stop overdoing cardio and hit the damn weights!!!
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Well I'd lift if it was not going to injure my back some more. So I do cardio instead.
You can't know why people can't lift. Yes some people CAN NOT LIFT at all.
A similar boat, I'm in one.
I have an autoimmune disease and it has been a gradual process to get to the fitness level I'm at now. Eventually I would love to lift, but that could easily be months (more likely years) away. For now I do cardio that is high in resistance to push my muscles and get my heart rate up and then focus on resistance bands, light weights, and Pilates-like exercises for my strength training.0 -
My trainer has told me that doing strength training (weight machines) has an overall longer effect of burning calories. She called it EPOC?? whereas the Cardio u go on the treadmill, burn calories and that's just it. you burned it off.
do people agree?0 -
lifting helped me a lot...lost nearly 16 kgs...lift dumbells 6kgs...squarts n lunges, deadlift, sidelunges....etc perfect for loosing wt..0
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being strong makes me feel sexy and less jiggly.smart girls lift dumbbells....0
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My trainer has told me that doing strength training (weight machines) has an overall longer effect of burning calories. She called it EPOC?? whereas the Cardio u go on the treadmill, burn calories and that's just it. you burned it off.
do people agree?
The length of EPOC is determined not only by intensity but duration. It is certainly true that weights illicit a greater EPOC response (because it's high intensity) but (low intensity) cardio on the treadmill does illicit some.
However, if calorie burn is your thing it is likely that overall calorie burn even factoring in EPOC will be greater in the cardio session simply because people tend to do it for much longer than the average weight session meaning a much higher calorie burn in the time spent actually exercising.
In all honesty though it's not worth worrying about.0 -
I'm just starting my journey at 115kg, 53 years of age, not exercised at all for a very long time. I know I look fat and frumpy and totally unhealthy.
I'm currently trying to pluck up the courage to go to a Zumba class (I can wear normal comfortable clothes there). I've got horrible ideas in my head of this fat old(ish) woman falling head over tits, giving herself black eyes from the free ranging, aforementioned appendages. I've already chickened out once. Hopefully, I'll get there this week.
I'm having so much trouble just getting out there, can you really imagine me being able to go to a gym (in suitable clothing) to do lifting?!?!
I hope to get there one day but, lets be realistic, it'll be a while yet.
There's more than one reason for sticking with cardio.0 -
Umm, no. I will not hit the weights. And not because I think it'll make me bulky.
1. I don't want to.
2. I reeeaallly enjoy walking and jogging.
3. I have no intentions of paying for a full gym membership to have access to weights.
4. I'm still working on losing fat, toning is for when I'm closer to my goal. I can barely do many squats or lunges right now.
I don't get why so many people think everyone should lift. People are going to do what they enjoy.
+1
I'm just not interested in weight lifting at this time. Some people, girls and guys seem to talk about how "skinny fat" is just wrong, or something about how we look bad naked? Idk I get confused. Anyways, I am perfectly happy with "skinny fat" and I find cardio easier and more accessible, I can walk, jog, use elliptical, bike etc. whereas the only weights I have are 5lb hand weights. No gym membership for me. Out of our price range. Cardio is just easier, I may do some weight stuff later when I hit goal, but honestly, probably not.
