Cardio vs Weights

just keep on mixing what you do every so often so you dont get bored. walking up steep hills or steps burns a lot of cals. weights tone you up and look good but if you have a lot of body fat it will bulk you up and make you look bigger than you are. i am getting my body fat off then hitting the weights to tone myself up but for now biking walking cross country hikes will have to do. i used to do the weights years ago and my weight was heavy but my body was good then but weight is weight and if its too much it is a health risk to carry a lot of baggage . you see a lot of huge body builders fall down with heart attacks so cardio i thinks much better to start with and will ease your bones back into shape before you pound them at a gym with weights.

I fear you are mistaken. Let me address each point in turn -

1. Weights will not 'make you bulky' if you are eating at a calorie deficit. That applies to both men and women. Growth needs to be fueled, and when fuel is in short supply the body will not prioritize muscle growth over fueling basic functions.

2. Even at a caloric surplus, weights will not make women bulky unless they train hard toward it. Women simply do not grow at the same rate as men. Female body builders exist, of course, but they didn't walk into a gym and suddenly bulky. Check out some of our resident strong-women. They do not look like condoms stuffed with walnuts.

3. By avoiding resistance training as you lose weight, you are losing what muscle you do have. That means you are also losing less fat than you could. Surely better to lose 50lb of fat and 2lb of muscle in a year, than lose 50lb of fat and 10lb of muscle in 14 months, then have to work hard for another 5 months to rebuild that 10lb of muscle?

4. Fat weight and muscle weight do not have the exact same impact on your health. While additional muscle weight still adds stress to joints like fat does, the benefits outstrip the cons. And if you can focus your weight loss on fat as much as possible, it is far healthier than losing both fat and muscle.

5. Please provide a citation for huge body builders falling down having heart attacks in large proportion than obese people, or even healthy weight people. Sorry, but I believe you made this statistic up to support your arguments.

6. As to strengthening joints and bones with cardio 'before pounding them with weights', I barely know where to start. You have this on its head. Steady state cardio like running puts massive stress on the joints. Far, far, far more than weight lifting, even at staggering amounts of weight. Think about it. The impact your knee experiences every step is estimated at twice your weight. So if you weigh 150lb, that's a 300lb impact. Run 5 miles, and that's 5,000 reps per knee. For a total load of 1,500,000 pounds per knee. Those 25 reps of 100lb squats three times a week don't seem like such a pounding in comparison.

I'm a runner and a lifter, by the way. I don't have a horse in this race. I believe both cardio-vascular exercise (in any form, whether steady state or via a sport) and strength training are essential for optimal health.

@ jonnythan I'm on a calorie deficit til I reach my goal. You're a weight loss expert if you had to lose 60lbs.

I saw the other thread you created yesterday, asking very basic questions about calorie and macro intake. You appear to have ignored the advice you were given in that thread.

In all seriousness. You are on a dangerous path. You are not doing this the right way. Your calorie intake is dangerously low, you are doing extreme amounts of exercise, and your macronutrient intake is totally out of whack. You are consuming virtually zero fruits or vegetables.

The advice you're giving here is dangerous. You need to stop, right now.

I didn't know it was dangerous to work out 4-5 times a week? Give me a break. Worry about yourself and your own food intake. You just want to be an argumentative troll.

You recorded 30 minutes of Cybex as 499 calories, or 1000 calories per hour. This is inaccurate.

I don't know how much the OP has to lose but this is really dependent upon how much you weigh.

My husband and I can do the arc trainer, same amount of time, same program ("weight loss), same level (5). He will burn 500+ calories and I will burn at the most 320. This is per the machine.

You recorded 30 minutes of Cybex as 499 calories, or 1000 calories per hour. This is inaccurate.

I don't know how much the OP has to lose but this is really dependent upon how much you weigh.

My husband and I can do the arc trainer, same amount of time, same program ("weight loss), same level (5). He will burn 500+ calories and I will burn at the most 320. This is per the machine.

The user I was talking to has less than 20 lbs to lose according to his ticker. 1000 calorie burn in an hour would be rather extraordinary.

You recorded 30 minutes of Cybex as 499 calories, or 1000 calories per hour. This is inaccurate.

I don't know how much the OP has to lose but this is really dependent upon how much you weigh.

My husband and I can do the arc trainer, same amount of time, same program ("weight loss), same level (5). He will burn 500+ calories and I will burn at the most 320. This is per the machine.

