Strengh Training...YES OR NO ???

[foodstampchamp 3]

My brother (5'6") weighed in at 350 pounds. He decieded to hit the gym and go on a diet a few years back. He learned so much from his girlfriend who is a personal trainer and looks great by the way. She says, (and my brother is living proof) that if you eat less (which we all are after being banded) and just doing cardio while you will loose weight, you will still be the same shape. Be it a smaller shape. For instance, he was very pair shaped. If he just ate less calories and did 2 hours of cardio a day, he would still be pair shaped, just a smaller pair. When he added resistance training he changed the way his body was "shaped". You would never be able to tell it was the same person. Muscle burns fat. Even if you are not moving. Even when you are sleeping. So the more muscle you have, the more fat you burn while you are not moving. Trust me gals and guys, you want to do resistance training. You will not regret it.

[JulieLu 0]

Elena - The only time in my life (before being banded) that I've been able to loose a large amount of weight was with strength training. I hired a personal trainer and she helped a lot. I had 80 pounds to loose and I think the weight training was key. If I could of just got my eating under control... Anyway, I'm still intimidated by the gym and think I will go to Curves when I get clearance from my post op doc. Good Luck!

[Leila 0]

I am really looking forward to strength training again. I am still too soon post surgery, and also will be travelling in an RV for the next couple of months, which makes it hard to get to a gym. However years ago I did weights at the gym, and the gym I went to would do body composition tests for you weekly if you wanted, they could tell you how much lean muscle mass you put on in the week. I loved weight training, and trained really hard. I was told it's very rare to put on more than 2 lbs of muscle in a week. I had put on 3lbs of muscle in the first week! and I was down 2lbs in weight. That meant I had lost 5lbs of fat. If you can get body composition tests done, then you can tell how much of the weight in your body comes from fat, and you can track your loss of fat pounds, and Celebrate that, and Celebrate your muscle weight increases, because the more muscle tissue you have, the more you rev up your metabolism and your caloric needs, you become a more effective furnace for burning fat!

Keep up the good work everyone!

XO

Leila

[puddin 7]

Leila, I'm glad to hear that you gained muscle and lost fat in the same week, but could you sustain that? I've heard that it's easy for your body to be efficient at both activities if you're very overweight or if you just started doing it, but that the body doesn't become so efficient as you continue to do it, strangely.

I posted my frustration about this in another thread, but basically it boiled down to my confusion over weight training. Am I consuming too few calories to adequately repair my muscle? Would I be sabotaging my weight training efforts by doing too much cardio (because my body would be repairing itself from the intense cardio sessions rather than building muscle)? My trainer told me gaining muscle and losing fat are two competing goals and our bodies don't like to do both at the same time. He recommended I get very close to my goal weight before attempting to "switch off" periodically between losing weight and gaining muscle. He said it's easier to do the two separately.

[Leila 0]

I was about 215lbs at that time in my life, and I was not dieting/restricting calories, and I did cardio excersice, but not aerobic, a lot of anaerobic - I was doing kickboxing, and the intensity level is so high that you're not really working 'in oxygen'. When I went to the gym, the trainer they had to guide you through kept telling me that as a woman who wanted to lose weight, I should do light weight, and focus on more repititions, so I didn't 'bulk up'. At that time in my life I wasn't too worried about muscle bulk (muscles are added intimidation factor in kickboxing, I had a shaved head, I wasn't too worried about not looking girly). Also I really hated low weight lots of reps, I found it boring, it took longer, and I really liked the feeling of straining my muscles with the maximum load they could carry. So instead I trained like a power lifter, my goal was not to bulk up and build muscle, my goal was to build strength and power, to make me a better martial artist. I was focused on building muscle, not on fat loss. So I trained short and super hard, low reps, high weights, the opposite of the typical advice given women. I consistently gained muscle and lost fat for the 4 month period I was training for. Over time the muscle gain and fat lost slowed, but I definitely was doing both consistently. Body builders do build muscle and cut muscle, and burn fat at the same time when they are getting ready for a competition. But I do believe it is harder to do both simultaneously, usually they alternate periods of focus. It worked well for me, and I never did build bulky looking muscles, even though I trained very hard. When I am able to start a weight training routine again, I plan to do the same. In some ways, it's hard not to burn more fat when you are building a lot of muscle. Muscle revs up your metabolism, muscle takes energy, it's like building a hotter furnace for your body, muscles burn up energy - calories. As long as you are taking in adequate protien to maintain and repair, having more muscle mass will cause fat weight loss, building new tissue, repairing muscle constantly takes a lot of energy, and that burns a lot of calories. I always figured if I started to feel any particular muscle group was getting too large, I could always stop training that muscle group... and of course it would stop increasing, and probably start to deterioriate. It's not like building muscle mass isn't easily reversible. I always thought the concern over women potentially 'bulking up' was over hyped. Worse case scenario... hmmm, I think my bicep is getting too big.. no more curls for me - problem pretty much solved. As someone who hates cardio/aerobic excersize, weight training, other than martial arts, was my workout of choice.

