what do you think is more effective?
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trulyhealy
Posts: 240 Member
do you think going to the gym 3 times a week to do spin, weight training, a legs bums and runs class and then another class or doing a workout dvd at home?
i’m away to join the gym because i only enjoy one workout video but i’ve been doing it for weeks and i don’t know if it’s still effective because of that.
i’m away to join the gym because i only enjoy one workout video but i’ve been doing it for weeks and i don’t know if it’s still effective because of that.
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Replies
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Your question leaves out the goal of your plan. “Effective” at what?5
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effective at........?2
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trulyhealy wrote: »
to lose weight you need a calorie deficit - how much you eat is far more important than which class or DVD you do.5 -
For weight loss, create a calorie deficit.
For fitness, do what you love that you will continue to do.11 -
If you are working out to the same DVD everyday you willl see diminishing returns. Just in general it's good to mix up what you do every so often to avoid platueing.2
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If you are working out to the same DVD everyday you willl see diminishing returns. Just in general it's good to mix up what you do every so often to avoid platueing.
This is not true. It is good to do both cardio and strength training for one's health and fitness, and you may gradually want to add time/weight/intensity/etc. to your activities, but it is a myth that you need to keep changing your exercise routine due to the body getting used to it.
Plateaus in weight loss are caused by not being in a calorie deficit any longer, or are water fluctuations that mask a slow pace of weight loss. Plateaus are not caused by consistently doing the same exercise.11 -
@apullum When she refers to toning, I interpret that as muscle building or shaping in addition to weight loss. I agree that a platue in weight loss is usually diet related. If her excercise is limited exclusively to the DVD, her muscle growth will for sure platue. Research Myelin Sheath on Google. It is the science of "muscle memory". Repeated motion will thicken her myelin sheath making her muscle memory so effective she wont put her muscles under enough trauma. If you have a reputable article you can direct me to I am open to changing my mind.2
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@apullum When she refers to toning, I interpret that as muscle building or shaping in addition to weight loss. I agree that a platue in weight loss is usually diet related. If her excercise is limited exclusively to the DVD, her muscle growth will for sure platue. Research Myelin Sheath on Google. It is the science of "muscle memory". Repeated motion will thicken her myelin sheath making her muscle memory so effective she wont put her muscles under enough trauma. If you have a reputable article you can direct me to I am open to changing my mind.
Javamoaka is absolutely correct. Given what the original post questioned, you would find higher (effective) results from doing a variety of workouts/classes vs doing the same weekly routine based from a DVD.2 -
@apullum When she refers to toning, I interpret that as muscle building or shaping in addition to weight loss. I agree that a platue in weight loss is usually diet related. If her excercise is limited exclusively to the DVD, her muscle growth will for sure platue. Research Myelin Sheath on Google. It is the science of "muscle memory". Repeated motion will thicken her myelin sheath making her muscle memory so effective she wont put her muscles under enough trauma. If you have a reputable article you can direct me to I am open to changing my mind.
It's true that one has to keep challenging the muscles to keep gaining strength (or muscle mass).
But if the primary motivation is weight loss (so burning calories via exercise), then the same exercise done at the same intensity by a person at consistent body weight will generally burn approximately the same number of calories, no matter how long they've been doing that exercise. Yes, it will feel easier. Yes, many heart rate monitors or fitness trackers will claim it burns fewer calories as the heart gets stronger/more efficient, but that's a limitation of those devices (they're incorrect in that respect, in other words).
For a very limited set of activities, there can be efficiency improvements that cause somewhat lower calorie burn with skill improvement, but that effect tends to be small and it's not true across a broad range of activities. In fact, people tend to increase intensity per time period as they get fitter, and burn more calories per constant time period that way. Certainly, exercises that burn calories mostly by moving one's body through space (which is most "cardio", though not all) will burn fewer calories as a person gets lighter, but that effect is gradual and fairly small.
With respect to the "toning" goal, I'd consider the muscle adaptation effect to be an ambiguous factor. Most people who want "toning" seem to want to reach only a certain point in muscular development (and maybe don't want to "get bulky"
. . . which of course is not mostly in truth a risk for women). The point is that if doing one's DVD routine gets an individual person to their desired degree of muscularity, then helps them maintain that; plus helps them lose weight so their muscles show off better . . . the DVD exercise may meet their "toning" goals.
OP, it's fine to keep doing the exercise you enjoy, as long as you enjoy it. It will burn slightly fewer calories gradually as you lose weight, but that's a pretty small effect. If it would be more fun to go to the gym and take classes, that's good stuff, too. Or do some of each, if you like. The exercise that's most enjoyable and practical so that you'll actually do it (vs. put it off or avoid it because it's not fun or practical) is the exercise that will be the best help in achieving your goals.
Whatever you choose, if you find you're not progressing in fitness or "toning" after a certain point, you may need to vary the intensity and challenge yourself more in order to keep making fitness/toning progress.
