Is there a point to lifting weights?

Building serious muscle mass requires your body to be in an anabolic state. That means a calorie surplus. When people who lift heavy talk about building muscle, this is what they mean.

You can increase your muscle mass by lifting weights even at a caloric deficit, it just wont be very much.

However, there is a huge difference between trained muscle and untrained muscle. This dang ol app wont let me copy/paste so I cant post the links to the studies, but in general trained muscle is much better Better metabolism, etc.

There are other benefits as well, such as stronger bones, improved coordination, and a more efficient nervous system. All of these benefits come from lifting heavy (ie body weight plus weights), regardless of your calorie balance. In addition, lifting weights while in a calorie deficit will help prevent muscle degradation.

But for someone losing weight with a calorie deficit, is there really any point?

Yes.

Preserving muscle tissue requires much less work and effort than building / rebuilding it. In other words triggering adaptations (going through the super compensation cycle) than keeping it at a plateau.

You don't have to go nuts though. 2 full body weight routine sessions per week will suffice, 3 if you can manage it.

ETA: body weight exercise will suffice as well if you know how to keep up the progression / intensity. It's just a bit easier to do with traditional free weights / machines (ie add more weight!)

As a dude asthetically men look better with muscle tone (take it from a woman...skinny guys aren't so hot). Not to mention it is great for your health.

It is never too early to start weight training, even if it is only 2 days a week to start.

Actually, all it takes is two days a week of weight lifting (but it has to be strenuous ie heavy weights to exhaustion).

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Since you can't build muscle anyway with a calorie deficit?

You mentioned this twice. it's patently false. You absolutely can build muscle with a calorie deficit. I've been eating a deficit for over a year, and strength training. Based on ultrasounds and continued monitoring, my lean body mass has increased 15 lbs while I've lost almost 75.

Lean mass is not only muscle tissue. It is also water in your muscle's glycogen stores which can simulate muscle tissue growth when in fact that is not the case. You also can absolutely get stronger without gaining any muscle tissue. Outside of newbie gains (or getting back into a weight lifting routine), it is against the laws of physics to build measurable muscle mass on a calorie deficit. What makes you think the body, which is at a deficit and for survival sake is having to use valuable stored fat for energy, will use additional energy to grow muscles?

With strength training and adequate protein, it will preserve the muscle tissue already there since it is needed, but a living organism that is essentially fighting for survival is not going to spend EVEN MORE energy creating muscle mass that isn't necessary.

As a dude asthetically men look better with muscle tone (take it from a woman...skinny guys aren't so hot).

^^This!! Why in the world would a man NOT want to lift??

Mainly because I find it mind numbingly boring personally. Bodyweight exercises aren't so bad, but I find weights dreadful. And it seems that bodyweight exercises are all you need to build muscle, definition, and strength.

Did you post that you'd rather not lift weights originally? If not, then it's kind of a waste of time to ask what the benefits are. It sounds like the real question you want an answer to is: Do the benefits of lifting weights make it worth doing something I don't enjoy? Obviously no one can answer that question for you. I will say that if you describe lifting weights as dreadful, then I doubt that weight training will be sustainable for you--making the proposed results unattainable.

Lift weights or don't. There is no guarantee of desired results of any particular method before trying it.

Guess I figured it was obvious by me asking if there is a point to it, that I didn't enjoy it. I'll be more clear next time. The real question is if there is a point to lifting weights or would bodyweight exercises suffice.

The answer to this lies in what type of physique you want to achieve. You have to have the genetic predisposition (to some extent) and do the work for that physique in order to achieve it (although body recomp can do some amazing things). I know that I wouldn't have the muscle definition that I have at my current wieght without lifting . . . I lost weight, got down to 123, now I'm back up to 136 . . . I can assure you that 136 this time looks a lot more fit than 136 did last time because I used weight lifting to tip what this weight means to my body in terms of bf%. However, I am biased and enjoy lifting heavy, but I also enjoy running, my aerobics classes, and endurance lifting (however I wouldn't be caught dead in a zumba class no matter how insistent someone was that it were "good for me"). Figure out what you want, then put together a plan to achieve it, if you don't enjoy the exercises that may be necessary you may have to re-evaluate what you want.

But for someone losing weight with a calorie deficit, is there really any point?

Yes.

Preserving muscle tissue requires much less work and effort than building / rebuilding it. In other words triggering adaptations (going through the super compensation cycle) than keeping it at a plateau.

You don't have to go nuts though. 2 full body weight routine sessions per week will suffice, 3 if you can manage it.

ETA: body weight exercise will suffice as well if you know how to keep up the progression / intensity. It's just a bit easier to do with traditional free weights / machines (ie add more weight!)

Ok OP actually just wanted to know if he could keep doing bodyweight stuff cause that's what he likes and wants to do and is defending (by just repeating, I think it's enough, and I like it :indifferent: ). Answer is ^^: yes. BUT, if you want to look 'toned', it's on you, OP, to learn how to increase resistance. Doing the same 30 pushups every day will not help. You've got to make things harder. Or do a ****ton more of those pushups, which wastes time and isn't great for joints.