I agree. I hate weight lifting, always have, and I will never stick with it.0 -
I love lifting! I really like to incorporate it with cardio through HIIT. Its fun! I don't lift that heavy although I would like to but maybe in time. My legs feel sculpted, my butt feels toned and my arms have thinned (thinner then in my profile pic) I don't pay for a gym. Got my weights at yard sales and my bench too. Nothing more empowering then lifting while listening to loud music. Hell, yesterday I was able to move 5 bags of 50 lb sand without even breaking a sweat! I am 43! Women will not bulk like a man unless they have "some added help" Whats not sexy about sculpted, toned muscles? I have lost 59 lbs, not much sagging or extra skin hanging. I couldn't have done that without toning with weights. By the way, I am starting to run. I truly believe that the key to successful weight loss is cardio AND weights. But its only what works for me, everyone is different.0
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I use to be one of those people in the gym who was in to cardio and never touched the weights. Having been an avid runner most of my life I do thoroughly enjoy it, however lifting heavy has so many benefits I can't believe I went so many years skipping the weights. I lift now almost 5 times a week and have never felt more feminine, I think part of the reason women shy away from weight lifting is because some where over the years we were told we should "tone" and this means using your own body weight and doing mat work when the truth of the matter is you can't tone with out weights. I still love my cardio but I have a new respect for weight lifting and I encourage everyone (men women cardio lovers whoever ) to try it you might be pleasantly surprised I know I have been!!!! (Ps any ladies or men for that matter who lift add me I'm always looking for suggestions and new ideas!)0
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I use to be one of those people in the gym who was in to cardio and never touched the weights. Having been an avid runner most of my life I do thoroughly enjoy it, however lifting heavy has so many benefits I can't believe I went so many years skipping the weights. I lift now almost 5 times a week and have never felt more feminine, I think part of the reason women shy away from weight lifting is because some where over the years we were told we should "tone" and this means using your own body weight and doing mat work when the truth of the matter is you can't tone with out weights. I still love my cardio but I have a new respect for weight lifting and I encourage everyone (men women cardio lovers whoever ) to try it you might be pleasantly surprised I know I have been!!!! (Ps any ladies or men for that matter who lift add me I'm always looking for suggestions and new ideas!)
You are an inspiration! Extremely toned! THAT is what I am aiming for!0 -
overdoing cardio: hours and hours of slow, low intensity, steady state cardio without barely breaking a sweat day in and day out. and this would be their only type of exercise PERIOD!!! another definition would be....either hours and hours of high/moderate intensity cardio without incorporating ANY type of resistance exercise. hence.....one of these will cause the person to look exactly the same (they would be better off staying home or walking to the corner store..which would be damn near equivalent), or they end up doing so much that they burn away the muscle that they already had. WHICH could POSSIBLY result them in having a higher fat percentage then they originally had.
If they are not taking up a machine that you want to use, I don't know why these people concern you.
Now, if they were PASTRY CHEFS... (heeheehee - reference to another thread)
i enjoy hearing how women go hard in the gym. i like to hear that women aren't shy/intimidated to bang with the fellas in the gym.
it's something that i believe would help push them harder. it would allow them to set a higher bar for themselves so they could reach their goals!!!
Nothing wrong with inspirational stories. Nothing wrong with wanting to see pictures of hot girls, either.
There's just no reason to judge others who make other choices. Not everyone has the same goals or idea of fitness. I hope you got that from this thread.0 -
Umm, no. I will not hit the weights. And not because I think it'll make me bulky.
1. I don't want to.
2. I reeeaallly enjoy walking and jogging.
3. I have no intentions of paying for a full gym membership to have access to weights.
4. I'm still working on losing fat, toning is for when I'm closer to my goal. I can barely do many squats or lunges right now.
I don't get why so many people think everyone should lift. People are going to do what they enjoy.
I don't feel that anyone has to hit the weights (reasons 1-3 make sense), but your fourth reason for not doing it is that you're going to to do it eventually..? So why not start now if you're going to be doing it anyway? And not being able to do squats or lunges is more motivation to work on them so you can actually do a few.
I said I'm going to tone eventually. Not that I'm going to lift. I have no intentions of lifting. That would be a $62/month gym membership.
I am starting to do body weight excerises, I only started last week. Which is why I can't do much yet. And I'll do the 30 day shred. Lifting isn't the only way to tone.
So you are starting now?
