Forgoing strength for a while?

13

Replies

  • martinh78
    martinh78 Posts: 601
    Cardio doesn't burn fat, all it does is burn calories

    Have a think about this statement whilst I laugh for a bit longer...
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    Cardio doesn't burn fat, all it does is burn calories

    Have a think about this statement whilst I laugh for a bit longer...

    Except the poster is right. The energy consumption from the cardio can be sourced from fat, glycogen or protein basically. It isn't just fat. So not trying to maintain LBM is a mistake - weight loss will result in LBM loss if you are not careful.
    The computer analog stretched : the data processing used up the physical data strorage and/or the CPU. But like leaky code and bad swapping both get used up if your data processing routines are run too fast, it's the CPU that suffers the most.

    And no, a reboot is not a cleanse.
  • AyaKara
    AyaKara Posts: 220
    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*/

    You are amazing.
  • Admiral_Derp
    Admiral_Derp Posts: 866 Member
    You wait. I'll think of a way to express his analogy piping cat and grep commands together and then I'll get all the nerd accolades!
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    You wait. I'll think of a way to express his analogy piping cat and grep commands together and then I'll get all the nerd accolades!

    Just write it in assembly language and call it a day. Make it so what you want to say is written out on the screen one pixel at a time.

    key: nerd ~ translation

    Don't MUX it all up ~ Don't muddle it all up

    Take the $gp people are giving you ~ Take the global point people are giving you.

    Why would you just j ~ Why would you just jump (do cardio)

    when you could $31=PC+4 ~ when you could increment your program (counter)

    ...thus jal STRENGTH? ~ thus jump and link in some strength training?

    Don't just sw $t0, 1($a0) ~ Don't just register this argument temporarily

    .....sw $zero, 1($a0) ~ Save it somewhere obscure...and mess with everyone else haha.
  • Admiral_Derp
    Admiral_Derp Posts: 866 Member
    Wow, throw in a black light, some imported beer, KMFDM, and some girls dressed in sexy Ood costumes (those exist right?) and this will become the best thread ever!
  • hmadrone
    hmadrone Posts: 129 Member
    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!)

    And Macs are the guys at the gym who have calibrated their macronutrients to 0.01 gram, drink protein shakes with raw eggs in them, do strength training on machines adjustable to the ounce, and have apps on their phones that weigh their bowel movements.

    Seriously, though, you can do a decent strength training routine in about half an hour twice a week if you lift heavy and slow enough and choose the right exercises. If you need to devote less time to exercising, you can cut back on the strength training and focus more on cardio for a while.

    Your body, your science experiment.
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    Why would you drop the Strength in favour of cardio if both are too much? Both create a calorie deficit, one is more effective for preserving lean mass. I'd opt for that one, myself.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    Wow, throw in a black light, some imported beer, KMFDM, and some girls dressed in sexy Ood costumes (those exist right?) and this will become the best thread ever!

    I can't give you Ood but my plan for next Halloween is the flying spaghetti monster or Cthulhu...if you squint...
  • Admiral_Derp
    Admiral_Derp Posts: 866 Member
    Wow, throw in a black light, some imported beer, KMFDM, and some girls dressed in sexy Ood costumes (those exist right?) and this will become the best thread ever!

    I can't give you Ood but my plan for next Halloween is the flying spaghetti monster or Cthulhu...if you squint...

    LOL Close enough!
  • hmadrone
    hmadrone Posts: 129 Member
    for pal in thread.posters:
    pal.set_weight(pal.goalWeight)
    pal.set_buffness(MaxBuff)
    pal.grant_hearts_desire()

    It doesn't show my indentation, but Python still knows it's there.
  • martinh78
    martinh78 Posts: 601
    Cardio doesn't burn fat, all it does is burn calories

    Have a think about this statement whilst I laugh for a bit longer...

    The energy consumption from the cardio can be sourced from fat,

    It isn't just fat.

    We agree, not sure how that makes the OP right? "Cardio doesn't burn fat". Yes it does. "All it does is burn calories", of which fat will be a percentage of those calories.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    Cardio doesn't burn fat, all it does is burn calories

    Have a think about this statement whilst I laugh for a bit longer...

    The energy consumption from the cardio can be sourced from fat,

    It isn't just fat.

    We agree, not sure how that makes the OP right? "Cardio doesn't burn fat". Yes it does. "All it does is burn calories", of which fat will be a percentage of those calories.

    Actually this is wrong, if you are in a caloric surplus cardio will not burn fat, it will use up energy in the body that would have otherwise been converted to fat or muscle. living burns calories, but if you are not in a deficit you will not burn body fat.

