Beginner Exercise

andrea198721

Is cardio really all that bad? I joined a gym and I plan to go tomorrow when I get off work and I really like the elliptical as opposed to the treadmill. I've read a lot about doing only cardio causes muscle loss with fat loss but I guess my real question would be is it going to hurt to try to loss a lot of fat at first with cardio and then add strength training?

9JANE

Cardio is great and I don't know where you heard that doing only cardio will cause muscle loss along with fat loss, because I have lost 82 lbs and for about 4months I have only been doing cardio and I have increased my muscle weight buy about 20 percent of course I am doing alot of walking with my job. Cardio is great for your heart and gets your body back up to where you are burning fat,strength training is just that you don't burn as many calories as with cardio .

janak2004

I regularly do cardio everyday and then I added weight training 3 days a week. On the days I do weight training, I only do half the cardio I would normally do. It gets me warmed up so that I don't strain my muscles.

I've never heard about losing muscle from doing cardio. I know running is cardio, but I'm building muscle at the same time. Just do cardio daily and add in weights when you feel you are ready. I do 3 reps of 10 on each of the arm weight machines and 3 reps of 20 for my legs. But it is up to you how much you do.

andrea198721

Thanks! And I've read it from reading these boards lol A lot of people really stress strength training! i guess I believed it a little so that's why I asked...to see if I could get some different responses.

WendyTerry420

I don't understand why people think they ought to choose between cardio and strength training. Actually if you do both, there is a synergistic fat burning effect, Don't pick one or the other. Do both!

When I was first getting started, I had not exercised on purpose for nearly two decades. I had no money for a gym membership, so I started off with the only thing I remembered from when I was young and active: calisthenics. I did jumping jacks and sit-ups and jogged in place. I finished the Couch to 5k program in September and started the Thirty Day Shred this month. Thirty day shred is cardio and strength training combined.

If you are on target with your diet, and you do both cardio and strength training, then the fat just melts away.

MaintainCats

I started with weights because I didn't like feeling like my heart was doing to pound out of my chest. This conditioned me and now I do HIIT and I do jump rope etc and LIKE cardio now. Very new to me.

gauchogirl

You need both, but humans don't need as much cardio as people think. I strength train 3x a week for 45 mins and only do cardio-specific 2x a week for 25 mins. I also walk a lot, but I don't count that as focused "on-purpose" exercise. Like everything else, putting all your eggs in one basket is foolish. Both cardio and strength are necessary for good all-around health.

brennsie

Doing cardio doesn't cause muscle loss in of itself. However, if you cut out all strength training from your exercise routine to focus on cardio, then you could experience some muscle loss as strength training really builds up your muscles.

Personally, I like to do cardio 6-7 times a week (I'm a runner, so I run basically everyday), and then do strength training 3 times a week as well. For me, this is a pretty good balance, but its all about finding what works for you

Amy911Gray

Love the cardio and cannot skip a day--it makes me feel lazy, and i'm just dull!

MB_Positif

You want to do some strength training in order to create a lean look. Here's a good example, between January and June of this year I mostly did strength training and occasional cardio. I only lost two pounds but I went from a size 10 jeans to a size 6.

andrea198721

Awesome! Thanks to everyone. I mostly do cardio (walking but it's getting dark sooner and I don't really live on a safe road to be walking at night) and I plan to start weights after I've kind of gotten used to the cardio because I really want to tone as well!

SunnyAndrsn

Awesome! Thanks to everyone. I mostly do cardio (walking but it's getting dark sooner and I don't really live on a safe road to be walking at night) and I plan to start weights after I've kind of gotten used to the cardio because I really want to tone as well!

Do you have a lot to lose? I'm still over 200 pounds, but have lost 48 so far. I really think that if you are starting from a low fitness level, like I did, just focus on what you can do. I still have over 50 pounds to go to hit the high end of my acceptable weight range, and am now just getting more into weight training.

I'm starting with my own body weight doing push ups, various ab exercises, squats and lunges. I do heavy cardio because I enjoy the challenge of seeing how far I can walk. I'm in that 60-90 minutes a day range, 4-5x a week. I've increased my rate to between 3.5 and 4.0 with a slight incline of 2-3%.

When I started, I honestly could barely walk 10 minutes on the treadmill at a rate of 2 miles an hour, without any incline. So...if you're like me, just start where you can, don't over complicate things. Adding the ab work and push ups back in February when I joined MFP would have been too much at that point. If you feel you can hack it--go for it.

andrea198721

Oh yeah! I'm looking to lose at least 150 lbs!

WendyTerry420

Oh yeah! I'm looking to lose at least 150 lbs!

