How important is strength training?

Medilia
Medilia Posts: 230 Member
edited January 2 in Fitness and Exercise
I am doing a lot of walking and running in my day to day life to help lose weight, I walk to work and class and so on, but I am not really fitting strength exercises in. Are they that important? How many hours a week of them should I do?

Replies

  • RedWolf09
    RedWolf09 Posts: 90 Member
    Strength training, in my opinion, is VERY important regardless of whether you want to lose or gain weight(muscle mass). Right now, you're doing the basics with your cardio, which is a really good way to start. However, strength trianing will not only help you burn more fat, but will also allow you to maintain the muscle you currently have now instead of starving it away. I found this article that explains it all and also has a section explaining why it is important for women.
    http://www.naturalnews.com/011285.html
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    on a scale of 1-10.. it's a 20. you also want to do compound lifts like deadlifts, bench presses, squats, bb rows, pull ups etc and not those useless (well useless if you're wanting to lose weight and need to be efficient with your time) exercises like tricep kickbacks, the hip abductor/adductor machines and bicep curls.

    some reasons why strength training is important during weight loss

    1) helps save as much of your muscle mass as possible while you eat at a deficit. since you probably want to lose fat this is important

    2) if you have a lot to lose it helps avoid getting saggy skin

    3)it helps keep your metabolism high


    i do 3 about hours a week of strength training .. so that's 3 days of lifting (strong lifts 5*5) and each workout comes to about 60 minutes
  • RedWolf09
    RedWolf09 Posts: 90 Member
    yes that would be a good place to start I'd say do 45 minute workouts, 3 days a week and space them out with a day of rest in between such as Mon, Wed, Fri.
  • Flyered_Up
    Flyered_Up Posts: 31 Member
    Strength training is very important, It prevents you from losing LM. while eating at a deficit to lose weight. And for people my age its like finding the fountain of youth.
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
    Depends on your goal. I once lost 60 lbs doing mostly cardio... martial arts and running. No weight training. I have no idea how much of what I lost was muscle mass though.

    If your goal is to get lighter quickly, diet alone can do that. You will lose fat and muscle mass together. If your goal is to have a hot body, you should lift weights because the muscle will look better when you're done. Plus, muscle is active tissue that burns calories. Increased (or at least maintained) muscle will help you to burn more calories every single day of your life whether you're working out or not.
  • Beezil
    Beezil Posts: 1,677 Member
    I think it really depends on what kind of body you want... if you want a more "toned", lithe, or somewhat sculpted appearance, you will definitely want to do a strength training routine that works each muscle group of the body separately - and make sure you are actually challenging your muscles, not just going through the motions. If you just want to be thin and not have much definition, do light strength training - preserving muscle mass is still important, even if you don't want them to be extremely visible.
  • Fozzi43
    Fozzi43 Posts: 2,984 Member
    I do 30-45 mins twice a week but am going to be increasing that to three times ...I don't do 'proper' weightlifting as I have now gym near me but use hand weights and kettlebells and improvise with those. Also I use ' you are your own gym' as no equipment is needed.
  • Medilia
    Medilia Posts: 230 Member
    Okay so what are some exercises I can do at home without bulky machines or big weights?

    Currently my only strength training is ab crunches but I really want to work on my arms and legs.

    I don't want to be too toned I just don't want to look like a Tim Burton reject (Seriously am I the only one who noticed his characters are either a bull or bones with some skin stretched over them?)
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    I do 30-45 mins twice a week but am going to be increasing that to three times ...I don't do 'proper' weightlifting as I have now gym near me but use hand weights and kettlebells and improvise with those. Also I use ' you are your own gym' as no equipment is needed.

    What is "you are your own gym" ? A dvd or something?
  • Pookylou
    Pookylou Posts: 988 Member
    I'm doing New Rules of Lifting for Women which is awesome! You could do it home with a reasonable home gym set up.

    You Are Your Own Gym is a book, a friend of mine has used it as an intro to strength training and really enjoyed it. Body weight work can be really challenging (check out Convict Conditioning too), 30 Day Shred/Ripped in 30 by Jillian Michaels has a bit of strength work (combined with cardio) so may be a good start?
  • newmein2013
    newmein2013 Posts: 674 Member
    Okay so what are some exercises I can do at home without bulky machines or big weights?

    Currently my only strength training is ab crunches but I really want to work on my arms and legs.

    I don't want to be too toned I just don't want to look like a Tim Burton reject (Seriously am I the only one who noticed his characters are either a bull or bones with some skin stretched over them?)

    Check out The Biggest Loser or New Rules Of Lifting For Women. You can also go to Bodybuilding.com & look up Jamie Eason's at home workouts (Push days & Pull days).
  • Fozzi43
    Fozzi43 Posts: 2,984 Member
    I'm doing New Rules of Lifting for Women which is awesome! You could do it home with a reasonable home gym set up.

    You Are Your Own Gym is a book, a friend of mine has used it as an intro to strength training and really enjoyed it. Body weight work can be really challenging (check out Convict Conditioning too), 30 Day Shred/Ripped in 30 by Jillian Michaels has a bit of strength work (combined with cardio) so may be a good start?


    I downloaded ' you are your own gym' on my iPad. It's a brilliant app!
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    I'm doing New Rules of Lifting for Women which is awesome! You could do it home with a reasonable home gym set up.

    You Are Your Own Gym is a book, a friend of mine has used it as an intro to strength training and really enjoyed it. Body weight work can be really challenging (check out Convict Conditioning too), 30 Day Shred/Ripped in 30 by Jillian Michaels has a bit of strength work (combined with cardio) so may be a good start?

    Thank you! And thanks Fozzi43 for the iPad info. I have one I haven't used yet so this might be a good time to start using it.
  • LizHowerton
    LizHowerton Posts: 329 Member
    on a scale of 1-10.. it's a 20. you also want to do compound lifts like deadlifts, bench presses, squats, bb rows, pull ups etc and not those useless (well useless if you're wanting to lose weight and need to be efficient with your time) exercises like tricep kickbacks, the hip abductor/adductor machines and bicep curls.

    some reasons why strength training is important during weight loss

    1) helps save as much of your muscle mass as possible while you eat at a deficit. since you probably want to lose fat this is important

    2) if you have a lot to lose it helps avoid getting saggy skin

    3)it helps keep your metabolism high


    i do 3 about hours a week of strength training .. so that's 3 days of lifting (strong lifts 5*5) and each workout comes to about 60 minutes

    Why do you consider tricep kickbacks and bicep curls a waste of time?
  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
    Simply stated - Strength Training > Cardio
  • CymruBiology
    CymruBiology Posts: 39 Member
    Simply stated - Strength Training > Cardio

    This totally depends on your goals.
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