Had a fitness assessment, feel even more confused
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Op, I see little value in hiring a personal trainer. If you have the money to spare and you think that you'll go to the gym more often if you've shelled out even more money that your gym already charging you, then go for it. If not, the internet has more than enough information on what exercises to do and how to do them. It's not complicated or scary, I promise. Spend some time looking around and find something that you think will work for you. Start small, start simple. Doing a free c25k program is what started me exercising regularly and I highly recommend it for people who have little experience with fitness as I did. Good luck!
Yes and no. My sister was a very petite cardio bunny (like 5'-4", 105 lbs) and hired a trainer a year before her wedding to achieve better muscle definition. Although she didn't go to heavy lifting, she did a lot of free weights and TRX with the trainer and really developed some nice muscles. I do not think she wouldn't have gotten there without the trainer (just once a week) to guide her. At least the first few months.0 -
I have a feeling that it's harder for females, since we don't easily build muscle tissue.
They've discovered that a pound of muscle only burns like 6 calories a day. Trying to add more while losing weight in order to increase your BMR isn't very realistic. But strength and maintaining what LBM you have are both good!Your assessor wants to increase LBM. Higher LMB results in higher base rate allowing you to eat more and burn more while doing nothing. It's very sound advice.
I've lost 6% BF in 4 months while only losing 5 pounds. I started at 205 and now 200. It's possible. Just takes a very intense diet and routine. I'm beat up from it but I'm basically where I want to be so I'm maintaining now until my joints recover and I can start up with high intensity again in 2 months. I don't pretend to be typical.
Eh, I lost just under 5% body fat in 6 weeks earlier in the year. Definitely possible
but losing body fat isnt the same as building muscle0 -
Today I tried including HII in my elliptical time, and according to the machine I burned 0.3 cal per minute more than I would at my normal pace. (11 cal/min vs. 10.7 cal/min)HIIT has been shown to burn off more calories than low intensity cardio.
That's just with increasing by 1 mph for 1 minute in every 5. If it were 30 sec of every minute, or every other minute, that would be even higher.
Yep. Surprising.They've discovered that a pound of muscle only burns like 6 calories a day.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/16/health/la-he-fitness-muscle-myth-20110516
"Claude Bouchard of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., who has authored several books and hundreds of scientific papers on the subject of obesity and metabolism... told me that muscle, it turns out, makes a fairly small contribution to RMR.
... based on the biochemical and metabolic literature — a pound of muscle burns six calories a day at rest and a pound of fat burns about two calories a day.
... muscle, contributes only 20-25% of total resting metabolism.
... intense aerobic activity like running burns twice as many calories per hour as hard weightlifting, and the metabolic boost from added muscle is not nearly enough to compensate for this difference..."0 -
I have a feeling that it's harder for females, since we don't easily build muscle tissue.
They've discovered that a pound of muscle only burns like 6 calories a day. Trying to add more while losing weight in order to increase your BMR isn't very realistic. But strength and maintaining what LBM you have are both good!Your assessor wants to increase LBM. Higher LMB results in higher base rate allowing you to eat more and burn more while doing nothing. It's very sound advice.
I've lost 6% BF in 4 months while only losing 5 pounds. I started at 205 and now 200. It's possible. Just takes a very intense diet and routine. I'm beat up from it but I'm basically where I want to be so I'm maintaining now until my joints recover and I can start up with high intensity again in 2 months. I don't pretend to be typical.
Eh, I lost just under 5% body fat in 6 weeks earlier in the year. Definitely possible
but losing body fat isnt the same as building muscle
Well, my weight stayed the same and I lsot 5% body fat...0 -
I have a feeling that it's harder for females, since we don't easily build muscle tissue.
They've discovered that a pound of muscle only burns like 6 calories a day. Trying to add more while losing weight in order to increase your BMR isn't very realistic. But strength and maintaining what LBM you have are both good!Your assessor wants to increase LBM. Higher LMB results in higher base rate allowing you to eat more and burn more while doing nothing. It's very sound advice.
I've lost 6% BF in 4 months while only losing 5 pounds. I started at 205 and now 200. It's possible. Just takes a very intense diet and routine. I'm beat up from it but I'm basically where I want to be so I'm maintaining now until my joints recover and I can start up with high intensity again in 2 months. I don't pretend to be typical.
Eh, I lost just under 5% body fat in 6 weeks earlier in the year. Definitely possible
but losing body fat isnt the same as building muscle
Well, my weight stayed the same and I lsot 5% body fat...
that happens to me to, but i've been lifting for 20 years and well past newb gain stage..
i just like to think of it as the universe infusing me with awesome dark matter.
but then eventually i get a large decrease on the scale a few weeks later
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Yes the assessment is correct. One way you can incorporate cardio is to do 20 minutes before which loosens up the joints and muscles and then hit the weights hard. Then do another 20 minute session after your workout to ensure your heart rate stays up. I eat 6 times a day and about 1800 total for the day. I eat clean and it is starting to work. You have to find your happy medium which no one will be able to tell you but your body. Do it for a month and measure then you will see the difference that you are looking for.0
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I want long term, sustainable results and maybe this is the way to get them, but it scares me.
You know what I think drives long term sustainable results more than anything? Enjoying what you are doing, having fun and having what you do give you a sense of achievement as it aligns with your goals.
If you don't want to do the HIIT then...don't (I have some qualms about a trainer suggesting to someone, who is by their own admission "seriously out of shape" jump straight into HIIT but we will leave that to a side.)
