Cardio or Weight training/Strength..?

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peachypinkk1
peachypinkk1 Posts: 23
in Fitness and Exercise
Ok so I always see this on debates. If you want that flat tummy look what is going to get you there Weights or lots of Cardio?
If you say both, please explain.




(PLEASE ONLY ANSWER THIS IF YOU KNOW YOUR STUFF.! NONE OF THIS HE SAID SHE SAID THINGS OR MY DOCTOR SAID, MY TRAINER SAID BLAH BLAH BLAH.. ) I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO GET RESULTS AND NOT WHAT EVERY ONE TOLD YOU TO DO.. (:

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  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    You have to do both plus eat at a calorie deficit.

    Reason being you want to retain the muscle that you have... and the more muscle you have, the more fat you are going to burn all over, the higher your metabolism will be.. etc. Doing just cardio is going to leave you looking skinny fat because you will be losing both fat and muscle.. with weight training it's only fat that you lose.

    You can't target a specific area either. So doing ab work is great, but it doesn't mean a damn thing unless you burn off the layer of fat.
  • em9371
    em9371 Posts: 1,047 Member
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    Weights / ab exercises to tone the muscles and cardio to reduce body fat to a low enough level that you can see the muscles. You generally need a pretty low body fat % for abs to be visible.
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
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    You have to do both plus eat at a calorie deficit.

    Reason being you want to retain the muscle that you have... and the more muscle you have, the more fat you are going to burn all over, the higher your metabolism will be.. etc. Doing just cardio is going to leave you looking skinny fat because you will be losing both fat and muscle.. with weight training it's only fat that you lose.

    You can't target a specific area either. So doing ab work is great, but it doesn't mean a damn thing unless you burn off the layer of fat.
    ^this.
  • peachypinkk1
    peachypinkk1 Posts: 23
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    Ok because I always knew cardio did burn fat but i always see people do weight training and they look great.
    I do both , i go to the gym 5days a week. I do 30mins cardio and 30mins weight training. sometimes more.
    only im not seeing results so I was wondering if im doing to much cardio?
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    If your close enough to your goal to be concerned about flattening your stomach, I'd say eat with a tiny deficit (say, for a half pound a week), get plenty of protein, and strength train.

    But if you love cardio as much as I love cardio, do both. I've seen too many great results from women on my friends list to say that cardio is necessary.
  • peachypinkk1
    peachypinkk1 Posts: 23
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    No im still 35 lbs away from where I want to be i was just asking because i see so many debates on it.

    So for another question, Does strength training make you loose inches?

    14547953.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Weight Loss Tools
  • bahacca
    bahacca Posts: 878 Member
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    My guess is you aren't lifting heavy enough weights. Also, what weight exercises are you doing? If you are doing machines and doing a bunch of reps, you aren't gaining strength which means your muscles aren't growing. Bump up your weight and do less reps. Try exercises that are compound and work several muscles at once like deadlifts, squats.
    I'm currently(read for the past 2 weeks or so) doing Jeff Galloway's 1/2 marathon training program for cardio and also doing weights-doing 1 set of 12, 1 set of 4 (with heavier weight so that the 4th one I BARELY squeak out) and then 1 set of 8-10 in between those weights. I hope to be able to post pics and measurement (and maybe weight, but I know as I build muscle I may gain, so I'm not too worried about it) in a few weeks to show progress as it seems most people show progress from cardio OR weight training, not both combined:-)
  • bahacca
    bahacca Posts: 878 Member
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    YES-strength training helps you lose inches!
    fatpic.jpg
  • simone207
    simone207 Posts: 45 Member
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    bump
  • peachypinkk1
    peachypinkk1 Posts: 23
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    Ok I will definitely bump up the weights and i havnt tried deadlifts yet but i want to and i will.

    I do do some machines but sometimes i do dumb bells to.
    Thanks for that picture!! :)
  • riders999
    riders999 Posts: 7
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    if you have time to read this article its well worth it, ignore the bulging muscle pictures :), its a great article to get a good idea of what you should be doing.

    http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_hierarchy_of_fat_loss
  • bahacca
    bahacca Posts: 878 Member
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    if you have time to read this article its well worth it, ignore the bulging muscle pictures :), its a great article to get a good idea of what you should be doing.

    http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_hierarchy_of_fat_loss
    Thanks so much for this riders999. I've been thinking my approach of mixing my 1/2 marathon training and strength training would be the way to go, but it appears I cannot have my cake and eat it too. I'll look into including HIIT instead of my regular running workouts in addition to the lifting for the next 8 weeks. My 1/2 isn't until September, so I have some time to experiment.
  • CherylNTexas
    CherylNTexas Posts: 1,275 Member
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    Check out kettlebell workouts. The best of both worlds!!
  • alars
    alars Posts: 5
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    Doing both at the same time is the key.

    I like to do cardio 2-5 times a week to get my heart rate up and burn fat. My favorite cardio workout is running and during the run i like to pick up the pace 3-5 times for a one minute interval followed by a 30 second sprint. This help accelerate the fat burning.

    Every day (ideally) I like to do some amount of weight training for 15-20min. On days when I don't do cardio I try to get in at least 30min of yoga. This helps tone my muscles. Having more muscle helps keep my metabolism up and also makes every area of your body look firmer.

    The yoga is important to strengthen muscles, increase flexibility, and decrease stress. It also reduces your chances of injury during cardio workouts

    Good luck working out and I hope this helps!
  • skirtinthedirt
    skirtinthedirt Posts: 12 Member
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    I stopped seeing results with 30 mins of cardio too. I finally bit the bullet and now do at least 45-60 mins of cardio every workout and my stomach started getting definition almost immediately, and I have NEVER had that.
  • WonderKP
    WonderKP Posts: 146 Member
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    or maybe you are overdoing the strength....if you do all muscle groups one day, don't do them the next day! when strength training you need a day of rest between muscle groups....

    so, that could be why you might not be seeing results?

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