to hormonal differences.

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