How much cardio to how much strength training?

Jess830409

My goal is to lose about 20 lbs and tone up - I know you need to do both cardio and strength training for the best results.

How much of each does everyone do?

What combo has worked the best?

ktnelson88

Hey I'm new to the whole board thing does anyone know how I can get a cardio workout in using a resistance band I'm in a wheelchair so I'm kind a limited on what I can and can't do I'm just hoping there some way I can do a cardio workout using the resistance bands

Jess830409

Not sure honestly


BUMP

gemmaleigh1989

So you have two goals.....lose weight/fat and then build some muscle (toning up IS building muscle)

The truth is, you can't accomplish these two goals at the same time.

What I recommend is lose weight first and then when you are down to your goal weight, focus on building muscle. So I will talk about losing weight first and then biulding muscle.

Losing weight: You need to be eating at a calorie deficit obviously, work out your BMR and then your TDEE and then subtract a few hundred calories from that (but never go below 1200 calories). With exercise, you should mainly be focusing on cardio, so I would do this about 5-6 times a week for 45 minutes to an hour. You should still strength train during this time, and do you know why? It is not to ultimately build muscle, because building muscle while on a calorie deficit is VERY hard to do (unless you're new to lifting, you will make small gains in the beginning), the purpose of weight lifting while on a calorie deficit and losing weight is to PRESERVE existing muscle. If you didn't do this, and just did cardio, you would be burning fat AND muscle....strength train and do cardio and you preserve muscle, meaning you burn fat and very little muscle (which means you burn more fat!!!) I would do 2 days of a full body weight lifting work out, or split them over the week so you hit each body part twice.

Right so onto building muscle....Once you are down to your goal body fat percentage you can start focusing on building muscle. You need to up your calories so you are eating at a calorie surplus....scary I know. But you would need to aim for about 200 calories over your maintenance level. Then you focus heavily on weight lifting and reduce your cardio. I would do cardio about twice a week to keep fat off, and then weight lift most days of the week (making sure you get at least a fulls day rest between each muscle group). Make sure you lift heavy with low reps. I promise you won't get fat from the extra calories, because if you stick to your weight lifting program, these extra calories fuel muscle growth. If you ate these extra calories and didn't do weight training, then obviously your body would store it as fat. Your BF percentage may creep up a little during your muscle building phase, and I'm sorry but this is inevitable....

then once you have your ideal body, you can go down to eating at maintenance level and an even amount of cardio and weight training OR you can go back to the cutting phase while preserving all the new muscles you have built and getting rid of any small BF % you put on during your muscle building phase...however you feel at the time! A lot of people just continue cycling the two phases, but I would personally hope to aim to get to a maintainence phase long term...

Hope I didn't confuse you and let me know if you have any questions!

TR0berts

So you have two goals.....lose weight/fat and then build some muscle (toning up IS building muscle)

The truth is, you can't accomplish these two goals at the same time.

What I recommend is lose weight first and then when you are down to your goal weight, focus on building muscle. So I will talk about losing weight first and then biulding muscle.

No - "toning" simply means to lose fat, so that the underlying muscle shows up better. And if you lose "weight" first, you'll lose LBM - meaning muscle. You absolutely don't want to do that.



OP's best bet would be to do a 3x per week full-body strength routine, such as StrongLifts, Starting Strength, or New Rules of Lifting for Women. Do some additional cardio - about 1/2 hour - either after your lifting; or no more than an hour on your off days. Just make sure you have enough energy and time to recover fully from your lifting session so that you can lift the next day. Do this at a slight Caloric deficit - for 20 lbs, you may be able to go with a 1 lb per week (500 Cal) deficit, although I think 1/2 lb per week (250 Cal) deficit would be best. And be sure to eat back at least half of your exercise Cals, as you'll need the energy.


edited for spelling

RunDoozer

So you have two goals.....lose weight/fat and then build some muscle (toning up IS building muscle)

The truth is, you can't accomplish these two goals at the same time.

