"No one who does only cardio looks good"

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  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    This seems as good a place as any... how long does it take to build muscles and start seeing definition if one WERE to start lifting? And is it only heavy lifting that will achieve these things or would more light lifting also manage to tone a body?

    depends on your diet, current BF%, a bit of genetics. But essentially you only build lean muscle in a caloric surplus and it is slow, retaining the muscle you already have while dieting is much easier then building new.
  • Candikickbutt
    Candikickbutt Posts: 97 Member
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    Iniially I did cardio only and I burned calories and lost weight. But i found my body changed only after adding in weights. Changes included toning and tightening.

    I absolutely agree. At first I only did cardio, lost weight, but didn't see many changes. Then I started doing toning and strength training, along with cardio, and I started seeing many changes.
  • bebreli
    bebreli Posts: 229 Member
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    Just wondering... has there been anyone who's ever said, "I gave strength training a good, solid try, but didn't like what it did to my body shape?"

    And I don't mean "I got bulky by day 3 of the 30 Day Shred," either. :wink:

    I can understand not enjoying it. I don't particularly enjoy it. But I enjoy what it does to me. Like shaving my legs or coloring my roots or tweezing between my eyebrows. I don't get joy out of those activities, either, but I like the results of doing it better than the results of not doing it.

    Me!! For a year straight.. however, I was eating at a deficit and I was gaining muscle faster than my body was losing (holding on to fat). I weighed a lot and just looked like a big thick fit girl!! (agrees with hpsnickers1)

    Thanks to research and MFP I have a better idea of what works for my body and that I need more food especially when lifting ;o)
  • penrbrown
    penrbrown Posts: 2,685 Member
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    This seems as good a place as any... how long does it take to build muscles and start seeing definition if one WERE to start lifting? And is it only heavy lifting that will achieve these things or would more light lifting also manage to tone a body?

    depends on your diet, current BF%, a bit of genetics. But essentially you only build lean muscle in a caloric surplus and it is slow, retaining the muscle you already have while dieting is much easier then building new.

    I see. Thank you for answering. :)
  • MisdemeanorM
    MisdemeanorM Posts: 3,493 Member
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    Saw someone on MFP write this as a reply to a different topic today. This can't be true..... right?

    "looks good" is an arbitrary opinion. There's no way an opinion can be fact / true, so no, it really isn't true. You will likely look different if different amounts of weight or tone building exercise is added in to a cardio routine, but it's stupid to say that you can't look good only doing cardio. Who's to say you don't look good?
  • Jessicapages1
    Jessicapages1 Posts: 114 Member
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    I agree!!
  • regina2063
    regina2063 Posts: 203 Member
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    WOW...BY BEING A BEGINNER WITH EXERCISES...I SEE BOTH POINTS...I STARTED ON 30DAY SH ...AND USE THE 3LB WEIGHTS...I LIKE THE FEELING WITH THE WEIGHTS....SOOO I THINK I LIKE A COMBINATION OF CARDIO AND WEIGHTS.

    THANKS FOR THE THREAD....
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    Iniially I did cardio only and I burned calories and lost weight. But i found my body changed only after adding in weights. Changes included toning and tightening.

    I absolutely agree. At first I only did cardio, lost weight, but didn't see many changes. Then I started doing toning and strength training, along with cardio, and I started seeing many changes.

    I don't understand these statements at all. How could you lose weight and not see any changes in your body? I've never lost weight without getting thinner.
  • Jeff92se
    Jeff92se Posts: 3,369 Member
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    Iniially I did cardio only and I burned calories and lost weight. But i found my body changed only after adding in weights. Changes included toning and tightening.

    I absolutely agree. At first I only did cardio, lost weight, but didn't see many changes. Then I started doing toning and strength training, along with cardio, and I started seeing many changes.

    I don't understand these statements at all. How could you lose weight and not see any changes in your body? I've never lost weight without getting thinner.

    Pics? Example?
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    Iniially I did cardio only and I burned calories and lost weight. But i found my body changed only after adding in weights. Changes included toning and tightening.

    I absolutely agree. At first I only did cardio, lost weight, but didn't see many changes. Then I started doing toning and strength training, along with cardio, and I started seeing many changes.

    I don't understand these statements at all. How could you lose weight and not see any changes in your body? I've never lost weight without getting thinner.

    Pics? Example?

    Example - I lost 20 lbs and dropped 2 jeans sizes.
  • penrbrown
    penrbrown Posts: 2,685 Member
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    Example - I lost 20 lbs and dropped 2 jeans sizes.

    Yeah. I lost 30 lbs and went down 3 sizes (from 18+ to 15 Regular).

    You body DOES change when you lose weight. It just doesn't tone.
  • royaldrea
    royaldrea Posts: 259 Member
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    After a thousand posts, I think I have what it takes to solve this very entertaining problem. What the person who posted originally was trying, but failed to say, is "No one who does only cardio looks like their muscles are toned and developed. I think that people who have toned and developed muscles look better than people who do not have that physique".

    And then in an ideal world, he would have said that that was purely his opinion, he hasn't yet received his authorisation as the queen of everything to make such a blanket statement, and he realises that in the real world people have different tastes, and of course some people will prefer one body type over another. And that there's nothing wrong with that, at all.
  • rlv2680
    rlv2680 Posts: 289 Member
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    what about workouts like insanity??
  • AeolianHarp
    AeolianHarp Posts: 463 Member
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    This is hilarious. I actually mentioned this today to someone else in the General Diet portion of the forums. Only doing cardio will not build any muscle, so if you start off with very little LBM and cutting down to abdominal-showing weight, you will look quite slim. Whether you think that looks good or not is up to you but I don't think it would.

    As a side note, you don't HAVE to lift weights but progressive, intense bodyweight training (like gymnastics but even they are starting to lift weights) have created well-sculpted physiques through rigorous training. Again, they apply arguably the most important principle of hypertrophy and that's progressive overload.
  • grumpya
    grumpya Posts: 54 Member
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    Depends on your definition of looking good
    Depends on your age
    Depends on what job you do for a living
    Depends on bone structure
    Depends on genetics
    Depends on race to a lesser extent
    And whether you chose to do weights or cardio is a matter of personal choice nothing to do with anyone else
  • mact30
    mact30 Posts: 1
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    I do P90X exercises which involve cardio, and this plus a little calorie counting keeps me at 175lbs, i'm 5'10".
  • skingszoo
    skingszoo Posts: 412 Member
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    Meh. I don't think I've seen a bad looking marathon runner.
    Marathon training also isn't all about running.
  • MissTattoo
    MissTattoo Posts: 1,203 Member
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    I wrote it.
    And I stand by my opinion.


    I've never seen a person look good who only runs. Women can probably get by with it and look decent, but men need to lift weights.

    Wait...aren't you the lovely man who said a woman's thighs were nasty in the other thread?
  • karinaes
    karinaes Posts: 570 Member
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    So, if I lift I won't gain muscle? One more reason not to lift then, heh?

    please go away.
    you're the worst troll on these boards.
    lmao!
  • AZackery
    AZackery Posts: 2,035 Member
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    I don't care what a person thinks about me or my body. This is my body. I'm not trying to please anyone. I already look good. I don't need a man or woman to tell me that I need to lift weights to look good. My power will always be in my hands. Weights aren't all that. A person doesn't even have to lift weights to get toned or even ripped.

    I'm a leader and not a follower. That's why I don't pay any mind to the "you need to lift weights/lift heavy" to get results. I know my body.

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