Cardio vs weights??!! Which do you do & WHY?

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  • Mutant13
    Mutant13 Posts: 2,485 Member
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    I lift because I love it. I do cardio in preparation for the zombie apocalypse.

    Crossbow proficiency>cardio ability
    Real zombies can't run anyway ;)

    I'm not sure on this one. When you have a horde surrounding you on all sides. I think I would rather have the cardiovascular proficiency to zig zag and get the hell out of there.

    Never get surronded. Unless your melee weapon is a katana. Because then you can just spin around and look like a badass
  • likemeinvisible
    likemeinvisible Posts: 309
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    I was into linux for awhile, here's a useful command:
    echo "Joseph C. Donnelly" >> idiots.list
  • shrinkingislander
    shrinkingislander Posts: 315 Member
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    I found the overall tone of the initial post to be quite confrontational, like having a finger wagged in my face. I think lifting is important, yet I fully admit to being a cardio bunny and run 5-6 days a week. I find running clears my head and I really enjoy it. I eat a well balanced diet and drink my water. So far, this has worked for me as I have lost 108lbs. Would this work for everyone, no because each one of us is different. I think exercise needs to be something you enjoy so that you will continue to do it, even on those days you would rather stay in bed. Do I love sprints or running stairs, no so I would probably quit after 1 month. I haven't quit running yet, so I think I'm further ahead.

    I do plan on incorporating weights over the next several weeks, not to los weight but to tone up. But having people say that weights have to be 70% of my effort for me to be successful, while my progress contradicts that. People who love weights, I'm happy for you, enjoy. It works for you. But lets not make it a cardio versus weights debate they are both important but I think what is most important is picking a rountine that you stick to and inspires you to push yourself every day.
  • RikanSoulja
    RikanSoulja Posts: 463 Member
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    I lift because I love it. I do cardio in preparation for the zombie apocalypse.

    Crossbow proficiency>cardio ability
    Real zombies can't run anyway ;)

    I'm not sure on this one. When you have a horde surrounding you on all sides. I think I would rather have the cardiovascular proficiency to zig zag and get the hell out of there.

    Never get surronded. Unless your melee weapon is a katana. Because then you can just spin around and look like a badass

    Lol you are right on that one and coincidentally that would be my weapon of choice.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    6) Your lift can be fat burning as well. I know why so many people fail at lifting programs. They do a set, wait 3-4 minutes then do another. Boring Boring Boring. Yeah I would quit too. Shorten rest periods to a minute or less between sets. If you are not sweating 5 minutes in, you aren't working hard enough!! Increase intensity!!!

    7) You have a cheat day not a cheat meal. I guarantee the person that invented the term "cheat day" was a fat *kitten*. Its "cheat meal" have a cheat meal once every 10-14 days and then get your *kitten* in the gym and make it work for you!!

    There is a lot I would nit pick on the other points, but these I do not agree with.

    First of all, when you are lifting multiples of your body weight, a 3 - 5 minutes rest is necessary much of the time. Lifting is for body composition and should not be turned into a cardio session (unless you are throwing in some conditioning sessions)

    A cheat day is fine as long as you are still at a deficit for the week. It depends on what is defined as a 'cheat'
  • Byrdsong1920
    Byrdsong1920 Posts: 335 Member
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    Greetings from Atlanta....

    I agree with several aspects of this and some I don't....at the end of the day. You have to find what works for you. MFP is great because you get to log your progress and track your weight programs, calories and cardio. I joined a new gym several mts ago. I love it because after meeting w/my nutritionist I knew I had to vary my worksout and stop doing the same cardio and weights routine. Even swapping things out and doin weights 1st and then cardio can help. It shocks your body and it doesn't know what to expect and in turn you are forcing your body to work at its max...vs. it is expecting that 'same' treadmill incline and pace you do each day.

    I take a bootcamp on Mondays thats a NO LIMIT CARDIO AND WEIGHTS and sometimes a NO LIMIT CARDIO(ONLY) on another day. Then weight lift about 2-3 times a week and cardio atleat 4/week; sometimes 5 if I'm feelin myself! I bought a great 'Polar' Heart rate monitor to help track calories and heart rate zones. Comes in handy, especially when you are doin non-traditional activities such as mountain climbing, job outdoors, salsa classes, etc. Also, I have a great workout partner /accountability partner I met at the gym. We text thru the day and share our meals and workout together when we can! I found that lifting weights has helped me build muscle which in turn cuts down on my fat and helps you burn after you leave the gym! My inches have shrunk and I look smaller than I am! All due to fat burning....toning and sculpting my body.

    I eat pretty clean and I do fall off sometimes, but thats reality. I try to pack all my meals and snacks in my portable fold up cooler. Saves money and you make better choices. I am a Realtor, so always on the move, having my food w/me is great and I dont turn into a grizzly bear or great headaches because I am starving! Feeding your body is critical, you want your metabolism to wake up and work FOR YOU... ITS LIKE A FURNACE, the more you feed it, it releases heat and burns! If your body knows its going to eat again in a few hrs it will feel free to release fats and burn calories for u. I even found that timing is everything with food before and after workouts!

