Do you need to lift weights when you are very overweight?
Replies
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Alactic system of burning fuel in the body
Anaerobic system of burning fuel in the body
Aerobic system of burning fuel in the body
Exercises that match the way to burn fuel
Muscle fibers contained in the body and how they are best exercised and fuelled - Type 1 and Type II (argue over a and b later)
So, if you research those factors you will only conclude that to aid your weight loss you must do not just aerobic and weight lifting you must make sure that the weight lifted is HEAVY/low reps, Medium/Medium Reps and Light/high reps and cardio should be done at at least 65%-75% of your maximum heart rate.
Or as a trainer, who has been in the business for 40 years, said to their new client looking for weight loss. Cardio burns fat (in lay terms, plus all the other benefits for heart, lungs etc.) and weight training burns inches (body recomposition)
So, cardio burns fat, weights burn inches.
What?
What do you mean, what? What you do not understand, what I wrote is rubbish. What? what what
So, explain the reason. I would like to know. What is the rubbish part, alactic, anaerobic, aerobic systems?
Words make that sense their on own, together thrown into post, sense making anymore not.0 -
Sounds like your doctor has prescribed cardio for you, this will have been done for the numerous other health benefits that cardiovascular exercise provides, not just for your weight loss.
You have said that you are very overweight, so at the moment you and your doctors priority is to minimise the risk of disease, perhaps reduce medication, improve your cadriovascular system, etc etc.
Keep it simple, you have 200lbs to loose, it's a long journey. The important thing is to start exercising and changing your lifestyle. Just start burning calories, getting in a good habbit, and making a lifestyle change. You aren't going to loose muscle that you don't have whilst your body has so much fat available, so don't be scared into thinking that the treadmill is going to leave you "skinny fat". Your a long way from that and your overall health and disease risk is the important thing right now.
I wouldn't prescribe a lifting program to someone in your situation until you'd made a significant lifestyle change and made good progress on your weight loss and cardiovascular fitness. This will benefit you in the future if you decide to follow a strenght training program.
Not aimed at the OP:
Why does every thread get jumped on by "lift, lift, lift"??? Not everyone is comfortable with a gym or lifting weights, not everyone needs or wants to lift weights. I love the way "muscles burn fat when your not exercising" is always thrown in as a sweeper that pushes all of the other health benefits of cardio under teh table with one big fat brush! There are plenty of ways to maintain muscle tone without lifting weights. None of them matter if your gonna be dead in a year because of heart disease. This isn't a weights v's cardio debate, it's what is appropriate for the person. Loosing weight one step at a time, not one rep at a time.
There's nothing wrong with prescribing cardiovascular exercise to someone with large amounts of weight to loose. Say the OP went to the gym and did 4x30mins lifting per week, what do you think the results for their disease risk, diabetes, weight loss etc would be in 6 weeks? I know it wouldn't be anywhere near what it would if they did 4x30mins cardio per week for 6 weeks.
The important thing for a newcomer or someone with weight to loose is a managable program with results that keep them at it and benefit them in daily life so they will STICK WITH IT.
Anyway, rant over. I'll run off before a dumbell lands my way ;p
I disagree and agree with this, cardio burns a lot of calories but so can weightlifting, for example if you do a bodypump class you will burn a lot of calories to help reduce your weight and dependant on your fitness level and how overweight you are, you may not be able to burn as many through cardio. But obviously this is just my opinion and no I am not jumping on any lifting band wagon I am purely giving my opinion based on experience.0 -
You don't need to but you should.
This woman here is a badass: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/nz_deevaa
She's lifting heavy and (to my knowledge) has been for awhile.
Mix it up and enjoy your workouts so you don't dread it.
Cardio only can get really boring (to some), and weights only can get boring (to some).
She sure is! She is a real inspiration.
And to the OP, good luck with your plan! I'm not an expert so I can't advise you, but you may find you want to mix it up and experiment a little as you find what works for you.0 -
Alactic system of burning fuel in the body
Anaerobic system of burning fuel in the body
Aerobic system of burning fuel in the body
Exercises that match the way to burn fuel
Muscle fibers contained in the body and how they are best exercised and fuelled - Type 1 and Type II (argue over a and b later)
So, if you research those factors you will only conclude that to aid your weight loss you must do not just aerobic and weight lifting you must make sure that the weight lifted is HEAVY/low reps, Medium/Medium Reps and Light/high reps and cardio should be done at at least 65%-75% of your maximum heart rate.