What I recommend is lose weight first and then when you are down to your goal weight, focus on building muscle. So I will talk about losing weight first and then biulding muscle.

Losing weight: You need to be eating at a calorie deficit obviously, work out your BMR and then your TDEE and then subtract a few hundred calories from that (but never go below 1200 calories). With exercise, you should mainly be focusing on cardio, so I would do this about 5-6 times a week for 45 minutes to an hour. You should still strength train during this time, and do you know why? It is not to ultimately build muscle, because building muscle while on a calorie deficit is VERY hard to do (unless you're new to lifting, you will make small gains in the beginning), the purpose of weight lifting while on a calorie deficit and losing weight is to PRESERVE existing muscle. If you didn't do this, and just did cardio, you would be burning fat AND muscle....strength train and do cardio and you preserve muscle, meaning you burn fat and very little muscle (which means you burn more fat!!!) I would do 2 days of a full body weight lifting work out, or split them over the week so you hit each body part twice.

Right so onto building muscle....Once you are down to your goal body fat percentage you can start focusing on building muscle. You need to up your calories so you are eating at a calorie surplus....scary I know. But you would need to aim for about 200 calories over your maintenance level. Then you focus heavily on weight lifting and reduce your cardio. I would do cardio about twice a week to keep fat off, and then weight lift most days of the week (making sure you get at least a fulls day rest between each muscle group). Make sure you lift heavy with low reps. I promise you won't get fat from the extra calories, because if you stick to your weight lifting program, these extra calories fuel muscle growth. If you ate these extra calories and didn't do weight training, then obviously your body would store it as fat. Your BF percentage may creep up a little during your muscle building phase, and I'm sorry but this is inevitable....

then once you have your ideal body, you can go down to eating at maintenance level and an even amount of cardio and weight training OR you can go back to the cutting phase while preserving all the new muscles you have built and getting rid of any small BF % you put on during your muscle building phase...however you feel at the time! A lot of people just continue cycling the two phases, but I would personally hope to aim to get to a maintainence phase long term...

Hope I didn't confuse you and let me know if you have any questions!

Sorry, but no.

No - "toning" simply means to lose fat, so that the underlying muscle shows up better. And if you lose "weight" first, you'll lose LBM - meaning muscle. You absolutely don't want to do that.



OP's best bet would be to do a 3x per week full-body strength routine, such as StrongLifts, Starting Strength, or New Rules of Lifting for Women. Do some additional cardio - about 1/2 hour - either after your lifting; or no more than an hour on your off days. Just make sure you have enough energy and time to recover fully from your lifting session so that you can lift the next day. Do this at a slight Caloric deficit - for 20 lbs, you may be able to go with a 1 lb per week (500 Cal) deficit, although I think 1/2 lb per week (250 Cal) deficit would be best. And be sure to eat back at least half of your exercise Cals, as you'll need the energy.

Exactly this. You can lose weight and retain most of your LBM by lifting. There will be some loss but a lot less than if you do cardio without strength training. You will end up looking much better in the end too.

Stronglifts

Jess830409

Thanks for the responses - see, this is the sort of feedback I need....totally clueless on this part of it all

sarahlouise7

Iv done alot of research into this, both here, online and people i know who have knowledge. Every one has said the same thing to me.....to lift at a calorie deficit and add a couple of cardio sessions in. This will enable me to lose body fat whilst retaining as much lean body mass as possible. I start strong lifts in April and will be following this advice.

Lift - Mon Wed and Fri - I will follow Strong lifts 5x5 programme
Cardio - Tue and Thurs - 30-45 min - I will swim, run, cycle and row to keep it varied, prob HIIT if I can.