You got this! Be careful in your logging. Find the exercise routine that works for you and be consistent. Take your measurements. Be patient. :flowerforyou:

ixap

I would say don't wait to do strength training until you've lost all your weight, because you want to preserve as much of your existing muscle as you can. I found out the hard way when I gained, lost, gained, lost with 2 pregnancies - I wasn't very muscular before, but I had looked okay. Then when got back down to my original weight I was so upset to find I was a dress size bigger and much flabbier than ever before - I had lost some of my little bit of muscle along with the fat; not a good look. Strength training reversed that; now I weight what I did pre-babies but a dress size smaller than then.

However:

I plan to start weights after I've kind of gotten used to the cardio because I really want to tone as well!

This is a smart approach. You don't need to start up everything at once and get overwhelmed.
Like you say when you are comfortable with the habit of exercising and your body has had a chance to get used to it, you can slowly add it in.

krickeyuu

Awesome! Thanks to everyone. I mostly do cardio (walking but it's getting dark sooner and I don't really live on a safe road to be walking at night) and I plan to start weights after I've kind of gotten used to the cardio because I really want to tone as well!

I do most of my walking indoors. You can rent, buy or check out DVDs from the library--there are many great walking indoor walking DVD;s available. Some incorporate strength training in the program.

andreascarff

I love doing the cardio and strength... but what I do is Cardio everyday, then strength 3x a week for about 35 mins. I make sure I do the strength on Mon, Wed and Fri lol easy to remember...lol...

Now, I did just get back into the swing of things cause I haven't done it for ever!!...lol.. now I'm going to stick with it!!

WendyTerry420

(oops)

andrea198721

I appreciate everyone's responses! i now remember why I had such success the first time I used this site....there are really nice people with some good advice who are in my shoes and who have been in my shoes! I haven't logged my food for a good while online but I have been keeping a notepad and I pretty much write down everything because I don't get online everyday anymore. I also said I was only going to weigh myself about once a month as well but I have already had to buy a smaller bra

bufger

I think its important to do strength and cardio. Muscle burns more calories than fat in a rested state so building muscle will help you use up more calories in between training, when sleeping etc. I do cardio to improve my overall fitness and endurance and it makes me feel better, i do 2 or 3 times a week for 1 hour (various exercise from rowing, bike, walking, boxing) and then i do strength 3 times a week. Since doing this ive raised my calorie allowance to a normal sustainable level and i'm losing a steady 3lb every week. Before when i was doing cardio 5 days a week and eating alot less i was struggling to lose weight consistantly.

chooriyah

I also like the elliptical, and after reading a lot of the forums, I am going to try to incorporate some of the concepts of 'High Intensity Interval Training' into my elliptical workout. As I understand it, HIIT allows you to get a better work out in a shorter amount of time, pushes your body to get stronger and fitter more than maintaining a constant speed on the elliptical or treadmill. Basically, the idea is to change up your speed, with 2-3 minutes of fairly slow, easy working out as recovery periods, interspersed with 30 sec to 1 minute intervals of high intensity when you try to make your heart explode.

As lots of people have already posted, most things I read suggest a combination of strength and cardio, doing alternate days or mixing it up. I've seen in a few places that you shouldn't really do strength every day, as you need to give your muscles time to build in the rest periods...

I'm a total newbie to all this so take what I say with a grain of salt; just wanted to share my plans, being in a similar position to you...

Yogi_Carl

Don't stress it Andrea - you would have to be running marathons back to back for your body to start breaking down it's own muscles for energy. It's a myth pout about on here by people who are heavily into strength training - which is great in its place but there are a lot of myths and legends posted on here that you should take with a pinch of salt and a bit of Googling!

If you are concerned about maintaining strength or developing a bit while you reduce fat, why not try some bodyweight exercises. It may be some time before you need to touch weight training at all.

My favourite is Yoga - people may laugh but Yoga if you get the right class can give you a really good cardio and strength workout and leave you buzzing with energy afterwards.

elisabeisme

Congrats on your loss so far!

When I first joined my gym a year and a half ago, I started off with a pretty limited range of exercises and then slowly added a bit more by doing one new thing each week. In the beginning, I hadn't been to a gym in over 15 years and was out of breath within 5 minutes. Now, I can do 3 sets of 10 regular push ups, am run/walking 6 miles using c25k and am working my way up to pull ups. I can even bench press 110 lbs! Personally, I started with the elliptical (because it is smoother and less bounce was easier for me) and some basic calisthenics (knee push ups, lunges, etc). I started with a bit of cardio and a bit of strength on the same day because I couldn't manage that many reps or that many cardio minutes anyway. Now, I'm splitting up my days into cardio and strength because my stamina has improved.

In the beginning, i think the most important thing is to just go. So, start where you are most comfortable. If that's the eliptical, then start there. Once the habit builds, then keep adding stuff and eventually you will be bench pressing in the back with the boys!

You might also consider doing a personal training session to get started. Most gyms will give you one for free. A trainer can show you a balanced routine of things to do. If you tell the trainer you want to learn strength exercises, then you'll learn some stuff in that session that you can replicate on your own later.

Good luck. Have fun. You'll do great!