Strength training necessary?

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jclist1
jclist1 Posts: 87 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am working pretty hard to drop these extra 30 pounds that crept up on me. I have been hearing a lot that strength training needs to be in my workout routine, rather than pure cardio. Is this true? I know cardio burns calories, and thought that is what i needed to do. I am probably very naive about this, but am looking for any advice to help take these pounds off the fastest.
Thanks!!

Replies

  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    I don't know why people think cardio burns fat better than strength training.

    Plus lifting is vital during a diet, in order to avoid muscle wastage. If you lose muscle, what's going to burn the fat?
  • hm_day
    hm_day Posts: 857 Member
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    Strength training is ESSENTIAL. I work at a gym, and I watch girls come in all the time and JUST do cardio, but these are the girls that either don't lose the weight, or they get fatigued much easier, because there's nothing to burn calories. You will lose muscle mass if you don't do strength training, which is bad and will make you weaker. However, when you do strength training and GAIN muscle mass, you may notice that you will look slimmer, but might not necessarily be losing the weight. That's okay, it just means your body is converting fat into muscle, which is definitely a good thing :)
  • fiberartist219
    fiberartist219 Posts: 1,865 Member
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    Is it necessary? Not really.

    Is it easier? Absolutely.
  • dailyorange
    dailyorange Posts: 128
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    It's not necessary, but it's very beneficial! Not only are you strengthening your bones, you also gain lean muscle, which leads to higher metabolism. The more lean muscle you have the more calories you burn sitting.

    Adding strength training to your cardio workouts will make sure you don't end up being soft after you lose all your weight. So look up some routines and lift some weights! :)
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    It also makes you feel good. There's something very satisfying about pushing weights, about resistance training. It's the part of my exercise regime I love the most. And it definitely sharpens up your body faster than anything else (as the original blobby woman, I can reassure you of this. It makes a massive difference to your appearance, far faster than cardio alone).

    Have a go at it. And don't be scared of it. If you're worried about bulking up, that's really unlikely unless you're pushing *very* hefty weights.

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