Or as a trainer, who has been in the business for 40 years, said to their new client looking for weight loss. Cardio burns fat (in lay terms, plus all the other benefits for heart, lungs etc.) and weight training burns inches (body recomposition)
So, cardio burns fat, weights burn inches.
What?
What do you mean, what? What you do not understand, what I wrote is rubbish. What? what what
So, explain the reason. I would like to know. What is the rubbish part, alactic, anaerobic, aerobic systems?
Your post is disjointed and makes no sense. Partial sentences. Lists with no explanation. Reads like you copy/pasted a table but missed parts. That's the "What?"0 -
i started off having over 200 to lose and i started with weights early on. i kind of eased into them. i'm very nearly to being able to squat the bar weight, and in fact, that will be my next move fwd.
i do still have cardio days. b/c i like the bike.
but the reason that weights are so important is so that you do not lose lean muscle mass.
so YES start on weights. start on them as soon as you can.0 -
OP: your ticker days you have 300lb to lose but you say in the post you have 200lb to lose. Could you clarify.0
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If facts aren't your thing, there are still masses of anectodal evidence on this very site as to why people should start lifting as soon as possible.
There are numerous folks on here who put such an emphasis on dropping weight and getting there as quick as possible that they lost a lot of their LBM in the process. This can be rebuilt, but I am sure each and every one of them, had they the chance to start over, would say that hitting the weights earlier and taking a little more time to lose the weight would be the path they would choose.
The path you take is completely up to you, and noone is going to hold you hostage in a squat rack, but there are so many people in the same position it makes sense to me to learn from other peoples experiences.0 -
I disagree and agree with this, cardio burns a lot of calories but so can weightlifting, for example if you do a bodypump class you will burn a lot of calories to help reduce your weight and dependant on your fitness level and how overweight you are, you may not be able to burn as many through cardio. But obviously this is just my opinion and no I am not jumping on any lifting band wagon I am purely giving my opinion based on experience.
You can agree with it all when I say I don't disagree with you
I know the benefits and results of strength training and don't disagree with them (or the evidence).
And I am not disputing that lifting burns calories and maintains muscle mass etc. It's important to remember the other benefits of cardio as well though, and the physical difficulties that someone 300lbs overweight may have doing things such as squats and deadlifts. There are so many considerations, but tehre is also a reason that many doctors and health services prescribe cardio and not weight lifting as a starting point for obese patients.0 -
First, you don't need to do anything if you are overweight. And, you can be overweight while committed to lifting and/or cardio.
Since you ask about lifting specifically, here are some things that might help you decide if it's right for you.
1 - Lifting does burn calories, though not as much as cardio does over the same period of time.
2 - Lifting builds muscle, which in turn helps increase your daily caloric burn.
3 - Lifting means adding more muscle, and muscle is more dense. So you may not see a significant weight loss with lifting which means you should use a mirror and take body measurements to measure progress.
4 - It is much more difficult to calculate calories burned during lifting than it is during cardio.
5 - Lifting (non-circuit) does not provide the same health benefits that cardio does (think endurance, resting HR, BP, etc).
There's more to be said, but I have to run off to a meeting.
Good luck!!0 -
^^Agree with all of thsi^^
Very nicely put.0 -
"Your post is disjointed and makes no sense. Partial sentences. Lists with no explanation. Reads like you copy/pasted a table but missed parts. That's the "What?" "
I tend to google things I know nothing about, so I therefore prefer a list to work at instead of long half-arsed explanations. But fair point, I should have said google these and then conclude that you need to weight train and do cardio exercise.
The summary was the main point. cardio fat loss, weight training inch loss. The preamble (list) was to demonstrate how starting factors there are to balance health. fitness and weight loss or indeed weight gain without understanding the very different systems in the body and how specific exercises bring about specific results.
The simplicity of the OP's request, lifting weights when you are very overweight, the world's strongest men are very overweight but have tons of muscle. But we do not conclude that all overweight people are strong or have tons of muscle or a good LBM as one poster has managed to conclude.
