Exercise still confuses me

crzyone

I'm still confused about different kinds of exercise. I've dieted all my life and NO other diet plan I was ever on suggested anything except cardio to lose weight. My question......"strength" exercise is stuff like lifting weights??? "Cardio" is the jogging, running, bouncing stuff that gets the heart rate up???? Is that right? What are exercises like ab crunches or leg lifts or such? Strength? Or something else?

BrianSharpe

Core exercises (crunches, planks etc) are considered part of your strength routine along with body weight exercises -push up, chin ups and lifting weights.

There are compelling reasons to include strength training in your fitness / weight loss program. Strength training helps promote strong bones, and helps reduce the amount of lean muscle mass lost to aging and dieting. Lean muscle mass is metabolically more "expensive" than fat, the loss of lean muscle mass to dieting and aging are the main reason peoples' metabolism "slows down" (sorry - a very unscientific term).

Cardio is great for burning calories and promoting weight loss when combined with the correct diet (ie nutritious but calorie restricted) but cardio by itself does not promote the maintenance of lean muscle mass and as your body becomes more efficient it takes fewer calories to complete the same task.

IronSmasher

I also use weights for cardio too...

I wouldn't worry about it, just have a go. 90% of gym goers (probably higher for PTs) haven't a clue what they're doing. I'm sure you've seen the endless arguments on here and that's what caused the confusion.

As the poster above says, a negative effect of weight loss and dieting is the loss of muscle tissue. Strength or resistance training coupled with a moderate calorie deficit are methods minimising this.

Google some bodyweight programs and have a go for free

crzyone

So, if I don't have access to lift heavy weights, like a gym or my own weight bench, will crunches and such help me build muscles enough to make a difference. I have 25 lb weights that I use on my arms, etc, but I don't have a way to do any heavier lifting. I've been doing ab crunches and leg lifts and stuff like that.

IronSmasher

Do more squats and press ups and stuff like that www.marklauren.com

Your are only a small part of your body, there's plenty more for you to be exercising