Cardio vs strength training as short girl
foxygirl14
Posts: 158 Member
I'm 5' 2" and I read an article that said shorter girls should focus on strength training instead of cardio because cardio makes us hungrier and we have a lower calorie allowance (mine is 1000 cal). Is that true or is a balance of both the most beneficial? I only have about 1 hr and 15 min a day to exercise so I want to get the most out of my workouts. Thoughts/suggestions?
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That sounds like nonsense. Do both. 30-45 minutes strength training and 30-45 minutes of cardio.1
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foxygirl14 wrote: »I'm 5' 2" and I read an article that said shorter girls should focus on strength training instead of cardio because cardio makes us hungrier and we have a lower calorie allowance (mine is 1000 cal). Is that true or is a balance of both the most beneficial? I only have about 1 hr and 15 min a day to exercise so I want to get the most out of my workouts. Thoughts/suggestions?
Depends on what your goals are...
but I will say personally, cardio suppresses my appetite while lifting makes me what to eat a 15 oz steak every day.
But guess what, I do very minimal cardio. I have a limited time to work out and for me and my goals, lifting gives me more "bang for my buck" during that time.1 -
A combination of strength and cardio with a balanced, healthy diet is key to anyone. If you are trying to lose weight, it's all about being in a caloric deficit. That article is BS. Also, I would consider eating more calories per day. 1,000 is rather low.2
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I am 5'4" and 120lbs. I do strength training and there is no way I would give it up for cardio. PLUS, putting on more muscle, means you get a higher calorie allowance, since muscle weighs more than fat! Right now, my allowance is around 1200. Once I stop cutting it will be around 1500. I only lift heavy, I don't do cardio.3
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I'm 5'2" and do a balance of both. I actually find I am more hungry on my weight training days. I think every person will have their own experience and I, along with a lot of other people, believe weight training is important for everyone who can do it.0
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all good advice here, I would also add that you should be adding calories to your "allowance" because of your workouts, you are burning more calories so you should be eating more. Also 1000 calories seems dangerously low, my wife is 5'2" 113lbs, and eats 1500 - 1800 a day, but also works out 6 days a week.0
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See, I'm the other way around. Cardio, especially any kind of extended cardio makes me ravenous and more likely to binge eat well over my calorie goal, whereas lifting doesn't increase my hunger in any noticeable way and my calorie goal is easily maintained.0
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LISS cardio doesn't make me hungry. HIIT does. Lifting does too. Do what you want to do.
How'd you get a 1000 calorie goal, btw?1 -
First off I highly doubt your calorie "allowance" is 1000. That is WAY too low.
As far as your other question, weight lifting does give you more bang for your buck, as the OP put it. I burn more calories and my heart rate is higher doing heavy lifting than when I'm on the treadmill. (I wear an HRM and my HR is tracked during my whole workout)
A little cardio is fine, don't get me wrong, and I like to incorporate both every workout, but if it was between one or the other I'd pick weight training.0 -
I had put on a few pounds, so I started commuting to work by bike (16miles). I figured that all things staying the same, I would HAVE to lose weight, right? Nope. I actually PUT on weight. I think it made me hungrier and I ate more than I thought I did. I now limit my biking to twice a week and lift weights the other three days.0
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Your calories seem pretty low
I'm also 5'2" and do strong lifts 3 days per week and very little cardio. I eat around 1800-1900 per day. (and continue to lose inches!)1 -
If forced to choose, weight training is going to give you more bang for your buck but you can fit both in a 1 hr 15 min block of time by doing HIIT sessions or super setting your weights. Also, I wouldn't recommend eating only 1000 calories a day, that's below what a sedentary female's recommended daily allowance is. I typically get hungry after any kind of workout, cardio or strength training, less for strength training though. I think it's because you typically burn more calories as you exercise with cardio than you do with weights but weight training requires a good amount of energy in the recovery phase.0
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That's silly. I'm sorry.0
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A) I agree with everyone that you need to rethink your calorie intake (I'm 5'1 and I've never had less than 1430 calories on non-workout days, and I still lost weight). B ) everyone needs strength training and cardio. Some people do 1 more than the other, but both are important for overall health.0
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quinndeborde wrote: »That's silly. I'm sorry.
