Body Pump or heavy lifting?

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1ZenGirl
1ZenGirl Posts: 432 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello. Thank you in advance for answering my questions. I have quite a bit of weight to lose and am adding weight lifting to the mix. I am doing cardio 4-5x per week now for about 1/2 hour.

I read a lot about "lifting heavy". To be sadly honest lifting heavy for me is 25lb dumbells for deadlifts and 10lb dumbells for curls and 170 for leg press machine...you get the idea....heavy lifter I am NOT. Of course that is subjective but I have seen ladies on here rocking the house strength training wise.

Regardless, would it be better for me to concentrate on heavy lifting or should I try and do something like a body pump style? More reps at various cadences (I think that is the term) or does it really matter right now as long as I am lifting something on a regular basis?

I welcome any and all thoughts. Thank you!

Replies

  • TiberiusClaudis
    TiberiusClaudis Posts: 423 Member
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    Zen...for my two cents, I'd recommend you go with lifting weights. You already have cardio down pat, so building up some muscle, which will help to burn fat is maybe the way to go.

    BTW, don't worry about the term "heavy", it's all relative. After lifting for a while, your warm up will no doubt be what you used to start out with. The important thing is that you are DOING it.

    Keep plugging away!
  • 1ZenGirl
    1ZenGirl Posts: 432 Member
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    Thank you so much!
  • honsi
    honsi Posts: 210 Member
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    My understanding is that heavy lifting is not determined by the weight but how many times you can lift it. If you can only lift it between1 and 5 times in one go (a rep) then it is heavy. If you can lift it 6-12 times then it is lifting for strength. If you are already doing quite a bit of cardio then I would suggest heavier lifting over Body Pump, which is classed as cardio/endurance exercise. I started with pump but my weights got too heavy and I moved onto lifting.
  • honsi
    honsi Posts: 210 Member
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    I would also suggest doing body weight exercises such as push ups, planks, pull ups etc as well If that sounds daunting there are lots of different options.
  • Chickee8586
    Chickee8586 Posts: 155 Member
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    Zen...for my two cents, I'd recommend you go with lifting weights. You already have cardio down pat, so building up some muscle, which will help to burn fat is maybe the way to go.

    BTW, don't worry about the term "heavy", it's all relative. After lifting for a while, your warm up will no doubt be what you used to start out with. The important thing is that you are DOING it.

    Keep plugging away!

    ^^This!
  • harphy
    harphy Posts: 290 Member
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    Heavy lifting! Body Pump is maybe good for starters but it won't give you results you want. Pump real iron.
  • scottywor
    scottywor Posts: 140 Member
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    Lifting heavy weights is not something anyone starts out doing, its something everyone works towards!

    Start where you are, and go slow from there, and will be surprised where you are in 6 months!

    GL!
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    lifting 'heavy' is what is heavy for you …so if 25# is heavy for you, then you are heavy lifting..

    I wold say yes that you should start head lifting and then do cardio on your off days. Starting strength, 5x5, new rules of lifting for woman are all good resources for getting started. I would suggest a program of compound lifts where you are working in the four set rage at 8-10 reps each….
  • HMVOL7409
    HMVOL7409 Posts: 1,588 Member
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    Lift, yes; body pump NO. Heavy is relative regardless of rep ranges and everyone was once a beginner. Sooner rather than later, your body will thank you!

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