Fitness is more than cardio v weights.0 -
"Your post is disjointed and makes no sense. Partial sentences. Lists with no explanation. Reads like you copy/pasted a table but missed parts. That's the "What?" "
I tend to google things I know nothing about, so I therefore prefer a list to work at instead of long half-arsed explanations. But fair point, I should have said google these and then conclude that you need to weight train and do cardio exercise.
The summary was the main point. cardio fat loss, weight training inch loss. The preamble (list) was to demonstrate how starting factors there are to balance health. fitness and weight loss or indeed weight gain without understanding the very different systems in the body and how specific exercises bring about specific results.
The simplicity of the OP's request, lifting weights when you are very overweight, the world's strongest men are very overweight but have tons of muscle. But we do not conclude that all overweight people are strong or have tons of muscle or a good LBM as one poster has managed to conclude.
Fitness is more than cardio v weights.
Ok, that makes SO MUCH more sense now. I feel like you just gave me the decoder ring.0 -
Would you get the same fat-burning hormonal advantages doing bodyweight resistance movements if the intensity of each exercise was such that you are working to strength reps; i.e. 5 - 12 repetitions?
Bodyweight routines are my choice for strength work and I feel the right level of soreness after a workout and would like to think I am generating a similar metabolic effect on my musculature as I would lifting. I have certainly seen strength gains and a steady drop in body fat.
Yeah, for sure. It doesn't matter if your resistance comes from iron or your own body, but it's going to be hard to get a 12-rep max set for very long on, for example, your quads and glutes without weight, and those are big groups to neglect. Pushups have almost endless variations to make it harder but there's a limit to what you can do with bodyweight squats.
If you are starting out very unfit or very overweight, however, you will get some good mileage out of them.
Edit: I take back what I said about bodyweight squats. I just remembered pistol squats.
Thanks MoreBean. I was just about to jump in there with pistol squats, but you got in there first!0 -
^^This^^I didn't read every comment in this thread so forgive me if I'm being repetitive, but there's fat-burning hormonal advantages to weight lifting that you don't get nearly as much of doing cardio. For that reason, and preserving muscle mass, it's highly advantageous to start now.0 -
Just move more and eat less, figure out the rest later....
That's what I did.
When you are morbidly obese, you need to not worry about crap that doesn't matter. At this point, losing weight, regardless of how (assuming its sustainable and healthy), is paramount.0 -
Overweight, underweight...any weight....LIFT!
:drinker:0 -
Overweight, underweight...any weight....LIFT!
:drinker:
^^^ This!!!0 -
I'm not sure exactly how much weight I want to lose but it's significant, maybe 200lbs. My doctor and others just say cardio, cardio, cardio to get the weight off. Should I also be lifting weights or is that not important until an initial 100 lbs is off or so?
Which do you like better? Do that one. I personally loathe cardio, so I'm biased when I say that resistance training will produce better results than cardio.0 -
I'm not sure exactly how much weight I want to lose but it's significant, maybe 200lbs. My doctor and others just say cardio, cardio, cardio to get the weight off. Should I also be lifting weights or is that not important until an initial 100 lbs is off or so?
Ease in to resistance training. Start with cardio, but as your fitness level improves, ramp up resistance training in various ways to prepare to do lifting. It'll take you a month abouts to gain the fitness level you need from ground zero.
That was my tactic, and its working. Still just using weight machines at my local apartment gym and added the resistance band at home, but its doing the trick. Lifting is good too, but I see people often try too much too soon and get discouraged and quit.
Ease in.0 -
Overweight, underweight...any weight....LIFT!
:drinker:
... and don't forget to incorporate lots of punching into your routine! Always keep punching!!0 -
If she's trying to drop 200lbs of excess weight I would say that she does have body comp goals. No need to be sarcastic to other members.
To the OP, start lifting light and gradually increase the weight as your fitness and strength levels improve. By lifting, I mean actually picking up a free standing implement like a barbell or a dumbbell, not overcoming the mechanical resistance of a machine. A really good, basic lifting routine that is a great resource for beginners is Stronglifts 5x5. If you go to stronglifts.com, they have the program there as well as detailed instructions on how to perform the lifts, how and when to increase the weight and a forum where you can go to have other people answer your questions and give you support when you need it. Good luck to you.0 -
Funny how people always say you NEED cardio when in fact you do not. You NEED a calorie deficit. Create it how you like.0
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Nobody NEEDS to lift weights, or brush their teeth, or bathe for that matter.
