women trying to lean out with strength...how much cardio?

10-15 mins lifting is a waste of time.

Not really. If you're new to lifting it's quite enough. I limit my lifting due to hypermobility, I have to be so careful with my ligaments and tendons. You shouldn't pass generic judgements like that.

When we're talking about lifting, how much are we talking (kg)?

I know it's different for everyone, but I have absolutely NO idea what a 'good' weight would be. What does everyone else lift, and how often?

many studies are wrong and biased when it comes to cardio. You can lose all the weight you need with 0 cardio.

so , as a new memeber i just want to get this straight.

I have a few pounds to lose (ABOUT 100). ( i dont look it, but I do) I am sedentary and only 3 weeks ago, started back at the gym 3-4 days a week faithfully. I have only seen a 8.5 pound loss, and i do recumbent bike and treadmill for 2 hours max (1 hour each) and only 15 minutes max of the strength training machines circuit.

MFP has me at 1900 cals to use, and I am wondering if I should be doing more of the lifting, and weights? and less of the cardio?

This would make total sense, because in 2010, I did 3 5Ks, and although I was fit enough to do them, i never really lost weight,which frustrated me..... and same with the year before when I would be on my treadmill as my only form of workout.

since I go to the gym 3-4 days a week (i can up it if i need to) what should I start with in working out? how many reps, and how much strength (in time) vs cardio? I feel like I have wasted my time for years and struggled, even eating pretty clean for over a year.

any help would be appreciated.

so , as a new memeber i just want to get this straight.

I have a few pounds to lose (ABOUT 100). ( i dont look it, but I do) I am sedentary and only 3 weeks ago, started back at the gym 3-4 days a week faithfully. I have only seen a 8.5 pound loss, and i do recumbent bike and treadmill for 2 hours max (1 hour each) and only 15 minutes max of the strength training machines circuit.

MFP has me at 1900 cals to use, and I am wondering if I should be doing more of the lifting, and weights? and less of the cardio?

This would make total sense, because in 2010, I did 3 5Ks, and although I was fit enough to do them, i never really lost weight,which frustrated me..... and same with the year before when I would be on my treadmill as my only form of workout.

since I go to the gym 3-4 days a week (i can up it if i need to) what should I start with in working out? how many reps, and how much strength (in time) vs cardio? I feel like I have wasted my time for years and struggled, even eating pretty clean for over a year.

any help would be appreciated.

Conditioning/cardio isn't a waste of time, and I really doubt it's the type of exercise which caused you to not be able to lose weight. Strength training helps build/retain muscle mass. More muscle mass = lower percentage of your weight is body fat. The thing about circuit training and low-weight/high-rep lifting is it isn't doing anything to make you stronger.

All of us that like heavy lifting go ape**** for Starting Strength and Stronglifts (and New Rules of Lifting For Women, but I don't really know what that program is all about). None of these programs are magic. The reason they work (at least in terms of SS and SL) is that you're doing multi-joint, multi-muscle group compound lifts with heavy (heavy being relative to your strength level) weights which stresses your body as a whole and promote the best overall adaptation. You can do this with barbells, dumbbells, or even bodyweight exercises.

As a % of body weight can anyone give a rough idea of what area women should look to be lifting at for a few basic lifts? Because I am 93lbs my idea of heavy is obviously not comparable to most and probably looks laughable but I am willing to bet that as a % of body weight we could find some consensus...I know the 8 rep rule and I work by 8-12 reps max since I am working on form. Just curious though.

Cardio has a slight advantage burning a bit more calories during an actual workout session...

That being said, lifting weights gives your metabolism a spike for about an hour after a workout. During this time your body is trying hard to help your muscles recover. This means that on average you'll fry an additional 25 percent of the calories you just scorched during your strength session.

For me....strength building wins, but just like your diet your workouts need to have a good balance.

i actually disagree, lifting weights for 25 minutes i burn about 300 cals. this is from my HRM.

biking for the same amount of time, about 200.

i do lift very heavy, and make it so im sweating and hearts pumping.

so , as a new memeber i just want to get this straight.

I have a few pounds to lose (ABOUT 100). ( i dont look it, but I do) I am sedentary and only 3 weeks ago, started back at the gym 3-4 days a week faithfully. I have only seen a 8.5 pound loss, and i do recumbent bike and treadmill for 2 hours max (1 hour each) and only 15 minutes max of the strength training machines circuit.

MFP has me at 1900 cals to use, and I am wondering if I should be doing more of the lifting, and weights? and less of the cardio?

This would make total sense, because in 2010, I did 3 5Ks, and although I was fit enough to do them, i never really lost weight,which frustrated me..... and same with the year before when I would be on my treadmill as my only form of workout.

since I go to the gym 3-4 days a week (i can up it if i need to) what should I start with in working out? how many reps, and how much strength (in time) vs cardio? I feel like I have wasted my time for years and struggled, even eating pretty clean for over a year.

any help would be appreciated.

Conditioning/cardio isn't a waste of time, and I really doubt it's the type of exercise which caused you to not be able to lose weight. Strength training helps build/retain muscle mass. More muscle mass = lower percentage of your weight is body fat. The thing about circuit training and low-weight/high-rep lifting is it isn't doing anything to make you stronger.

All of us that like heavy lifting go ape**** for Starting Strength and Stronglifts (and New Rules of Lifting For Women, but I don't really know what that program is all about). None of these programs are magic. The reason they work (at least in terms of SS and SL) is that you're doing multi-joint, multi-muscle group compound lifts with heavy (heavy being relative to your strength level) weights which stresses your body as a whole and promote the best overall adaptation. You can do this with barbells, dumbbells, or even bodyweight exercises.

thanks very much. I just dont know where to start and I do not want to waste more time on stuff that I may be doing wrong... I just want to be more productive in the gym....

Some good info here, I'll come back and read it all when I have more time.

I spent last year concentrating on building my running endurance and losing weight.
This year I'm aiming to go faster (no necessarily further) and get stronger.

Currently I'm strenght training 2 -3 days a week (some bodyweight stuff and some machines) and running 3 times (2 x intervals and 1 long run). I've only been doing this for a month so I can't say how its going to go in the long term - but I do know that the skirt I put on today is looser round my middle and my running time hasn't suffered.

I've bought and read New Rules of Lifting which sounds great, but as I don't have access to a gym, I'm just working with what I have at home for now and might look at getting more gear or joining a gym later in the year.

Well today I did what most people are recommending; heavy lfiting for longer periods of time

I chose the weights that I could only manage about 6-8 reps of each at a time. I didn't have a prolapse, drop the dumbell or fart as I was a little scared of doing

What also made me happy was the fact that my heart rate didn't drop as much as I thought over the 20 minutes i spent lifting (I usually do about 10 with lesser weights)

I even used a new machine, pushed the boat out!