Reduce Body Fat?

47Jacqueline
47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I just had my body fat measurements and stuff taken today at my gym. I'm 67, 5'4" 128 1/2lb.

I have 80lbs lean body mass
Fat 41lbs
34% body fat

The trainer recommended I reduce my body fat to 28-30%

I don't like weight training by myself, so I go to classes.

I do 75 minutes of shred and abs on monday
1 hour of Les Milles Body Pump on Wednesday and Friday.

I just started the wednesday body pump class two weeks ago.

Does this sound like a good routine to reduce body fat?

I do Zumba twice a week and cardio kickboxing once a week. Should I eliminate one cardio and ad another strength training. I hate to give up Zumba because I'm training to be an instructor. However, I also love the kickboxing class.

Replies

  • tracydr
    tracydr Posts: 528 Member
    Weight loss will reduce your body fat. Strength training will increase muscle which is important as we age. Increased strength reduces falls and the weight lifting also strengthens your bones.
    28-30% is a good percentage for your age.
    I have a scale that keeps track of my body fat. It was $34 on Amazon and seems consistent, although I know it's not perfect. There aren't really any really accurate BF measurements. Even the underwater method has a huge error rate, mainly due to bing dependent of the residual volume of air in the lungs.
  • tracydr
    tracydr Posts: 528 Member
    Weight loss will reduce your body fat. Strength training will increase muscle which is important as we age. Increased strength reduces falls and the weight lifting also strengthens your bones.
    28-30% is a good percentage for your age.
    I have a scale that keeps track of my body fat. It was $34 on Amazon and seems consistent, although I know it's not perfect. There aren't really any really accurate BF measurements. Even the underwater method has a huge error rate, mainly due to bing dependent of the residual volume of air in the lungs.
    If you like the cardio, keep at it, but just add a little more strength training.
    I find yoga classes are excellent for building my strength so it doesn't have to be just weights.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    So adding muscle will not reduce body fat? Just weight loss?
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    We have yoga at my gym and the instructors are pretty good. I'll give it a try.
  • oddzki
    oddzki Posts: 10
    All bodypump, dancing and group based training sessions are great for burning calories and having a bit of fun (If you enjoy it).
    Like all exercising it is required to be done mulitple times every week without any (exception for illness etc) breaks between to give results, doing it once in a while does not do much for you.

    Unless you have a very weak body to start with, cardio programs like this does not give you any noticable strength or muscle gains, because there is simply not enough resistance training for the muscles.

    I would highly recommend some heavy resistance training which will speed your fat loss and increase muscle composition which will give you a better body overall.
    Squats, deadlifts, benchpress, shoulder press and pullups are the main movements which will sculpt your body.
    Watch higly rated instructional videos on youtube, then do them yourself.

    If you can keep doing all your cardio, great, otherwise choose one and stick with it.
    It's all about how bad you want it.
  • oddzki
    oddzki Posts: 10
    So adding muscle will not reduce body fat? Just weight loss?

    Adding muscles will not reduce body fat, but it will reduce body fat percentage as more of your body is made of muscles instead of fat.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    So is doing three strength training classes a week, like 2 body pump and 1 shred enough to build muscle?
  • oddzki
    oddzki Posts: 10
    So is doing three strength training classes a week, like 2 body pump and 1 shred enough to build muscle?

    Please see my first post. Even though they are called strength training classes, they are usually just a sort of cardiovascular activity with small amounts of weights.

    If you've never weightlifted before, these classes may help you build some initial starting strength.

    Builiding muscle for women is even harder than it is for men, and the girls you see with broad shoulders and sculpted legs have almost in all cases got it from heavy resistance training, such as heavy squats, lunges, shoulder presses. When we say heavy it means training at a weight that you can only lift 5-10 times repeatedly.

    When you can lift a weight more than 20 times times, it's usually not enough resistance for the muscle to force growth. It does however burn calories and increase endurance.

    You shouldnt' take people word on MFP for granted.(Yoga does not increase significant strength or burn alot of calories unless done at an extreme level.)
    Do your own research, use google, find forum threads, read articles and watch youtube videos. Good luck.

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