But it's very, very good for you to do so.
There's no reason to delay. Start last Thursday.
Hey! There's another Powerlifter in this forum!0 -
There are numerous folks on here who put such an emphasis on dropping weight and getting there as quick as possible that they lost a lot of their LBM in the process. This can be rebuilt, but I am sure each and every one of them, had they the chance to start over, would say that hitting the weights earlier and taking a little more time to lose the weight would be the path they would choose.
When you are that overweight, you haven't got much in the way of LBM to lose. But building it up from the start is a good idea. The key is to start easy.
When I first started, I started light. 15 minutes on an elliptical (free in the gym in my apartment complex, so I used it) and good old fashioned resistance exercises that required no equipment, situps, pushups, moved into planks, etc. Seriously could not handle any more and had no money in which to buy a bunch of equipment. The important thing is I made it a habit and kept it up and kept pushing myself further.
This isn't to say that lifting isn't important or useful, because clearly it is, but when you are just starting and have that much weight to lose, you have an opportunity to build the lean body mass concurrently with cardio and a calorie deficit, and it is more important to learn to enjoy exercise and make it a regular habit in the beginning than anything else.0 -
In the end it will probably be a balance. Strength training hepls with the cardio (seems to make them more efficient. I noticed that downhill skiing. Cardio is omportant but the combination is what really helps).
Here's the good news (if you wish to call it that): when you have a large amount of weight to lose, if you start and focus on cardio, you are doing strength training. Just getting up and hauling all that mass already at some pace noticeably higher and longer than sitting on the couch has the effect of both ( a good test of that is climbing stairs. It takes both endurance to do it for some period of time and it takes strength to life the mass). That is basic physics.
But as the weight comes off the resistance lessens. As a practical matter, particularly as you lose weight, strength training will induce your body to burn calories at a slightly elevated rate. But you will have to find and adjust to a routine that suits you. I had been nearly 80-90% cardio. I have increased the resistance/strength training in recent months and although it does not show up in weight, it does show up on muscle tone and definition, something that is really hard to see through the fat layer until that layer eventually burns off.0 -
Calorie deficit gets the weight off. Combination of both is probably the most beneficial.I'm not sure exactly how much weight I want to lose but it's significant, maybe 200lbs. My doctor and others just say cardio, cardio, cardio to get the weight off. Should I also be lifting weights or is that not important until an initial 100 lbs is off or so?
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
I am actually going to go against the grain and against what I usually advise. With the amount of weight you have to lose, I would focus on cardio at first. There are a couple of reasons for this
- you will already have significant LBM due to your size
- at your weight (no offense) the focus should be on losing weight rather than body comp for health reasons
- seeing results quicker will be more satisfying when you have such a large amount to lose
That being said, when you get down to where you have say 100lb or even 200lb to lose, definitely start lifting.
this
you have a lot of LBM, more then you need.
Stick to cardio for a while, don't worry to much about lifting weights or eating lots of protein, just stick to your calories and move
Start lifting when you have 100-150 lbs to lose.
If you want to you can do body weight exercises : planks, push ups, squats ect. with your weight you will be challenging your body this way anyway0 -
I am actually going to go against the grain and against what I usually advise. With the amount of weight you have to lose, I would focus on cardio at first. There are a couple of reasons for this
- you will already have significant LBM due to your size
- at your weight (no offense) the focus should be on losing weight rather than body comp for health reasons
- seeing results quicker will be more satisfying when you have such a large amount to lose
That being said, when you get down to where you have say 100lb or even 200lb to lose, definitely start lifting.
this
you have a lot of LBM, more then you need.
Stick to cardio for a while, don't worry to much about lifting weights or eating lots of protein, just stick to your calories and move
Start lifting when you have 100-150 lbs to lose.
If you want to you can do body weight exercises : planks, push ups, squats ect. with your weight you will be challenging your body this way anyway
How is it possible to have more LBM than you need? That makes no sense.0
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