This leave wknd free for me as thats when my time is limited, so do days that suit you best but dont forget to not lift using same muscle groups on consecutive days, they need rest as im sure you probably know. There are some ladies on here who have had some great results doing this Good luck.

zooles

Hey I'm new to the whole board thing does anyone know how I can get a cardio workout in using a resistance band I'm in a wheelchair so I'm kind a limited on what I can and can't do I'm just hoping there some way I can do a cardio workout using the resistance bands

My BIL is a quad and has a stationery bike mounted on a table that his hands slip into. I was wondering if you could wrap your bands around something and maybe use them in a similar fashion.

Did your bands come with a video? Maybe they have something you can utilize/modify from there.

loriband

Bump

_DaniD_

I did 6 days a week cardio with no lifting when losing weight (25 lbs). I didn't become skinny fat or look horrible naked contrary to all the horror stories I heard.

I'm now lifting and doing cardio. Cardio 5 - 6 days a week and lifting 2 - 3 days a week.

_Witsy_

My aim is to do full body weights 3 days, cardio 3-5

taso42

You don't need any cardio for this goal - only calorie deficit, good macros, and strength training. However cardio is good for your cardiovascular system, so it's well worth doing 2-3x/week.

gemmaleigh1989

So you have two goals.....lose weight/fat and then build some muscle (toning up IS building muscle)

The truth is, you can't accomplish these two goals at the same time.

What I recommend is lose weight first and then when you are down to your goal weight, focus on building muscle. So I will talk about losing weight first and then biulding muscle.

No - "toning" simply means to lose fat, so that the underlying muscle shows up better. And if you lose "weight" first, you'll lose LBM - meaning muscle. You absolutely don't want to do that.



OP's best bet would be to do a 3x per week full-body strength routine, such as StrongLifts, Starting Strength, or New Rules of Lifting for Women. Do some additional cardio - about 1/2 hour - either after your lifting; or no more than an hour on your off days. Just make sure you have enough energy and time to recover fully from your lifting session so that you can lift the next day. Do this at a slight Caloric deficit - for 20 lbs, you may be able to go with a 1 lb per week (500 Cal) deficit, although I think 1/2 lb per week (250 Cal) deficit would be best. And be sure to eat back at least half of your exercise Cals, as you'll need the energy.


edited for spelling

Which is why I said to lift while on a calorie deficit.... To preserve muscle mass.

"toning" is a bs word the fitness industry has created for women scared of lifting
What If the op has very little muscle mass in the first place? She burns all the fat and all she is going to look is skinny... Not fit or athletic... Hence heave lifting to BUILD muscle. "toning" is a stupid concept.. You either build muscle or you don't... You either burn fat to show muscle or you don't...

Capt_Apollo

i agree with the above posters. you need about 2-3 days of cardio a week, and 2-3 days of strength training a week.

OP, are you looking to run, bike, swim? are you planning on taking classes at a gym, or sticking to barbells and other free weights?

gemmaleigh1989

So you have two goals.....lose weight/fat and then build some muscle (toning up IS building muscle)

The truth is, you can't accomplish these two goals at the same time.

What I recommend is lose weight first and then when you are down to your goal weight, focus on building muscle. So I will talk about losing weight first and then biulding muscle.

Losing weight: You need to be eating at a calorie deficit obviously, work out your BMR and then your TDEE and then subtract a few hundred calories from that (but never go below 1200 calories). With exercise, you should mainly be focusing on cardio, so I would do this about 5-6 times a week for 45 minutes to an hour. You should still strength train during this time, and do you know why? It is not to ultimately build muscle, because building muscle while on a calorie deficit is VERY hard to do (unless you're new to lifting, you will make small gains in the beginning), the purpose of weight lifting while on a calorie deficit and losing weight is to PRESERVE existing muscle. If you didn't do this, and just did cardio, you would be burning fat AND muscle....strength train and do cardio and you preserve muscle, meaning you burn fat and very little muscle (which means you burn more fat!!!) I would do 2 days of a full body weight lifting work out, or split them over the week so you hit each body part twice.

