Forgoing strength for a while?
Replies
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I am a firm believer in the importance of strength training during weight loss, but I'm wondering if I should skip it, in favor of more cardio for a few months? I had lost about 60 pounds last year, hitting both the cardio and weights pretty hard, but then I quit altogether because I started to get overwhelmed and wasn't willing to make the adjustments. So I've put about 40 lbs back on, and have an excess of about 200 lbs. to lose. So I'm thinking about pulling back on the weights and hitting some extra cardio for the first month or two of getting back on track. Good idea? Bad idea?
Avoid over kill. A lot of people come blazing into their weight loss journey and can't keep that momentum up. There is no need to spend 2 hours at the gym. (Of course if you love that much gym time by all means do it) It's more important to just get back to the routine of going to the gym and doing the exercises that you ENJOY, it will help you stay more consistent, you'll be less likely to quit. Get off the see saw of over-training at the gym and doing nothing at all and get on a sensible sustainable fitness routine!0 -
Start tracking calories and macros again, it's important.
Aside from the time, that's the same basic approach I had been thinking about. Definitely going to start with the macros again. This is only my second day back on track, but I'll get there. Thanks for the info...definitely thorough, well-reasoned and helpful.
No problem, you have any questions I'm more than willing to help as best I can, and there are a lot of really knowledgeable people (much moreso than me) on here. Good luck.0 -
Cardio doesn't burn fat, all it does is burn calories letting you eat more while achieving the same caloric deficit you could have achieved from diet alone with no cardio. I would suggest cutting cals slightly and sticking with the weights, that way the majority of your weight loss will come from fat instead of a large % of it being from lean muscle mass0
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I would not eliminate strength training.
Just start your whole program over; perform both cardio and resistance balanced with good nutrition.
Simple deal.
Follow the MFP recommendations for safe, steady and lasting results.
You can do this!0 -
No.
I had worked on 'building a butt' because mine was a little flat... then i started a half marathon training, and wihle I was so focused on running and just concerned with making it through the race, I slacked on the strength. I literally ran my butt off!! I'm doing another half marathon training program now (after running 2 half's) because I like the saturday morning long (group) runs... but I'm much more focused on keeping up with other aspects that help with the running.
Long story short. don't give up on the strength - that would be dumb. muscle burns fat.0 -
You could always do an activity that has both - interval strength training (I was sweating an got more of a cardio workout doing one minute at each station - push ups, sit ups, kettle bell swings, etc.), or water aerobics (water has resistance - I have build muscle this way), Zumba (has some strength moves like squats - or try Zumba toning), or plain old swimming. All of these are great cardio workouts.0
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I think everyone is assuming your ultimate goal is physique. If so, I agree that you shouldn't skip the lifting, just adjust cal intake. But it might be helpful if you tell us what your real goals are. Cuz there are circumstances where weights takes a backseat to cardio.0
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Add cardio to your warm-up before weights, & do some gentle cardio on your rest days (a 20-30 minute walk around the park or something) for heart health, but I wouldn't focus entirely on cardio if I were you. Cardio helps you lose pounds, but strength training shapes your body, tightens your skin, & makes you stronger!0
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Negatory bro. Don't skip the weights...the more muscle mass you have, the more calories your body burns throughout the day.0
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Pretty much got it all resolved. I'm going to adjust my workouts so that I actually have more strength (around an hour to an hour and a half, 3 days a week with a 5 minute cardio warm up/cool-down) and then moderate/light cardio on the off days. That way I'm not burning so many calories that I can't eat most back. This should keep my deficit, my BMR, and all that much closer together. Thanks for all the help!0
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Yeah, I see what you're saying. I guess I was just looking at which one would have more of a short-term benefit vs. the long-term. I'm a big believer that the "shortcut mentality" is always wrong with fitness, but being a coder/computer guy, we're always looking for easier, faster ways to do things, and that has a tendency to seep over into other stuff. I guess it's not always the most efficient way to do things though.
As a fellow computer guy, I've got a good way to think about cardio vs. weight training.
Energy = Data. The core
Exercise = Data processing. You're "processing" energy.
Fat = Physical Data Storage.
Metabolism = Data bus - how quickly you can get your "data" out of storage.
Endurance = RAM. The more endurance you have, the longer you can exercise before resting and pulling more energy out of storage.
Muscle strength = CPU. This is what does the processing - the more muscle you have, the faster you process the energy.
Cardio = upgrading your RAM and motherboard.
Strength training = upgrading your CPU.
You can either develop your body to be able to run at a slightly elevated level for a long time (think single core system with lots of RAM), or be able to do a lot of work in short time (Dual-CPU quad-core system with less RAM), or a little of both.
You wouldn't put 16 GB of RAM on a single core computer (you can run for miles, but can't lift much weight), nor would you try to run a multi-core system on 2 GB of RAM (you can squat a tank, but you get winded running more than 40 yards). You need to upgrade both equally for best results, so I'd stick with both cardio and weight training.
/*END NERD OUTPUT*/0 -
Yeah, I see what you're saying. I guess I was just looking at which one would have more of a short-term benefit vs. the long-term. I'm a big believer that the "shortcut mentality" is always wrong with fitness, but being a coder/computer guy, we're always looking for easier, faster ways to do things, and that has a tendency to seep over into other stuff. I guess it's not always the most efficient way to do things though.