[BPM 0]

Leila, I'm glad to hear that you gained muscle and lost fat in the same week, but could you sustain that? I've heard that it's easy for your body to be efficient at both activities if you're very overweight or if you just started doing it, but that the body doesn't become so efficient as you continue to do it, strangely.

I posted my frustration about this in another thread, but basically it boiled down to my confusion over weight training. Am I consuming too few calories to adequately repair my muscle? Would I be sabotaging my weight training efforts by doing too much cardio (because my body would be repairing itself from the intense cardio sessions rather than building muscle)? My trainer told me gaining muscle and losing fat are two competing goals and our bodies don't like to do both at the same time. He recommended I get very close to my goal weight before attempting to "switch off" periodically between losing weight and gaining muscle. He said it's easier to do the two separately.

Some truth to what the trainer is saying however......weight training is still a good idea. The benefits are endless in that you will become harder, more flexible, stronger, have more endurance etc....even if you don't pack on lbs of muscle.

You can burn fat and gain muscle at the same time....you just have to be very smart about what you eat and how you exercise.

[TexasTerry 0]

MelAnne - I like your word muscle TONING. I think many of us hear strength training and we see images of Arnold at his bulkiest. It ain't gonna happen!!! at least not to us!!! But beautiful toned muscles could happen with a consistent work routine. Let's go gals (and guys!!) :scared:

Terry

[puddin 7]

You know, I've given some more thought to this weight training business. Even though I may not be building muscle while doing weight training, maybe I'll be able to hang on to more muscle as I lose the weight (in addition to helping my bones and toning muscle). If I take my Vitamins and do weight training, my body will likely feel the need to hang onto my muscle because I'd be challenging them with resistance and feeding them the nutrients they need. Right now, with 0% body fat, I'd be 140 pounds. That may be more muscle than I really need when I closer to goal, but I just don't want to lose more than I have to, thereby making my weight loss slower and slower.

[Jachut 487]

I was thinking about it too - I agree, I think that moderate weight training will maintain your muscle - you're not necessarily looking to gain huge amounts while you're losing weight. But you do want to maintain what you have.

[oktwigs 0]

I'll add my vote for a huge "yes" for weight training. Keep a log...write down each exercise you do, weight, reps, etc. You won't believe how fast you fit into smaller clothes with it!

Janice

[puddin 7]

OK, here's another burning question: Should you do cardio on the days you weight train? This is another internal question I've been debating over. I need to find that delicate balance of eating enough calories to repair myself after weight training, but trying to burn enough calories during the week to meet my weekly weight-loss goal. Would adding another cardio session on weight training days be too much? I don't want to be sitting there, lifting the weights, and thinking I could be burning so many more calories if I were just doing cardio.

[oktwigs 0]

It has always been recommended to me that I do 20 minutes of cardio (treadmill, ellipital, whatever) before lifting. For one thing it warms you up and gets those muscles loosened up and ready for the lifting portion of your workout.

One of my favorite killer workouts (when I was 70 lbs lighter) was to work a body part (bicep for example) with three sets of an exercise, then jump on the treadmill for 3 minutes and walk as fast as I can, move to the next body part, repeat the treadmill, and so on until I had worked my body from head to toe. Do this only after your warm up with a 10 minute gentle walk on the treadmill though.

One word of advice: Don't hesitate to lift heavy weights. Women don't develop the bulging muscles you see on men weightlifters ... the women you see on TV who are body builders live on a very specific diet and training schedule to get that look. You can build up to heavy weights and more reps (15 max) with three sets before you know it.

Janice

Looking forward to getting back to the killer workout after I've lost some of this nasty weight.

Band date: July 27, 2006

[Jachut 487]

You do apparently get HUGE calorie burn for hours after lifting heavyish weights.

[BPM 0]

OK, here's another burning question: Should you do cardio on the days you weight train? This is another internal question I've been debating over. I need to find that delicate balance of eating enough calories to repair myself after weight training, but trying to burn enough calories during the week to meet my weekly weight-loss goal. Would adding another cardio session on weight training days be too much? I don't want to be sitting there, lifting the weights, and thinking I could be burning so many more calories if I were just doing cardio.

If you design your lifting regimen correctly you will burn as many calories lifting as you will with cardio. In fact you can do circuit training and make the weight lifting an aerobic event if you so choose....it's all about what you are trying to accomplish. The added benefit of lifting weights is that once you start to develop muscle you will burn more calories all day long...even sitting on the couch.

It isn't such a delicate balance in my opinion......Eat good foods and work out hard. Your body will take care of the rest.

[Leila 0]

BPM, I agree with you, I personally find I get a better burn with lifting than I do with cardio. Since I hate cardio and I love lifting, my choice is a no-brainer. I can't wait till I'm healed enough that I can start working out!