1. Get a good handle on your diet and eat at a calorie level which is challenging but not miserable.
2. Do 2-3 resistance training sessions a week that you like (doesn't have to be barbell training)
3. Do the type of cardio you like
4. Rest a bit
5. Profit
I like this advice a lot.0 -
Even if that was accomplished by losing 7 lbs. of fat while simultaneously gaining 7 lbs. of muscle in 6 weeks, that would suggest you raised your BMR by about 30 calories a day. I'm just saying that's probably not a main reason a trainer recommends strength training.
I have a feeling that it's harder for females, since we don't easily build muscle tissue.
They've discovered that a pound of muscle only burns like 6 calories a day. Trying to add more while losing weight in order to increase your BMR isn't very realistic. But strength and maintaining what LBM you have are both good!Your assessor wants to increase LBM. Higher LMB results in higher base rate allowing you to eat more and burn more while doing nothing. It's very sound advice.
I've lost 6% BF in 4 months while only losing 5 pounds. I started at 205 and now 200. It's possible. Just takes a very intense diet and routine. I'm beat up from it but I'm basically where I want to be so I'm maintaining now until my joints recover and I can start up with high intensity again in 2 months. I don't pretend to be typical.
Eh, I lost just under 5% body fat in 6 weeks earlier in the year. Definitely possible
but losing body fat isnt the same as building muscle
Well, my weight stayed the same and I lsot 5% body fat...
What you gained to offset fat loss might've been largely water.
http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=1620 -
They've discovered that a pound of muscle only burns like 6 calories a day. Trying to add more while losing weight in order to increase your BMR isn't very realistic. But strength and maintaining what LBM you have are both good!Your assessor wants to increase LBM. Higher LMB results in higher base rate allowing you to eat more and burn more while doing nothing. It's very sound advice.
I've lost 6% BF in 4 months while only losing 5 pounds. I started at 205 and now 200. It's possible. Just takes a very intense diet and routine. I'm beat up from it but I'm basically where I want to be so I'm maintaining now until my joints recover and I can start up with high intensity again in 2 months. I don't pretend to be typical.
Good work, what's your workout schedule looking like?
Last 4 weeks has been insane. I wanted to bring up my chest and someone suggested Smolov Jr routine. That's a 4 day a week chest routine where you progressively increase sets and reduce reps. And then I fit the rest of my body into the rest of the days of the week. So I was working out 7 days a week for 4 weeks. I am eating 300g protein a day(and for you people who don't agree I don't need to know that you think it's to much) with carb restrictions. So I made huge progress in my bf and gained nice fullness in my muscles during this period. As I said before I feel a little beat up so am slowing it down for now. After my 7 day break, I will settle to a maintenance routine to recover and then jack up the intensity as I feel as needed. My goal is 210 at 10% bf within 2 years.0 -
You will not end up looking like a bodybuilder unless you want to. I cringed when I see posts that say you will get to big and bulky and look like a BBr. You will look like a BBr if you train like one. That means a routine that is way beyond the average MFPr. We are talking mass food consumption and at least 6 hours + a week in the gym.
Natty bodybuilders are not big and bulky, and I think you're forgetting one important aspect of professional bodybuilding. No amount of training and eating will get you an IFBB pro card without them.
True. I wasn't picturing the freakish pro physiques in my mind when I wrote this. The modern pro is a look I have no desire to reach. Though I respect the work and dedication it takes to build those physiques.0 -
She said I should be doing heavy weights followed by about 20 minutes of interval cardio. I'm just so scared to do that.
I do strength training (stuff like barbell squats, bench presses) 3x per week, high impact cardio 2x per week, and low impact cardio 3x per week. I'm eating 2,000-2,300 calories per day and the weight has been falling off since I've gotten more consistent with my workouts and nutrition. I do HIIT on days I'm not strength training so I'm in the gym 5-6x per week - but I could easily do the cardio on my bicycle and keep the gym visits down to 3x per week.
I am working with a trainer once per week because I've never lifted until this year. I've been very frank in my feedback to "keep it simple" and not throw a bunch of different exercises at me and to help me focus primarily on strength training. We recently lowered my reps and raised the weights - and the weight loss as accelerated from about 1.25 lbs per week to ~2 lbs per week. The inches are falling off as well. We started in May, got into weights sometime in early June, and I'm already to the point where fat clothes are too loose to wear.
Sam0 -
I have a feeling that it's harder for females, since we don't easily build muscle tissue.
They've discovered that a pound of muscle only burns like 6 calories a day. Trying to add more while losing weight in order to increase your BMR isn't very realistic. But strength and maintaining what LBM you have are both good!Your assessor wants to increase LBM. Higher LMB results in higher base rate allowing you to eat more and burn more while doing nothing. It's very sound advice.
I've lost 6% BF in 4 months while only losing 5 pounds. I started at 205 and now 200. It's possible. Just takes a very intense diet and routine. I'm beat up from it but I'm basically where I want to be so I'm maintaining now until my joints recover and I can start up with high intensity again in 2 months. I don't pretend to be typical.
Eh, I lost just under 5% body fat in 6 weeks earlier in the year. Definitely possible
but losing body fat isnt the same as building muscle
Well, my weight stayed the same and I lsot 5% body fat...
Very nice.0 -
If I were you, I'd do what the lady said but then, on the rest days, I would take a slow 30 min. or 60 min. walk. That should give you enough extra calories to eat and to make it sustainable. A real day of rest once a week where you challenge yourself to eat as much food as possible while still keeping at 1200 (lots of low cal.food) would be a good idea.0
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