As a fellow computer guy, I've got a good way to think about cardio vs. weight training.
Energy = Data. The core
Exercise = Data processing. You're "processing" energy.
Fat = Physical Data Storage.
Metabolism = Data bus - how quickly you can get your "data" out of storage.
Endurance = RAM. The more endurance you have, the longer you can exercise before resting and pulling more energy out of storage.
Muscle strength = CPU. This is what does the processing - the more muscle you have, the faster you process the energy.
Cardio = upgrading your RAM and motherboard.
Strength training = upgrading your CPU.
You can either develop your body to be able to run at a slightly elevated level for a long time (think single core system with lots of RAM), or be able to do a lot of work in short time (Dual-CPU quad-core system with less RAM), or a little of both.
You wouldn't put 16 GB of RAM on a single core computer (you can run for miles, but can't lift much weight), nor would you try to run a multi-core system on 2 GB of RAM (you can squat a tank, but you get winded running more than 40 yards). You need to upgrade both equally for best results, so I'd stick with both cardio and weight training.
/*END NERD OUTPUT*/
That's how an analogy gets done!0 -
ha so we all want more fat...
It's not needed as much as it used to be when it was scarce, and now it can be had in MUCH greater abundance and at MUCH lower cost than ever before.0 -
I wouldn't forego strength training unless you have to due to some sort of physical issue. The benefts are too many.
I'm having to forego it for the next 4 to 6 weeks due to DCO, but once the pain in the shoulder is gone and the dr. gives me the goa ahead, I'll start back up again.0 -
ha so we all want more fat...
To run with the analogy, your brain is your operating system. You decide how much data you want to store for what you need to do. Windows is the guy who eats like there's no tomorrow, and wants more and more local data storage (50 GB to install the base level for Windows 2008? rediculous). Linux is the guy who has just enough fat to live a healthy lifestyle (you can run a webserver on little more than a single CD's worth of space!)
External data storage is your pantry. It's still energy, but since you don't need it immediately, it can be stored safely "off-site". It's when you try to put everything into local storage (eating until you're fat) when you get problems.0 -
ha so we all want more fat...
It's not needed as much as it used to be when it was scarce, and now it can be had in MUCH greater abundance and at MUCH lower cost than ever before.
AGREED - wish I saw this a few minutes ago.0 -
NICE!Yeah, I see what you're saying. I guess I was just looking at which one would have more of a short-term benefit vs. the long-term. I'm a big believer that the "shortcut mentality" is always wrong with fitness, but being a coder/computer guy, we're always looking for easier, faster ways to do things, and that has a tendency to seep over into other stuff. I guess it's not always the most efficient way to do things though.
As a fellow computer guy, I've got a good way to think about cardio vs. weight training.
Energy = Data. The core
Exercise = Data processing. You're "processing" energy.
Fat = Physical Data Storage.
Metabolism = Data bus - how quickly you can get your "data" out of storage.
Endurance = RAM. The more endurance you have, the longer you can exercise before resting and pulling more energy out of storage.
Muscle strength = CPU. This is what does the processing - the more muscle you have, the faster you process the energy.
Cardio = upgrading your RAM and motherboard.
Strength training = upgrading your CPU.
You can either develop your body to be able to run at a slightly elevated level for a long time (think single core system with lots of RAM), or be able to do a lot of work in short time (Dual-CPU quad-core system with less RAM), or a little of both.
You wouldn't put 16 GB of RAM on a single core computer (you can run for miles, but can't lift much weight), nor would you try to run a multi-core system on 2 GB of RAM (you can squat a tank, but you get winded running more than 40 yards). You need to upgrade both equally for best results, so I'd stick with both cardio and weight training.
/*END NERD OUTPUT*/0 -
ha so we all want more fat...
To run with the analogy, your brain is your operating system. You decide how much data you want to store for what you need to do. Windows is the guy who eats like there's no tomorrow, and wants more and more local data storage (50 GB to install the base level for Windows 2008? rediculous). Linux is the guy who has just enough fat to live a healthy lifestyle (you can run a webserver on little more than a single CD's worth of space!)
External data storage is your pantry. It's still energy, but since you don't need it immediately, it can be stored safely "off-site". It's when you try to put everything into local storage (eating until you're fat) when you get problems.
You had me at Linux. You wanna go to prom with me bro?0 -
ha so we all want more fat...
To run with the analogy, your brain is your operating system. You decide how much data you want to store for what you need to do. Windows is the guy who eats like there's no tomorrow, and wants more and more local data storage (50 GB to install the base level for Windows 2008? rediculous). Linux is the guy who has just enough fat to live a healthy lifestyle (you can run a webserver on little more than a single CD's worth of space!)
External data storage is your pantry. It's still energy, but since you don't need it immediately, it can be stored safely "off-site". It's when you try to put everything into local storage (eating until you're fat) when you get problems.
*doe eyed*
:flowerforyou:
*goes back to installing development kits on her new quad core*0 -
In my humble opinion, I think in the beginning focusing more on cardio is important (while still doing some strength training). I think once you get maybe within 20 pounds or so of goal, then I would up the strength training. I know this works for me.0
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