The user I was talking to has less than 20 lbs to lose according to his ticker. 1000 calorie burn in an hour would be rather extraordinary.

And machines are known for over estimating as well.

BTW, I don't do cardio (though I do play tennis and racquetball).

That sentence can't possibly be true.

"Do cardio" to me means that the purpose of the activity is cardiovascular exercise specifically. That's not why I play tennis. I play tennis because tennis is fun and competitive. I'd never, ever grab my tennis racquet and say that I'm going to "do cardio."

I encourage people not to "do cardio" but to find something active they enjoy.

^this. Even though I enjoy running, I don't refer to it as "Cardio"

BTW, I don't do cardio (though I do play tennis and racquetball).

That sentence can't possibly be true.

"Do cardio" to me means that the purpose of the activity is cardiovascular exercise specifically. That's not why I play tennis. I play tennis because tennis is fun and competitive. I'd never, ever grab my tennis racquet and say that I'm going to "do cardio."

I encourage people not to "do cardio" but to find something active they enjoy.

So you don't do "steady-state" cardio, but only cardio that is enjoyable. That makes more sense than, "I don't do cardio, but I play sports."

Are people seriously suggesting going to the gym more than "3 hours a week" is overtraining and that working out out more than 3 hours a week is never better for your health? :laugh: Honestly overtraining is a real thing, but I don't think 3 hours/week is the threshold that constitutes overtraining. The lengths people will go to to defend their own routine as the best...

No one suggested that.

We attacked the idea that 3 hours a week is insufficient, and we attacked the idea that more is always better.

I can bench my weigh 5 times and run 7 minute miles (when needed!)

Serious WTF moment when I misread that as 5x my weight. :laugh:

Are people seriously suggesting going to the gym more than "3 hours a week" is overtraining and that working out out more than 3 hours a week is never better for your health? :laugh: Honestly overtraining is a real thing, but I don't think 3 hours/week is the threshold that constitutes overtraining. The lengths people will go to to defend their own routine as the best...

No one suggested that.

We attacked the idea that 3 hours a week is insufficient, and we attacked the idea that more is always better.

+1

Try group classes! I used to dread cardio too, and some days I still do, but its harder to walk out of a group class then off the elliptical. I actually enjoy Zumba and my kickboxing class. Find an instructor whose teaching style you like and it will be kinda fun! I know I sound really annoying when I say exercise is fun, I can't even believe I actually think like that now, but I do. Its always harder at first, but once you notice a difference in your conditioning, you keep pushing yourself. Try a class once or twice a week. Try different ones. It might work for you. It did for me, and now I dread my non- class elliptical days (but I still do them). You will never regret a workout!

Of course the more you can get exercise in the better. I see people all the time at the gym who are heavy and only come 2-3 times a week. 3 months later they still look the same. You have to be in it to win it.

There are 3 sides to this game. Training, diet and rest and they all hold equal importance. It is not necessarily better to workout more. Those people who don't change who you've seen in the gym more than likely don't train intensely or they're eating too much or both! I used to train 4-5 times a week, I now train 3 times, sometimes only twice but my workouts a far more intense and I see much better results. I ran my body into the ground training 4 plus times, the rest simply wasn't adequate. Of course I could lower theiintensity but I want my body to change and I know the more intensely I train the more it will.

Cardio is good for the heart and lungs and all that. But, who cares about that stuff. :drinker: As long as you look good. :bigsmile:

:laugh:

I do a mixture, but less emphasis on the cardio. It works for me.

I am in Phase 2 of New Rules of Lifting for Women. I lift 3x/week, 2 absolute rest days... and I do cardio maybe once a week usually. Typically the only time I do cardio is to earn more calories so I can have a glass of wine, a scoop of ice cream, etc. I have been consistently losing 1lb/week eating 1500-1600cals/day. According to my fitbit, my usual daily burn is between 1900-2200cals. (I'm 5'2, 172lb)

I love to run but with it being so cold outside... I don't have the opportunity very often. I work out at home so if its too cold to run, my cardio is playing the Wii Fit or Wii Dance. So... as you can see, it is VERY possible to lose weight with little to no cardio.

In the past, I have lost my weight doing exclusively cardio... hated it.... gained it all back. I love lifting... I never talk myself out of working out... and where my cardio workouts would usually take atleast an hour... my NROLFW workout is 30min tops. Definately recommend lifting over cardio.