Strength training question for big girls

Hey! I generally combine both cardio and strength. Strength alone isn't great at losing weight, even though you build muscle which burns fat, its not enough. My trainer says the best way to burn calories is a combination of strengh and cardio....specially intervals. Hope that helps a bit

If you a total noob I think Jillian is a good start, not only to get the form on the most common moves like squats, lunges and work up the contraction in the abs, but because 30 ds and Ripped combine cardio and resistance moves and they are very short, only 30 minutes, and you only do the program for four weeks. After this you can move on to harder dvds and you now your body and your limitations better in terms of strength.

I dont know how long youve been overweight or why you are overweight but most people who are and have been since teenaage years are waaaaay stronger then they know or even dear to believe. Carrying around on that excess weight has built muscle underneath the fat so if you would stick to cardio you would probably start to see some muscles after a loss of 20 pounds and more.

Check out www.intense-workout.com

I recently found his website and the authors take on health and nutrition is along my lines of thinking. Pretty much he tells you how to figure how many calories you should be consuming each day. He believes in focusing on weight training and then cardio for the very reasons you posted. Anytime you lower your calorie intake to lose weight your body uses all it's available resources to get energy. Granted fat is easier for the body to create into energy but the body will use protein and well. Which obviously the more muscle you have to more fat you will burn. Pretty much create and maintain as much lean muscle as you can.
The author literally says with the lowered calories alone you will lose weight, and if you have to choose between cardio and weights, pick weights and then do cardio. Yes cardio gives you the initial burn but strength will also burn a good number of calories on its own and then the added benefit of having more muscle to burn all day long.
The author isn't big into supplements but does recommend a couple things, #1 protein to protect and help build muscle, a mutli-vitamin and fish oil. Which he explains in great detail on the website.

Hope this helps! Best of luck.

As far as equipment goes get a resistance band. They are relatively inexpensive (I paid less than$10 for mine). I can do many weight training things at home.
Squats, lunges, push ups, seated rows, bicep curls, tricep exercises, the list goes on and on. Plus as you get stronger than just make the band shorter (I usually just grab further down or wrap around my hands)

Not to mention you can probably google a ton of exercises you could do with a band to get a good variety. With that said, I'd start out simple, with just a handful of exercises but as you get stronger and are ready to change things up you can do a ton of different things with them.

I am a big woman like yourself and I do both Cardio and Strength Training. Any way you look at it, none of it is bad. Just remember that while exercise is good, you also have to watch your calorie intake every day, hence using the MFP Food log. I really enjoy the elliptical that I have access to here at home and at the school I work at. It keeps stress off from my knees, which are bad, due to tears, and carrying to much weight around. It doesn't have to be costly to workout. Take a couple gallon jugs and fill them up with water to use as weights. Depending on how much you start out with just weight it before hand so you can keep track of how much you are lifting. You could also do some leg exercises. Simply down on your hands and knees doing sets of lifts of R/L leg. Also, could do them lying on your side. Any little bit of movement will get your metabolism going and that's the key. Good luck, and as someone mentioned there are sites all over the play that you can google to find some exercises that work for you. Good luck.

Hi everyone
I'm a very big girl. I weigh around 283 lbs *sad face*
Although I have been registered on here for a while, I'm only just starting to use it properly.
I have read this forum quite a lot and got some good information from it.
One thing I wanted to know is whether you guys think strength training would be more beneficial to me than cardio. I ask because I see that muscle helps burn fat whereas cardio could cause muscle loss (hope I have that right)

Also, where do I start with strength training? I cannot afford to go to the gym so it would be home workouts only. I was going to ask if Jillian's workouts counted as strength but someone in another post basically answered my question and said it was garbage lol.
Any advice is appreciated :happy:

Hi Meiplé. Cardio burns fat. I love cardio. I prefer it over solo strength training. I rather do cardio/strength than just do solo strength training. I don't believe in lifting heavy. Some people do and they think that's the only way to go about losing weight. I'm not out to lose scale weight. I'm aiming to lose fat. Scale weight loss and fat loss aren't the same thing. I'm on the slow road. It's going to take me a while to read my body fat percentage goal. I'm looking at a year or so and I'm fine with that.

You can do Jillian Michael workouts for strength training. They are strength training workouts. You can check your library for other strength training workouts. My number one workout is Tae Bo. Billy has some cardio, strength and cardio/strength workout.

If I was you, I wouldn't do away with cardio. You need it to burn fat. You just don't want to strength train. You don't want to strengthen your muscles, but you can't see them, because the fat is still there.

You will lose 1/3 more weight when you combine both. Nothing wrong with building lean muscle to help you burn fat. If you don't build lean muscle, when you do cardio your body uses the muscle first for energy. SO by getting your metabolism going with some weights, it will divert your body into using stored fat for energy. This is all information I got from a Personal Trainer, who has not steered me wrong.
Don't over do it though, and push beyond your limit. Good luck!! hope this helps. And no sad face! Everyone starts somewhere, but starting is what matters. Even if you do a little bit of cardio and strength in a day, You have lapped everyone on the couch!

I have been seriously strength training since 235 lbs (5'3 female here) and weight 206 today and fitting into size 12. Last time I was a size 12, I was 180 lbs. Weight training slows the scale but helps the overall inches and provides SO many more benefits (strength, endurance, bone strength) and I move faster and just feel so much stronger in my daily normal activities, which helps my "mind" and get things done faster. Also, a pound of muscle burns 50 more calories at rest then a pound of fat, so you a preparing your metabolism to burn now and maintain later on a normal calories lifestyle. Plus, the buzz after lifting can be nice! :-)

I do both from home and I'm at 227. Try to hit Craigslist for some dumbbells / barbell with adjustable plates. There's a TON of websites/ you tube video to show you proper form. I really like what the combo of cardio/ lifting is doing to my body shape. I'm losing a lot of inches fast.

I balance both and have seen great results and I feel good! I do home work outs only other than laps in the pool in the summer.I do Cardio-Elliptical. and Turbo Jam. The Turbo jam has 5 dvd's. There are Cardio and strength training. Now that I have lost some weight and feel stronger, I started Turbo FIRE. Thats HIIT. work outs. but not too much cuz then my knees hurt. Hope you get the information you need!

Found it! http://www.simplyshredded.com/the-ultimate-female-training-guide.html

ETA my prior post should've said look at Deevaa. It was bugging me.