Cardio vs. weights

jaymek92

And some thoughts on too much cardio from one of the world's top strength coaches:

just want to say that generally, when somebody has a clear, strong bias, you don't want to use them as a source (for example, the pope would probably not give the most reliable information on abortions, just as one of the world's top strength coaches would probably not give the most reliable information on cardio.).

Vonwarr

Pretty certain he knows what he's talking about. From a short bio - Charles Poliquin is one of the most accomplished strength coaches in the world. He has designed workouts for Olympic medalists in 17 different sports, world record holders in 10 different sports, and professional athletes in the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, and UK Premier League.

Pretty certain most of those require a balance of cardio and weights. Note that he doesn't completely disregard cardio, just that it's been shown that long steady-state cardio isn't really great for most purposes.

Madholm

If you are stuck at a certain weight I would try changing things up in your exercise routine. Try substituting a yoga class or swimming for one of your weekly workouts. Toning muscles in different areas can have a big impact on your weekly calorie burn as the body will spend energy on building and repairing muscles you aren't currently using. The reason I suggest yoga or swimming is that they both will burn more calories than weight training for the time spent.

I would also suggest adding some light weight training in addition to the swimming/yoga. It doesn't have to be at a gym. Try just adding 3 sets of 10 for pushups, situps and squats (no weight) before your run twice per week along with 3 sets of as many pull-ups you can do (even if it's only 1 per set). Cardio is great for burning calories, but adding/toning muscle mass will greatly increase your static calorie burn along with improving your overal appearance.

If you ONLY want to run/walk then you will need to change the way you do it. Stop running the same pace/milage and incorporate different types of runs. The most important for you would be tempo and interval runs since you don't seem to be training for long distance marathon type runs. If you are unsure of what tempo and interval runs are there is a good description at the link below. I would wager that you currently are only doing base runs. You will reach plateaus in running just like every other exercise which is why you probably aren't seeing any current progress. As you push yourself with other types of runs your base runs will become much faster and your calories consumed on them will increase which will push your deficit higher.

http://running.competitor.com/2010/10/training/running-101-the-8-basic-types-of-runs_7984

JasonDetwiler

Pretty certain he knows what he's talking about. From a short bio - Charles Poliquin is one of the most accomplished strength coaches in the world. He has designed workouts for Olympic medalists in 17 different sports, world record holders in 10 different sports, and professional athletes in the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, and UK Premier League.

Pretty certain most of those require a balance of cardio and weights. Note that he doesn't completely disregard cardio, just that it's been shown that long steady-state cardio isn't really great for most purposes.

But, but, bu...he's so BIASED! I mean, sure, he's trained like an athlete or two, but clearly he sacrifices their performance because he clearly HATES cardio. I mean HATEFULLY HATES!

Cr01502

From what I have seen people who are generally anticardio are anticardio because they don't like doing it.

I agree. TOO MUCH cardio is a bad thing. HOWEVER cardio should be included in any decent program at some point in order to have a well balanced approach to overall fitness. ESPECIALLY in a weight loss program where your goal is to become fit and healthy.

ahamm002

Pretty certain he knows what he's talking about. From a short bio - Charles Poliquin is one of the most accomplished strength coaches in the world. He has designed workouts for Olympic medalists in 17 different sports, world record holders in 10 different sports, and professional athletes in the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, and UK Premier League.

Pretty certain most of those require a balance of cardio and weights. Note that he doesn't completely disregard cardio, just that it's been shown that long steady-state cardio isn't really great for most purposes.

I'm a huge fan of Charles Poliquin, but you really have to take some of the things he says with a grain of salt. He hates cardio because it can decrease explosive power in his athletes and is suboptimal for 4% body fat in his body builders. But all the stuff about it causing you to age and whatnot is pure garbage. It's just pure conjecture, not science. Meanwhile there is plenty of good data indicating that people who do cardio live much longer and are healthier than those who do not exercise.

ahamm002

So I know it has been asked before - cardio vs. weight training.
I have been struggling for the past year to lose weight. I feel that I work out consistently.
Go to the YMCA or work out at home. Generally my schedule as of late is as follows:

Monday – run 2 – 3 miles at the Y – and also walk at work on my breaks 20-40 minutes at 3.5 mph
Tuesday – sometimes I am able to go to the Y if no volleyball game that night – again 2-3 miles running
Walk at work on breaks 20-40 minutes at 3.5 mph
Wednesday – run 2-3 miles at the Y, walk on breaks 20-40 min at 3.5 mph and women’s league volleyball
It is competitive however when I figure under the exercise for MFP I generally just use non competitive – I don’t want to over-calculate the calories.
Thursday – if I can go to the Y I generally do and run 2-3 miles – and walk on breaks 20-40 min at 3.5 mph
Fridays – I try to get up before work and do the elliptical for 30 minutes or Jackie’s power circuit which is w/ weights and only about 20 minutes long. Walk at work 20-40 min at 3.5 mph.

