Cardio V Weights

UKTigerlily

Kirsty_A wrote: »

I'm always hearing and being told that a good diet and weights is the way forward :-)


I am struggling with cardio at the moment as I'm so tired after work, so I'm thinking about just focusing on weights alone and then going for walks on the weekend now it's warming up.

That'll be fine, I lost 6st 5 without any cardio at all. None of the clients of my PT do cardio x

Scrimps

Weights. No doubt about it. Unless you have any endurance goals, walking is great cardio and throw in a few sprint intervals twice a week for fitness.

Don't be afraid to lift heavy and a good workout shouldn't take more than 30 mins. Big 'compound' lifts, that use your whole body. Always lift lighter with good form rather than heavier with bad form.

FBaby

Its not too eat less its too eat less inappropriate crap that your body doesn't need

Totally disagree. I eat very healthily...but too much. By that of course I don't mean bigger plates of greens, but for instance, I won't have one egg but two, I won't have one small bowl of oatmeal but a large one etc...

I exercise (triathlon training) 5 times a week, so do plenty, but if I don't watch what I eat in terms of quantities, the weight go straight back up.

It is quite logical though, the more calories you eat, however healthy is still more calories to burn.

Gloomendoom

Huskyrunner wrote: »

Its not too eat less its too eat less inappropriate crap that your body doesn't need.

Utter tosh. You don't need to eat "healthy" food to lose weight. You can still lose weight and continue to eat inappropriate crap. You just meed to eat smaller portions of it.

I often think that people use the perceived expense of healthy foods as an excuse not to lose weight.

System

I have used resistance band based training plus press ups and chin ups in the past to lose weight and found this method quite effective. The only cardio I did was to walk an additional 30 mins 3 times a week.

UKTigerlily

Walcott wrote: »

I have used resistance band based training plus press ups and chin ups in the past to lose weight and found this method quite effective. The only cardio I did was to walk an additional 30 mins 3 times a week.

Those bands look so harmless but are so evil! I have managed the press ups but can't do chin ups just yet! lol

Also agree that you can lose weight eating crap, so long as eating at a deficit. And nothing wrong with 2 eggs not one! Just depends on how much in total

System

UKTigerlily wrote: »

Those bands look so harmless but are so evil! I have managed the press ups but can't do chin ups just yet! lol

Also agree that you can lose weight eating crap, so long as eating at a deficit. And nothing wrong with 2 eggs not one! Just depends on how much in total

I wouldn't even dare try a chin up nowadays!

BTW I also agree re weight loss from unhealthy eating. There are a lot of myths/nonsense around food and excercise. There is no evidence that running a calorie deficit from unhealthy food means you do not lose weight. In fact a lot of people I know who used calorie deficit based diets to lose weight would just miss breakfast and lunch on a Friday and then go have beers & takeaway in the evening. They carried on losing weight because the beers and takeaway were less than 1700 calories.

stephen77

Walcott wrote: »

I wouldn't even dare try a chin up nowadays!

BTW I also agree re weight loss from unhealthy eating. There are a lot of myths/nonsense around food and excercise. There is no evidence that running a calorie deficit from unhealthy food means you do not lose weight. In fact a lot of people I know who used calorie deficit based diets to lose weight would just miss breakfast and lunch on a Friday and then go have beers & takeaway in the evening. They carried on losing weight because the beers and takeaway were less than 1700 calories.

A calorie deficit will equal weight loss even on a horrible diet.
Just for optimal fat loss and muscle retention a good diet and exercise program will give better results.

El_Torro

When it comes to cardio then interval training is good. Both for weight loss (you keep burning calories for hours afterwards) and general fitness. When I switched from doing cardio to interval training I really noticed the difference.

Weight lifting is good to burn fat but cardio / IT gives you other health benefits too which shouldn't be ignored.

CyclingPerson

I still think a simple challenge of burpees and stand-ups is all you need for a good base level of fitness (including losing weight). What it entails is basically this;

- Laying back, sit up to squatting position
- Stand into a star jump
- Come back down into push-up position
- Do the push up, bring knees back to chest
- Stand up into star jump again
- Get down onto your back again, then repeat

Sounds like a lot of steps but it's not really. It's sit-ups and push-ups separated by star jumps. If you go at a good intensity you really hit the middle balance between strength and stamina, great all-round work-out and a real fat burner.