I think she came here looking for advice, not ridicule.0 -
Look at it from an overall fitness POV...they're both incredibly important to your overall fitness, not to mention your general wellbeing and neither have anything to do with your height. My wife is 5'2"...she lifts like a boss and she runs marathons. My wife loses weight pretty easily eating around 1500-1800 calories per day. and maintains easily at 2000-2200 depending on what she's up to training wise.0
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Do both - eat more - win.0
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4' 11" I gained so much weight, muscle AND fat lifting with little cardio. Cardio doesn't make me hungry but lifting makes me famished! It sounds like you're just going to have to experiment and see what's up for you.
I just learned that I have to focus on what my goal at the moment is.... Right now it's losing fat so I'm doing cardio and some body weight stuff like planks and push ups to keep my muscle mass.
My next goal is to gain muscle so I will start lifting again and eating at a cal surplus to feed the muscle building process.
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LISS cardio doesn't make me hungry. HIIT does. Lifting does too. Do what you want to do.
How'd you get a 1000 calorie goal, btw?
I used this calculator: http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html which told me I needed 955 calories to lose 1 lb a week (without eating back calories from exercise).0 -
How much do you need or want to lose? Losing a lb. per week is quite a bit.0
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foxygirl14 wrote: »LISS cardio doesn't make me hungry. HIIT does. Lifting does too. Do what you want to do.
How'd you get a 1000 calorie goal, btw?
I used this calculator: http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html which told me I needed 955 calories to lose 1 lb a week (without eating back calories from exercise).
So you're 109 pounds? Why are you trying to lose weight rather than doing a recomp?
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Yes, that's what I was wondering also because in order for that calculator to give such a low calorie goal you have to be small to start with.0
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1 lb a week is very aggressive for some who is a) short and b) not extremely overweight to start off with. As a 5' 20 year old girl, I'm netting about 1400 calories a day and losing at a decent pace. It's a marathon, not a sprint, there's no need to rush yourself when it comes to weight loss.
As for your question, I recommend finding a balance between both that you enjoy and can see yourself doing long term. When it comes to exercise, it's not really the what you do that matters, but the what you can see yourself doing long term, as long as its something.1 -
109 pounds? You don't need to put on weight. You likely need to gain.0
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RebeccaParmenter wrote: »I am 5'4" and 120lbs. I do strength training and there is no way I would give it up for cardio. PLUS, putting on more muscle, means you get a higher calorie allowance, since muscle weighs more than fat! Right now, my allowance is around 1200. Once I stop cutting it will be around 1500. I only lift heavy, I don't do cardio.
Same here. I'm 5'0 and I eat around 1500. I don't do cardio and I lift heavy.0 -
I'm 5'2" and I do both. I've gained 10 pounds in muscle but I'm the same size I was before0
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Everybody needs both to be healthy.0
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Where in world did you find a short girls article or news that short girls need to strength train because cardio makes a shorter person hungrier?
That is non sense and just to note, all exercise activities cause a person to be hungrier when eating at a deficit in the beginning. Everyone has to find there energy balance while eating at a deficit to loose weight and the amount of ANY exercise they do..
Exercise for your health, first and foremost. Use the calorie deficit (eating less) to loose weight.
What did MFP give you to eat to loose weight? I have seen some of those off the wall calculators (heck one on bodybuilding.com) will give me way too little calories to maintain and loose weight than I eat now.. MFP will not let me loose 2 pounds a week or even 1 pound a week due to my height. It is the bare min 1200 and that is loose ounces a week.
955 calories makes me hungry just seeing that number.0
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