Best wishes!9 -
@apullum When she refers to toning, I interpret that as muscle building or shaping in addition to weight loss. I agree that a platue in weight loss is usually diet related. If her excercise is limited exclusively to the DVD, her muscle growth will for sure platue. Research Myelin Sheath on Google. It is the science of "muscle memory". Repeated motion will thicken her myelin sheath making her muscle memory so effective she wont put her muscles under enough trauma. If you have a reputable article you can direct me to I am open to changing my mind.
It's true that one has to keep challenging the muscles to keep gaining strength (or muscle mass).
But if the primary motivation is weight loss (so burning calories via exercise), then the same exercise done at the same intensity by a person at consistent body weight will generally burn approximately the same number of calories, no matter how long they've been doing that exercise. Yes, it will feel easier. Yes, many heart rate monitors or fitness trackers will claim it burns fewer calories as the heart gets stronger/more efficient, but that's a limitation of those devices (they're incorrect in that respect, in other words).
For a very limited set of activities, there can be efficiency improvements that cause somewhat lower calorie burn with skill improvement, but that effect tends to be small and it's not true across a broad range of activities. In fact, people tend to increase intensity per time period as they get fitter, and burn more calories per constant time period that way. Certainly, exercises that burn calories mostly by moving one's body through space (which is most "cardio", though not all) will burn fewer calories as a person gets lighter, but that effect is gradual and fairly small.
With respect to the "toning" goal, I'd consider the muscle adaptation effect to be an ambiguous factor. Most people who want "toning" seem to want to reach only a certain point in muscular development (and maybe don't want to "get bulky" . . . which of course is not mostly in truth a risk for women). The point is that if doing one's DVD routine gets an individual person to their desired degree of muscularity, then helps them maintain that; plus helps them lose weight so their muscles show off better . . . the DVD exercise may meet their "toning" goals.
OP, it's fine to keep doing the exercise you enjoy, as long as you enjoy it. It will burn slightly fewer calories gradually as you lose weight, but that's a pretty small effect. If it would be more fun to go to the gym and take classes, that's good stuff, too. Or do some of each, if you like. The exercise that's most enjoyable and practical so that you'll actually do it (vs. put it off or avoid it because it's not fun or practical) is the exercise that will be the best help in achieving your goals.
Whatever you choose, if you find you're not progressing in fitness or "toning" after a certain point, you may need to vary the intensity and challenge yourself more in order to keep making fitness/toning progress.
Best wishes!
To this I would agree. If just fat loss is the goal then yes the DVD is fine.3 -
No exercise, by itself, will make you lose weight.
Your caloric balance, over time, will determine whether you are using up or adding to your energy reserves. And the balance is much easier to influence by concentrating on regulating input as opposed to output.
That said, exercise is both very good for our bodies AND can help us reach and maintain our weight goals.
After many years of asking questions similar to the one in the OP, the answer that finally worked for me is that the best activity and/or exercise is the one that you actually do!9 -
As you are supposed to eat back exercise calories neither course of action should result in additional fat loss.
No idea what your DVD is (could be useless or could be well designed, challenging and gets progressively harder as your capabilities improve). Does it incorporate weights, longer duration cardio or what?
In terms of calorie burns if it's the same exercise and intensity every time it won't matter, it will be virtually the same calorie burn. But in fitness terms (isn't that what exercise is really for?) if you keep doing the same thing daily you will cease to improve after a while.
So if effective means burning calories (which you should eat back anyway) do what you enjoy.
But if effective means getting fitter, stronger, healthier etc. you need a program that increases in intensity as your capabilities improve and that's far more likely to happen with a decently designed regime in the gym.
BTW - I'm a very high volume exerciser normally but currently can't exercise at all due to a severe back injury.
If I had a race against a heavily sedated, arthritic sloth I may well come second! The eat back exercise calories method means that because my diet is nailed down and I'm not relying on exercise to balance my calories I should still be able to maintain weight.
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After many years of asking questions similar to the one in the OP, the answer that finally worked for me is that the best activity and/or exercise is the one that you actually do!
^^^ This! ^^^ All of this ! ^^^^
We're all enough of an individual human that the eating and exercise plan that works for one person may not work for another.
When I accepted the facts of Calories In Calories Out as the basis of achieving my ideal weight, I was free to design my eating events with any foods I wanted. I don't diet, I eat portion-appropriate foods.
Exercise is something that I treat as a complement to a healthy eating program. Finding exercises that I am willing to do, daily, is HARD! Add in that I want to do them in a way that truly engages me in cardio or strength training, without boring me to tears.
For me - working with a trainer 2x a week, and, finding groups to challenge myself at daily routines, is what I'm doing right now. I'm betting it will be 1 year easy before any of it feels like habit, rather than something that, half the time needs an internal pep talk to kick off.
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trulyhealy wrote: »do you think going to the gym 3 times a week to do spin, weight training, a legs bums and runs class and then another class or doing a workout dvd at home?
i’m away to join the gym because i only enjoy one workout video but i’ve been doing it for weeks and i don’t know if it’s still effective because of that.
Just the one DVD sounds boring, plus there are weights at the gym, so I do recommend the gym.2
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