    At the end of the day, its a life style change...its a marathon and not a sprint/race....Pace yourself and take your time! Slow and steady wins the race!

    You want to be as beautiful and healthy on the inside as you are on the outside. So take care of your body and be conscious about what you put in it. I do have more fat I want to lose because I know these muscles are a bit covered up, but my 50 lbs total I've lost over the last 2 years has been great and I look and feel wonderful! Our body is our temple and God wants us to take care of it so we can glorify Him and share his goodness w/the world. We cant do that in the hospital or on our death beds. Do it for yourself first, then you children, family, husband, that party,yearly cruise, etc.

    LOVE URSELF ENOUGH TO WANT TO BE HEALTHY and condition and love your heart. You only have one heart and one life. SO LIVE IT!!

    ~THAT'S MY 2 CENTS.... GOD BLESS

    *droppin my mic like Jay-Z(exit stage left)*

    xoxo.-Shan
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
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    6) Your lift can be fat burning as well. I know why so many people fail at lifting programs. They do a set, wait 3-4 minutes then do another. Boring Boring Boring. Yeah I would quit too. Shorten rest periods to a minute or less between sets. If you are not sweating 5 minutes in, you aren't working hard enough!! Increase intensity!!!

    7) You have a cheat day not a cheat meal. I guarantee the person that invented the term "cheat day" was a fat *kitten*. Its "cheat meal" have a cheat meal once every 10-14 days and then get your *kitten* in the gym and make it work for you!!


    Turning your strength training into cardio no longer makes it strength training. :huh: There is a difference people. Circuit training is great, nothing wrong with it at all but it is not "strength" training anymore.

    Cheat meals or days can have a beneficial effect on your health. Especially in you are in a prolonged calorie deficit. Refeeds is a more controlled way to do it but basically has the same effect as long as your total calorie deficit is negative.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsSzl4ecluk
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,248 Member
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    7) You have a cheat day not a cheat meal. I guarantee the person that invented the term "cheat day" was a fat *kitten*. Its "cheat meal" have a cheat meal once every 10-14 days and then get your *kitten* in the gym and make it work for you!!

    I have cheat weekends every weekend, and have for the past year and a half. Except I don't call it cheating, because I'm not doing a damn thing wrong. I just eat whatever the hell I want and don't log it.
  • RobfromLakewood
    RobfromLakewood Posts: 684
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    I do both.
    Cardio is like weight lifting for your heart and lungs.
    Weight lifting is like weight lifting for your muscles.
    The more muscle you pack on your body, the more calories your body burns every day.

    100% agree. Plus it makes me feel good to tax my body in different ways.
  • mystikfairy61
    mystikfairy61 Posts: 80 Member
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    I don't go to a gym and lift weights but I have been doing Zumba for cardio and toning. I use light weights but the videos are higher reps which I feel work for me, for now. I have lost 24 pounds to 201 from my starting 225 and want to get to 145. When I get to a point where I feel I need more weight I will add it but until then Zumba does the trick for me!!
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    I do both. Strength 2x to 3x per week. Same with cardio. Just makes sense for overall health and well being. The OP blog post was filled with misinformatio and broscience as other have pointed out.
  • Enigmatica
    Enigmatica Posts: 879 Member
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    I do cardio because I *will* get my scrawny little butt out and run. Every. Day. Because I love it and it works for me. Sometimes I use little 2 pound weights instead of holding the handlebars when I'm on the elliptical, but that's as close to "weights" as I get unless you count wrestling 90 pound dogs while running 5-7 miles before sunrise. I hate weight lifting equipment, will NOT go to a gym and workout with people all around me - ain't gonna happen. I can't stand "trainers" yelling (forget it, Jillian) and won't do what I don't want to do when what I *do* want to do is working beautifully for me. I've had no problem losing weight let alone maintaining while basically just walking and jogging for exercise and being sensible about what I eat. All my health and fitness stats are excellent. I even found out recently that I can still do pull-ups on the bars out on the community exercise trail at 50 years old. My doctor says I'm super healthy and to keep doing what I'm doing. Every body is different. What works for me might not work for you. And vice versa.
  • schustc
    schustc Posts: 428 Member
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    I agree that weights are better than straight cardio - though a combo of both is good.

    One thing though - I'm totally NOT opposed to a cheat day. Actually, not opposed to having them a couple times a week. it's all relative. All about how fast you want to lose - or how slow. the amount of calories you consume in say a week, is relative to how much you lose. Who cares if you eat 1400 today, and 2000 or 3000 tomorrow? even if you ate 3000 2 days in a week, if you burn an average of 2200, that's an extra 1600 in a week.

    That's not even a pound. If you workout 5 days a week and eat at a deficit of 800-1000/day, guess what - you dropped 5000 and ate an extra 1600 --- AND... you're just about at a pound loss for the week.

    So yeah, I don't do cheat meals, I don't necessarily do cheat days. I just monitor my calories, and if I know I have a special day - or even a really stress-filled over the top day, I know that I can eat an extra 500, or 1000 or even 2000 calories in a day, and the world won't end. my weight loss won't come to a crashing halt.