Right so onto building muscle....Once you are down to your goal body fat percentage you can start focusing on building muscle. You need to up your calories so you are eating at a calorie surplus....scary I know. But you would need to aim for about 200 calories over your maintenance level. Then you focus heavily on weight lifting and reduce your cardio. I would do cardio about twice a week to keep fat off, and then weight lift most days of the week (making sure you get at least a fulls day rest between each muscle group). Make sure you lift heavy with low reps. I promise you won't get fat from the extra calories, because if you stick to your weight lifting program, these extra calories fuel muscle growth. If you ate these extra calories and didn't do weight training, then obviously your body would store it as fat. Your BF percentage may creep up a little during your muscle building phase, and I'm sorry but this is inevitable....

then once you have your ideal body, you can go down to eating at maintenance level and an even amount of cardio and weight training OR you can go back to the cutting phase while preserving all the new muscles you have built and getting rid of any small BF % you put on during your muscle building phase...however you feel at the time! A lot of people just continue cycling the two phases, but I would personally hope to aim to get to a maintainence phase long term...

Hope I didn't confuse you and let me know if you have any questions!

Sorry, but no.

No - "toning" simply means to lose fat, so that the underlying muscle shows up better. And if you lose "weight" first, you'll lose LBM - meaning muscle. You absolutely don't want to do that.



OP's best bet would be to do a 3x per week full-body strength routine, such as StrongLifts, Starting Strength, or New Rules of Lifting for Women. Do some additional cardio - about 1/2 hour - either after your lifting; or no more than an hour on your off days. Just make sure you have enough energy and time to recover fully from your lifting session so that you can lift the next day. Do this at a slight Caloric deficit - for 20 lbs, you may be able to go with a 1 lb per week (500 Cal) deficit, although I think 1/2 lb per week (250 Cal) deficit would be best. And be sure to eat back at least half of your exercise Cals, as you'll need the energy.

Exactly this. You can lose weight and retain most of your LBM by lifting. There will be some loss but a lot less than if you do cardio without strength training. You will end up looking much better in the end too.

Stronglifts

While I respect others opinions, you can't just say "no" and not back it up with any points. And then what you went on to say was practically in line with half of what I said anyway... Lol

_noob_

it's all about your goals.

no one here can answer this.

I personally care more about looks, as health benefits come from either, so I do all lifting. Every now and then I do cardio just to make sure I still can (like I ran 2.2 miles the other day in 17 mins just to make sure I could still run a good time).

Sarauk2sf

You do not *need* to do cardio. You should do cardio if you want to do it. All you need is a caloric deficit to lose weight. You should do some strength training (and get enough protein) to make sure you maintain LBM.

Sarauk2sf

Hey I'm new to the whole board thing does anyone know how I can get a cardio workout in using a resistance band I'm in a wheelchair so I'm kind a limited on what I can and can't do I'm just hoping there some way I can do a cardio workout using the resistance bands

There are upper workouts you can do with them. If you have a low enough resistance you can do 'endurance' type strength training which is more like cardio.

If you can secure them to somewhere stable enough (and make sure your wheelchair is also stable enough so it does not slide) you can do things like chest press, back flys, overhead presses.

ETA: found this:
http://www.disaboom.com/adaptive-fitness/resistance-band-workout-for-wheelchair-users

The more reps you do, the more endurance it builds

SJackson50

it's all about your goals.

no one here can answer this.

^This. and this:

You do not *need* to do cardio. You should do cardio if you want to do it. All you need is a caloric deficit to lose weight. You should do some strength training (and get enough protein) to make sure you maintain LBM.

I lost fifty pounds and did not spend an hour doing cardio, nor 5 days doing it. I did it all with circuit training and a calorie deficit.
Good luck with your goals.

Lt_Starbuck

should be 30/30/30 but I do 60% weights 25% cardio and 15% flex