    This is why you will burn as much fat eating 2000, if your maintenance is 2500, as you would by eating 2500, if your maintenance is 2500 and you burn an extra 500 from cardio. Both give you a deficit of 500 cals/day. Now if you did strength training instead of cardio and had a 500 cal deficit, a large % of that deficit will go to fat loss vs. what you would get by a 500 cal deficit with cardio only, or with no exercise at all.

    So cardio does not help you lose weight, it helps you eat more to lose the same amount of weight you could have lost from diet alone. to make sure it is almost all fat loss you need enough protein and strength training.

    ETA: Cardio has a host of health benefits, but fat loss is not among them (that is cals in vs. out regardless of the amount of cardio)
  • FullOfWin
    FullOfWin Posts: 1,414 Member
    KMFDM
    A constant intrusion
    It poisons your blood
    You need an infusion!

    I also have a 4 foot black light tucked away somewhere at my house
  • nguk123
    nguk123 Posts: 223
    Its kind of like finance... cardio is your short term investments, and resistance training long-term.

    I suggest a diversified portfolio

    :P
  • da_bears10089
    da_bears10089 Posts: 1,791 Member
    i started off with doing pretty much all cardio and it helped me lose weight, but since then i have switched to lifting heavy 3 times a week and then doing cardio 3 times a week. On my lifting days, i run for 20 minutes or so just to get my heartrate up to where i need it to be and i still burn a decent amount of calories throughout my whole workout. I like it because then i don't get stuck in the monotony of cardio only.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    for pal in thread.posters:
    pal.set_weight(pal.goalWeight)
    pal.set_buffness(MaxBuff)
    pal.grant_hearts_desire()

    It doesn't show my indentation, but Python still knows it's there.
    <3 python. So many built in math functions. I also love my king snake.
    KMFDM
    A constant intrusion
    It poisons your blood
    You need an infusion!

    I also have a 4 foot black light tucked away somewhere at my house
    I have one sitting next to me, now we have 2!
  • Admiral_Derp
    Admiral_Derp Posts: 866 Member
    KMFDM
    A constant intrusion
    It poisons your blood
    You need an infusion!

    I also have a 4 foot black light tucked away somewhere at my house
    I have one sitting next to me, now we have 2!

    I'll bring the beer!
  • Martucha123
    Martucha123 Posts: 1,089 Member
    quit cardio
    adjust calorie goal
    keep lifting
  • martinh78
    martinh78 Posts: 601
    Cardio doesn't burn fat, all it does is burn calories

    Have a think about this statement whilst I laugh for a bit longer...

    The energy consumption from the cardio can be sourced from fat,

    It isn't just fat.

    We agree, not sure how that makes the OP right? "Cardio doesn't burn fat". Yes it does. "All it does is burn calories", of which fat will be a percentage of those calories.

    Actually this is wrong, if you are in a caloric surplus cardio will not burn fat, it will use up energy in the body that would have otherwise been converted to fat or muscle. living burns calories, but if you are not in a deficit you will not burn body fat.

    This is why you will burn as much fat eating 2000, if your maintenance is 2500, as you would by eating 2500, if your maintenance is 2500 and you burn an extra 500 from cardio. Both give you a deficit of 500 cals/day. Now if you did strength training instead of cardio and had a 500 cal deficit, a large % of that deficit will go to fat loss vs. what you would get by a 500 cal deficit with cardio only, or with no exercise at all.

    So cardio does not help you lose weight, it helps you eat more to lose the same amount of weight you could have lost from diet alone. to make sure it is almost all fat loss you need enough protein and strength training.

    ETA: Cardio has a host of health benefits, but fat loss is not among them (that is cals in vs. out regardless of the amount of cardio)


    The OP did not say that he was in a calorific surplus trying to build muscle mass. He is in a deficit, trying to loose weight.

    Exercise at between 60-70% of HRM does burn predominantly fats for fuel. The "fat burning zone" as it is commonly known varies for an individual and can be caluclated by monitoring the respitory exchange ratio (Carbon diopxide v's Oxygen). As the intensity or duration increases the % of fat burned as calories per calorie burned will reduce, but as the total number of calories burned has increased the number of fat calories will also continue increase (just at a lesser ratio). It is only once the body reaches a level of fatigue and the respiratory exchange reaches or exceeds 1:1 that the body burns purely carbohydrate for energy (above the anaerobic threshold).

    So your original statement that "cardio does not burn fat all it does is burn calories" remains incorrect, and your later statement that

    "cardio does not help you lose weight, it helps you eat more to lose the same amount of weight you could have lost from diet alone" is also dubious.

    If you have a calorie deficit, be it from diet, exercise, or (as is ideal for many other health benefits) a combination of the two, you will loose weight.

    Had you said that "cardio training above the anaerobic threshold does not burn fat it just burns calories" I would have agreed with you.

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