I think someone's already pointed you to Convict Conditioning and the Nerd Fitness bodyweight workouts. That's the sort of thing you want to do, probably.

You will have a funny looking body if all you did was cardio and no strength training for weight loss. I can assure you that. There are other non-weight loss beneficial reasons for strength training.

TESTOSTERONE!!!!!!! Lift heavy one gym session...but really heavy right after a warmup sprint etc... and whoa!!!!!! you feel like a beast afterwards!
Brings out that animal in ya!!!

As a dude asthetically men look better with muscle tone (take it from a woman...skinny guys aren't so hot).

^^This!! Why in the world would a man NOT want to lift??

Mainly because I find it mind numbingly boring personally. Bodyweight exercises aren't so bad, but I find weights dreadful. And it seems that bodyweight exercises are all you need to build muscle, definition, and strength.

You should do what you enjoy because then you'll stick to the program. I love yoga which incorporates body weight training. And, IMO, yoga guys are the hottest of the lot. They are strong and lean and their muscles are, IMO, perfectly proportioned. My 2 cents: Go for the body weight workout.

As a dude asthetically men look better with muscle tone (take it from a woman...skinny guys aren't so hot).

^^This!! Why in the world would a man NOT want to lift??

Mainly because I find it mind numbingly boring personally. Bodyweight exercises aren't so bad, but I find weights dreadful. And it seems that bodyweight exercises are all you need to build muscle, definition, and strength.

Bodyweight exercises can build muscle up to a certain point. Once your body becomes accustomed to the resistance you will not build anymore muscle. The body will adapt and will not change if it's not challenged.

As a dude asthetically men look better with muscle tone (take it from a woman...skinny guys aren't so hot).

^^This!! Why in the world would a man NOT want to lift??

Mainly because I find it mind numbingly boring personally. Bodyweight exercises aren't so bad, but I find weights dreadful. And it seems that bodyweight exercises are all you need to build muscle, definition, and strength.

Bodyweight exercises can build muscle up to a certain point. Once your body becomes accustomed to the resistance you will not build anymore muscle. The body will adapt and will not change if it's not challenged.

BS.

Just because YOU don't know of harder bodyweight exercises, doesn't mean they don't exist. Progressive resistance exists to infintiy in the upper body, and to extremely high levels in the legs (and is easily weighted with small dumbbells or other light resistance in the deleveraged position on out to infinity).

Bodyweight exercise difficulty extends into the theoritical realm, as in there is noone on this earth strong enough to do the exercises that theoretically should be possible (the master step of the handstand series in Convict Conditioning, a one arm handstand pushup, is one such theoretical exercise, there is no documented evidence of it ever having been performed).

I am not saying there aren't any difficult bodyweight exercises such as 1 armpushups, planche pushups or handstand pushups but the average person will probably not do these exercises. They will do the basic pushups, bodyweight squats, lunges, stepups, and pullup variations. I agree people can gain muscle doing these but once somebody can do 50-60 pushups and say 30-40 dips then the body will need to be challenged. I believe pullups and chins may be an exception for most people as most people can't do more than 10-15 pullups.

As a dude asthetically men look better with muscle tone (take it from a woman...skinny guys aren't so hot).

^^This!! Why in the world would a man NOT want to lift??

Mainly because I find it mind numbingly boring personally. Bodyweight exercises aren't so bad, but I find weights dreadful. And it seems that bodyweight exercises are all you need to build muscle, definition, and strength.

Bodyweight exercises can build muscle up to a certain point. Once your body becomes accustomed to the resistance you will not build anymore muscle. The body will adapt and will not change if it's not challenged.

BS.

Just because YOU don't know of harder bodyweight exercises, doesn't mean they don't exist. Progressive resistance exists to infintiy in the upper body, and to extremely high levels in the legs (and is easily weighted with small dumbbells or other light resistance in the deleveraged position on out to infinity).

Bodyweight exercise difficulty extends into the theoritical realm, as in there is noone on this earth strong enough to do the exercises that theoretically should be possible (the master step of the handstand series in Convict Conditioning, a one arm handstand pushup, is one such theoretical exercise, there is no documented evidence of it ever having been performed).

I am not saying there aren't any difficult bodyweight exercises such as 1 armpushups, planche pushups or handstand pushups but the average person will probably not do these exercises. They will do the basic pushups, bodyweight squats, lunges, stepups, and pullup variations. I agree people can gain muscle doing these but once somebody can do 50-60 pushups and say 30-40 dips then the body will need to be challenged. I believe pullups and chins may be an exception for most people as most people can't do more than 10-15 pullups.

Bodyweight exercise does not imply repping out with easy stuff to infinity, same as weight lifting doesn't mean lifting little pink dumbbells out to infinity.

The concepts of progressive overload apply to all forms of resistance. Training adaptations, strength and muscle mass, are no different for various forms of resistance.

I've dropped approaching 50 lbs doing nearly all cardio via running, and while I've made great progress, I can tell that the running does catabolize muscle, especially if you're eating at a calorie deficit. I've recently re-added some cross training and a day of straight weights to try to gain back some muscle mass that I've obviously lost in my upper body. Just my opinion.

to each their own and your body will eventually plateau its all goal related.