My weekends vary – I try to get some activity in – Saturdays - usually my daughter and I go to the Y and she goes to the “discovery center” while I run again 2-3 miles and then I also try to lift weights. Otherwise I do the elliptical at home for 30-45 minutes.
Sundays are usually my rest day.

On average I am at the Y at least 3 days during the week and then if I can get there on Saturday I do. The problem I am struggling with is I am not seeing the scale go down at all  which is very disappointing when I feel that I am working hard.
I know that my diet needs to be tweaked but I track what I eat, the good bad and ugly.

So, should I be getting more weight training in – would that help. I just feel that I need to get my cardio in and that with the time limits that I have 30-45 minutes before I have to go get my daughter, I just stick with cardio.

Thanks and sorry for the long version!

The main problem isn't that you're doing mostly cardio. The problem is you that you're doing tons of low intensity exercise. If you want to lose weight, start doing higher intensity exercise like circuit training with weights or HIIT.

Also, as other posters have mentioned, your diet is obviously a huge a factor. If you make poor food choices (eg snacking on refined carbs and processed foods, eating low protein, etc), then it won't be difficult at all for you to eat back all of your caloric defecit. The exercise will still make you healthier though. But in order to lose weight you should eat healthier along with the exercise.

NJL13500

I was stalled for a few weeks and changed my diet and exercise and got the scale to finally move. I was doing 60 minutes of cardio (either elliptical, walking, or biking) each day and very little strength training-maybe a couple of machines if I had some extra time, but nothing structured.

3 weeks ago I upped my calories from 1200 to 1500 and started doing 45 minutes of strength training with barbells and free weights. I do 2 muscle groups per day and rotate through 3 days. I do 4 sets of 12 and the last set is HARD to finish. I take a day off when the gym might be hard to get to that day, but never 2 in a row. I do between 30-45 minutes of cardio now. I concentrate on more protein each day. It seems to be working for me. I lost a pound after 2 weeks of the new plan (after 4 weeks of the scale not moving) and an inch from my hips.

I'm really close to my goal weight so I have to fight for every ounce. I actually met my first 2 goals (139 and then 136) and changed my ultimate goal to 132 so I could say I lost 100 pounds from my highest weight.

Good luck to you. Your body just needs a shake up, but you have to do what works for you and your lifestyle. I'm really lucky to have a very supportive fiance who will go to the gym with me and follow my eating plan.

moosegt35

i have to disagree with the above statements on diet. Its more about lifting weights than diet unless you are like seriously eating bad or overeating and i don't think you would be asking this question if you were eating junk all the time and too much of it.

This is absolutely incorrect. Diet has significantly more to do with weightloss than lifting weights does.

moosegt35

Diet is going to be the big answer - I mean, linebackers work out like 8 hours a day, but they're not really known for being skinny minnies, and that's because you can always eat more than you exercise.

But the other answer is yes, you should be doing both. Replace 2-3 of those cardio days with a 10-minute warmup and a serious full-body resistance workout. You'll get stronger & feel better, and you'll be more likely to hold on to your lovely muscle, which you need for stuff like playing volleyball and carrying toddlers around. (I bench-press my 3-year-old, she thinks it's hilarous.)

linebackers are usually in pretty good shape. They aren't "skinny" per say, but they aren't the ones known for being fat, those are lineman.

psuLemon

Diet is for weight loss, exercise is for fitness. Also, exercising has been proven to help people keep off the weight and allows you to eat more calories.

I have a feeling your issue is under eating + too much cardio = no results. Less calories does NOT always mean more weight loss. Try a moderate deficit increase weight training to 3 days a week (if you want to optimize strength gains limit reps to around 8) but for fat loss, as long as it's less than 15 reps you are fine. There are some advantages of doing high reps. Low reps works strength or fast twitch muscle fibers while high reps works endurance and slow twitch muscle fibers. But from a fat loss perspective, both are effective.