As stated before...you want to start toning now, if "tone" is a goal. Strength training maintains muscle mass while you eat in a caloric deficit and lose fat. If a person doesn't strength train and only worries about losing weight, they lose both fat and muscle mass. So if you're worried about getting to a number on a scale and "toning" after, you're setting yourself up for a much harder path to tone. If you lose the weight (both fat and muscle), you'll need to put that lost muscle back on after getting to your goal weight to obtain "tone", which is extremely hard and then would require some heavy lifting. As a female, you're already behind the 8 ball when it comes to putting the muscle back on. It takes painstaking time in the gym to put the muscle back on that you just lost so you can have the "tone" you want. Why not just maintain it now so you have it once the fat is gone? Just my 2 cents.
Edit: 30 DS is more of a cardio program. There are other bodyweight programs out there that are better for maintaining muscle mass.0 -
To be fair, the OP said stop OVERdoing cardio, not stop altogether. And he was clearly referring to women who think running themselves ragged is the best way to lose fat.
Cardio is fine if that's what you enjoy, and cardio is fine for creating a bigger calorie deficit when kept to an appropriate level of intensity, duration, and frequency. But there is a positive correlation between women who claim they "just want to tone"/"don't want to bulk up" and women who create enormous daily calorie deficits. The effect of all that cardio and lack of food is losing a lot of lean mass, which is the opposite of what you want if your goal is to "tone."
Yeah, you should do things you enjoy. And if you don't have goals other than personal enjoyment, then go right ahead and do those things to the exclusion of everything else. But if you do have a performance goal or a body composition goal (if you're trying to "tone," you're in this category, whether you realize it or not) or a strength goal, you are very likely going to have to do some things you will find unpleasant. I don't know how anyone makes it to adulthood with the mindset that you can achieve your goals by only doing things you like to do.0 -
Firstly, "tone" is a noun, not a verb. Trained muscles have tone, you cannot "tone" them. "Toning" is a BS term marketed by the fitness industry to attempt to trick women into actual strength training. The "toned" look? It's only accomplished by having well trained muscles and low body fat. The only way to achieve well trained muscles is by a solid strength training program.Umm, no. I will not hit the weights. And not because I think it'll make me bulky.
1. I don't want to.
2. I reeeaallly enjoy walking and jogging.
3. I have no intentions of paying for a full gym membership to have access to weights.
4. I'm still working on losing fat, toning is for when I'm closer to my goal. I can barely do many squats or lunges right now.
I don't get why so many people think everyone should lift. People are going to do what they enjoy.
I don't feel that anyone has to hit the weights (reasons 1-3 make sense), but your fourth reason for not doing it is that you're going to to do it eventually..? So why not start now if you're going to be doing it anyway? And not being able to do squats or lunges is more motivation to work on them so you can actually do a few.
I said I'm going to tone eventually. Not that I'm going to lift. I have no intentions of lifting. That would be a $62/month gym membership.
I am starting to do body weight excerises, I only started last week. Which is why I can't do much yet. And I'll do the 30 day shred. Lifting isn't the only way to tone.0 -
My trainer has told me that doing strength training (weight machines) has an overall longer effect of burning calories. She called it EPOC?? whereas the Cardio u go on the treadmill, burn calories and that's just it. you burned it off.
do people agree?
No, both cardio and strength training have an afterburn. How great it is depends mostly on intensity. Muscle burns more caloires than fat though, so the more muscle you have the more calories your body burns at rest. But weights are just one way to build or maintain muscle.0 -
At the end of the day: lifting is challenging. It's supposed to be.
If you are being put off from doing it because you are bothered by the looks that you think other people are giving you, well you're going to have to get over that real quick if you are going to make a go of it.
Man, women, girl, boy. There's someone out there stronger than you. There's someone out there faster than you. There's someone out there who knows more than you. You're getting older and losing what you had, they're younger than you and getting better. Welcome to life.
Time to get out of the pity mindset and just move the damn Iron. Get into a relationship with it. Forget about the rest of the bullsh!t that's either already in the weight room, or you bring in with you.
Get it done for yourself. Other people and your thoughts on them are irrelevant.