    As long as I maintain a deficit for the week, I will lose. As long as I maintain an equal balance between calories in = calories out, I won't gain. So I don't follow some predefined schedule. Some months I lose 2 lbs, some months I lose 10 or 14. I'm not in a race, and I'm not gaining back my weight. I'm also not living my life totally by the numbers. I'm just LIVING. AND I love this freedom to be my own boss on my weight loss - my own success is directly measured by how much of a deficit I maintain for a period of time. My rules, my body, my success :) and I'm happy :flowerforyou:
  • Riddickeye
    Riddickeye Posts: 13
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    6) Your lift can be fat burning as well. I know why so many people fail at lifting programs. They do a set, wait 3-4 minutes then do another. Boring Boring Boring. Yeah I would quit too. Shorten rest periods to a minute or less between sets. If you are not sweating 5 minutes in, you aren't working hard enough!! Increase intensity!!!

    7) You have a cheat day not a cheat meal. I guarantee the person that invented the term "cheat day" was a fat *kitten*. Its "cheat meal" have a cheat meal once every 10-14 days and then get your *kitten* in the gym and make it work for you!!


    Turning your strength training into cardio no longer makes it strength training. :huh: There is a difference people. Circuit training is great, nothing wrong with it at all but it is not "strength" training anymore.

    Cheat meals or days can have a beneficial effect on your health. Especially in you are in a prolonged calorie deficit. Refeeds is a more controlled way to do it but basically has the same effect as long as your total calorie deficit is negative.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsSzl4ecluk

    I agree sir
  • joe_d
    joe_d Posts: 73 Member
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    Cardio eats muscles???

    C'mon now, this myth been dead and buried for a long time...
    Read any clinical studies lately?

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10204826

    Here's an excerpt (emphasis on the bolded portion):

    RESULTS:

    Maximum oxygen consumption (Max VO2) increased significantly (p<0.05) but equally in both groups. Body weight decreased significantly more (p<0.01) in C+D than R+D. The C+D group lost a significant (p<0.05) amount of LBW (51 to 47 kg). No decrease in LBW was observed in R+D. In addition, R+D had an increase (p<0.05) in RMR O2 ml/kg/min (2.6 to 3.1). The 24 hour RMR decreased (p<0.05) in the C+D group.
    CONCLUSION:

    The addition of an intensive, high volume resistance training program resulted in preservation of LBW and RMR during weight loss with a VLCD.

    But this study was of people on a very low calorie diet (800 cals a day). You can't just generalize this one study to all situations. Is there any research that covers people who are doing a more modest calorie deficit? The reason I'm poking at this is it's counter to my own experience. In about 3 months, I did pretty much only an elliptical with intervals, lost about 20 lbs, and gained a pound of LBM (as measured by a BodPod) while dropping 5.1% of body fat.

    So it all depends, right? It depends on what kind of cardio you're doing, how hard you push it, what your diet actually is, etc., etc. Is it possible to lose LBM doing only cardio? Sure, I believe that. Do I believe it to necessarily be the case? No...
  • imondrugz
    imondrugz Posts: 154
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    weights are far more superior for fat loss
  • shortchange1
    shortchange1 Posts: 146 Member
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    Cardio = can help lower high blood pressure, increase good cholesterol, improves your body's ability to move nutrients and oxygen to tissues and to dispose of waste products, will improve heart function, and of course it is a great way to lose weight with the right diet plan. This said I lift heavy 5 days a week and am not trying to lose weight, I am currently trying to gain some muscle mass so I have been limiting my cardio but will NEVER stop doing it!

    Exactly! Both are important. Weight training is extrememly important, as is flexibility training AND cardio which is also strenght training for that all-important muscle...the heart.

    I do both, and have been doing both for the last 25 years. I've also been a certified personal trainer since 2001 and make sure my clients include strength training, cardio, flexibility training and balance training.
  • Riddickeye
    Riddickeye Posts: 13
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    Cardio = can help lower high blood pressure, increase good cholesterol, improves your body's ability to move nutrients and oxygen to tissues and to dispose of waste products, will improve heart function, and of course it is a great way to lose weight with the right diet plan. This said I lift heavy 5 days a week and am not trying to lose weight, I am currently trying to gain some muscle mass so I have been limiting my cardio but will NEVER stop doing it!

    Exactly! Both are important. Weight training is extrememly important, as is flexibility training AND cardio which is also strenght training for that all-important muscle...the heart.

    I do both, and have been doing both for the last 25 years. I've also been a certified personal trainer since 2001 and make sure my clients include strength training, cardio, flexibility training and balance training.


    makes perfect sense
  • justjenny
    justjenny Posts: 529 Member
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    BUMP
  • missym357
    missym357 Posts: 210 Member
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    I'm one that does both. I really don't love lifting though. In fact, part of me hates it- it is uncomfortable, boring, and often leaves me hobbling around like an old lady. I'm working on my negative attitude and having a great community at my gym really helps keep me doing it. It never hurts to be stronger and lifting gives my body shape that I otherwise would not have. BUT cardio does so much more for me- most importantly, it clears my head, helps relieve stress and makes me a happier person. How it makes my body look isn't even a part of it.

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