Lifting?

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So I would have posted this in fitness and exercise but that forum just keeps saying its down for maintenance (for the last 3 hours). Anyway lifers, ladies particularly but from hat I understand lifting is not gender specific. I want to start lifting, do you still do cardio or do you find that the lifting gives you enough burn to lower your body fat percentage? (With eating well obviously) what do you think is a good goal body fat percentage? I would guesstimate I am somewhere around 23ish, but would like to be 17-20. Is that an attainable goal while still having a life?
Thanks

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  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
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    It's not a one size fits all answer. Some people will need cardio on top of lifting depending on the effort. Cardio is mostly to help with a caloric deficit and heart health whereas lifting promotes lean muscle mass.
  • oppii
    oppii Posts: 19
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    Here:

    "Cardio is good for everyone because it improves your overall endurance and ability to exert yourself over an extended period. It promotes cardiovascular health and contributes to increased bone density. Additionally, it pretty much makes everything else function better: cardio helps stabilize hormone levels (increasing testosterone and increasing insulin sensitivity), improves endurance and recovery, helps the body fuel calories away from the fat cells and into the muscle, helps with weight maintenance/preventing the "yo-yo effect", generally keeps you healthy, and finally burns calories.
    Cardio is neither required for burning fat, nor prohibited when building muscle - that's just an excuse by lazy people. All in all, resistance training is more important for looking pretty (yes, even for girls and pretty boys), but for general health, cardio is essential. "



    Taken from here: http://liamrosen.com/fitness.html#part4
  • Mama530
    Mama530 Posts: 605 Member
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    Cardio is good for overall fitness, plus... It'll lean you out and really help define all the hard work you put into building your muscles.