^^this.... I usually go to my gym late at night, because I just don't like being seen with all my nearly 500lbs of fat flabbing around. You'd think fitness minded people would actually think it's cool that a fatty is trying to do something about it, but there are a lot of people who are there to put on a show and flit around looking at themselves in the mirrors and admire how they look, and I'm not talking about the women at my local gym acting like that, it's the dudes. The other night, I was in a situation to go early, or not go at all and I didn't want to miss, so I went. Sure enough, it was semi-crowded and some of those types were there and I really didn't want to go in, but I decided to suck it up and do it. I did get quite a few of those "eww, what's your fat *kitten* doing here" looks and attitude but I climbed my mountainous self on the treadmill and did my 30 minutes.
I almost skipped my weight training all together, because I didn't want to leave the relative isolation of the cardio area, I say "relative" because other than people coming in and out or going to the water fountain, you're separated rated from view of the gym floor. Bad part, a couple of the ones who kept giving me the ugly looks when they'd come to the water fountain were EMT's, hopefully my life never depends on them lol, but anyways, I digress. I decided to suck it up and do my weight training. I actually hate the cardio and love the lifting weights, so I wasn't going to skip it because of attitude. I'm really glad I did and I think it will actually make me more comfortable going again when I'm not guaranteed to be alone. In the end, I'm doing this for me and don't give a damn what people think, so I shouldn't care what they think while I'm in the process.
I applaud you!! I was one of those very large people once & know first hand where you're coming from. And as I whittled away at the fat & chiseled the muscle I watched those looks change & that made me stronger & push even harder. I used the nasty looks as motivation to keep going at first & then I used the looks of "whoa" to go even more. Regrettably, I've avoided the gym for the last 7 months due to my pregnancy & the fact that I wouldn't be able to resist weight training, but still been working out at home where my max dumbbell is 10lbs & main weights packed away by my Husband so I can't find them so I can avoid doing something stupid to hurt me & our soon-to-be-Son. However - as soon as I get clearance I am SO back on the weights!!
Anyone who is afraid of "looks" seriously needs to take a good look around. EVERYONE JUDGES YOU, no matter what you look like or think you look like. Suck it up, suck it in, do whatever you need to do to be healthy & that's what counts in the end.... along with who has the most toys still dies 0 -
i understand cardio is important(depending on what kind you're doing), but where are women getting the idea that lifting weights will make them aminly and bulky from? for the ladies that do lift...can you PLEASE share with us how lifting weights have made a difference to your physique and health?
i lift weights!! it made a huge difference! i wouldnt call myself bulky in any way, shape or form! i just have a nice muscle definition for example in my arms. other parts of my body, such as my stomach im still working on my lines to show. but lifting does notmake us ladies bulky- firstly it takes such a long time to bulk up and secondly ladies we do not have enough testosterone to get "massive" (im not talking here about competitions- this is hardcore stuff and very hard work). i would say lifting makes my body less "wobbly" and more "content" if that makes sense. nicely defined ie- hamstrings seprated from quads on the side of the leg- not bulky at all but i believe it is a nice look!!
LIFT, SQUAT, LOVE
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I have NOT read through every page of responses yet, so what do you experts suggest?
Lose weight first, then add weights, or compromise and do both at the same time?
For those of us that want to know . . . .0 -
I love the way some people say the best way to burn more calories is to add more muscle, by lifting weights. Then others say, women don't bulk -- that is, they really do not put on much muscle when they lift.
Maybe a better way to burn more calories is to increase your brain activity. Seems the brain burns somewhere between 20 percent and 25 percent of our daily calories, and that using your brain, through greater concentration, increases its energy utilization.
Why can't women just do what they want to do? If they want to run, fine. If they want to lift, fine.
I happen to think it is pretty arrogant to create a thread admonishing women on how they should exercise. I've had complete strangers critique my form, and choice of exercise, in the gym and I hate unsolicited advice.
THIS!0 -
Lose weight first, then add weights, or compromise and do both at the same time?
Doing both at the same time is generally more efficient.
It takes far less effort and time to maintain your existing muscle mass than to lose it and then try and rebuild what you you have lost by going through the supercompensation cycle multiple times.0
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